Facebook owner Meta launched itself deeper into the Republican orbit on Monday, tapping former Trump administration adviser Dina Powell McCormick as its new president and vice chair.
The move is the latest step in the tech giant’s effort to smooth relations with President Donald Trump and the GOP as Washington’s balance of power shifts.
Powell McCormick’s resume straddles finance and government. According to The Wall Street Journal, she spent 16 years at Goldman Sachs, most recently held a senior role at BDT & MSD Partners, and served as Trump’s deputy national security adviser during his first term. Earlier in her career, she served under President George W. Bush.
She joined Meta’s board last April, part of a broader push by the company to bring prominent Republicans into the fold following Trump’s return to the White House. Monday’s promotion elevates her from board member to one of the most powerful executives inside the company.
Related | Meta’s the latest corporation to bend to Trump with $25 million payout
In a statement, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg praised Powell McCormick’s background in global finance and diplomacy. Her “experience at the highest levels of global finance, combined with her deep relationships around the world, makes her uniquely suited to help Meta manage this next phase of growth,” he said.
“She’ll be involved in all of Meta’s work, with a particular focus on partnering with governments and sovereigns to build, deploy, invest in, and finance Meta’s AI and infrastructure,” Zuckerberg added in a post on Threads announcing her new role.
Trump, for his part, wasted no time embracing the appointment. In a post on Truth Social, the president congratulated Powell McCormick and said Zuckerberg had made a “great choice,” calling her “a fantastic, and very talented, person, who served the Trump Administration with strength and distinction!”
Dave McCormick, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Pennsylvania, and his wife Dina Powell McCormick, greet supporters during a campaign event with Sen. Ted Cruz in Coplay, Pennsylvania, on Jan. 25, 2022.
On paper, Powell McCormick’s financial background aligns well with Meta’s ambitions. Still, her proximity to Trump and deep Republican ties are hard to ignore. Powell McCormick’s elevation comes as Meta continues its broader reset under the current administration, following years of tension.
Zuckerberg and Trump once had a famously icy relationship. Trump was banned from Facebook after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and the president spent years lambasting the platform.
But that dynamic has shifted dramatically during Trump’s second term. Zuckerberg had a front-row seat to Trump’s inauguration in January—alongside Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk—after donating $1 million to the inaugural fund, and has made multiple trips to Florida to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Meta has also adjusted its policies to better align with Republican priorities. Last year, the company scrapped its independent fact-checking program and rolled back diversity initiatives, both moves intended to curry favor with Trump. And after Zuckerberg raised concerns about digital services taxes at a White House meeting, Trump publicly threatened tariffs on countries that impose them.
Powell McCormick’s appointment fits neatly into that pattern. Since Trump’s election, Meta has steadily stocked its leadership ranks with GOP veterans. The company elevated former Republican official Joel Kaplan to serve as its global affairs lead, while naming Kevin Martin, a former Republican chair of the Federal Communications Commission, as his deputy.
Earlier this month, Meta also hired former Trump trade adviser C.J. Mahoney to lead its legal team, replacing Jennifer Newstead, who served in the Biden administration.
Related | Zuckerberg kills DEI programs as Meta spirals further toward MAGA
Speaking to Reuters, Meta declined to say whether Powell McCormick’s promotion was intended to seek favor with Trump, though a company statement emphasized her role in expanding Meta’s long-term investment capacity.
Powell McCormick’s political connections don’t stop with her own résumé, though. She’s also married to David McCormick, the Republican who won a closely watched Senate race in Pennsylvania in 2024.
Taken together, the moves suggest a company working hard not to end up on the wrong side of a combative White House. Once again, Silicon Valley looks less inclined to resist Trump’s Washington than to adapt to it.
