Meta has appointed veteran banker and former Trump administration official Dina Powell McCormick as president and vice chairman, a high-profile hire aimed at strengthening the company’s capacity to finance and execute a sweeping expansion of its artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The announcement, made on Monday, positions Powell McCormick at the centre of Meta’s efforts to secure the financial and strategic partnerships needed to compete with rival technology companies in the race to build AI systems and the data centres and energy supply chains required to power them.
Powell McCormick, who previously served on Meta’s board, will now join the company’s management team in a senior operational role. According to Meta founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, she will help oversee “the massive physical and financial model that will power the next decade of computing.”
“Dina’s 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,” Zuckerberg said in a statement.
In a separate post, Zuckerberg clarified that Powell McCormick “will 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.”
The appointment reflects Meta’s recognition that its ambitions in artificial intelligence will require not only technical expertise but also significant capital mobilisation and diplomatic engagement. As the company ramps up spending on AI development, it is seeking new sources of funding and collaboration, particularly from sovereign wealth funds and government-backed investors.
Powell McCormick brings extensive experience in global finance and strategic advisory work. An Egyptian-American, she spent 16 years as a partner at Goldman Sachs, where she served on the firm’s management committee and led its global sovereign investment banking business. In that role, she developed relationships with governments and sovereign wealth funds, particularly in the Middle East, a region that has emerged as a major source of capital for AI infrastructure projects.
Sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East have been increasingly active in backing technology companies and AI-related ventures, making Powell McCormick’s network and expertise particularly relevant to Meta’s objectives. Her knowledge of sovereign investment strategies could prove critical as Meta seeks to expand its financing capacity and compete with other big tech firms in the scale and speed of AI infrastructure deployment.
Before joining Meta’s board, Powell McCormick worked at BDT & MSD Partners, a bank and advisory firm. According to news outlet Axios, the firm has been involved in efforts to secure US investors for TikTok, the Chinese-owned short-video platform that has faced regulatory scrutiny in the United States.
Powell McCormick’s career also includes a prominent political dimension. She served as deputy national security advisor during the first term of President Donald Trump, a role in which she helped shape US foreign policy and engaged with international leaders. Her appointment at Meta continues a broader shift in the company’s political and cultural positioning, one that has seen Zuckerberg and the company move closer to conservative and Republican figures.
Her hiring marks one of Meta’s most high-profile executive appointments since the departure of Sheryl Sandberg, the former chief operating officer and a member of the Clinton administration, who left the company in 2022. Sandberg had been a central figure in Meta’s leadership for years, shaping its business model and public image. Powell McCormick, by contrast, brings Republican credentials and a background in Trump-era governance, signalling a shift in the political affiliations of Meta’s top leadership.
Zuckerberg has in recent months made a visible pivot toward President Donald Trump and more conservative positions. The company has ended its third-party fact-checking programme, reversed diversity initiatives, and adopted a more confrontational and traditionally masculine public image. These moves have been widely interpreted as an effort to align with the Trump administration and reduce regulatory pressure on the company.
President Trump acknowledged Powell McCormick’s appointment in a social media post, calling her “a fantastic, and very talented, person, who served the Trump Administration with strength and distinction.”
Powell McCormick is married to Dave McCormick, the Republican senator from Pennsylvania, further deepening her ties to the current political landscape in Washington.
Meta’s AI infrastructure expansion is part of a broader industry trend in which technology companies are investing tens of billions of dollars in data centres, computing hardware, and energy infrastructure to support the development and deployment of advanced artificial intelligence systems. Companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have committed substantial resources to similar projects, creating intense competition for access to capital, energy, and technical talent.
The appointment of Powell McCormick signals Meta’s intention to secure the financial partnerships and government relationships necessary to sustain this level of investment. Her role will involve coordinating with sovereign investors, managing large-scale infrastructure financing, and navigating the complex geopolitical landscape that surrounds AI development.
