Social Security commissioner named CEO of IRS in unprecedented dual leadership role
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- Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano was named Monday to the newly created position of IRS CEO while keeping his current role.
- The appointment continues leadership shuffling at the IRS, which has had multiple acting commissioners since Trump took office.
- Bisignano joins several Trump administration officials holding multiple federal agency positions simultaneously.
WASHINGTON — Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano was named Monday to the newly created position of Internal Revenue Service chief executive, making him the latest member of the Trump administration to be put in charge of multiple federal agencies.
As IRS CEO, Bisignano will report to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who currently serves as acting commissioner of the agency, the Treasury Department says. It is unclear whether Bisignano’s newly created role will require Senate confirmation.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that Bisignano will be responsible for overseeing all day-to-day IRS operations while also continuing to serve in his role as commissioner of the Social Security Administration.
Bessent said in a statement that the IRS and SSA “share many of the same technological and customer service goals. This makes Mr. Bisignano a natural choice for this role.”
The move to install Bisignano at the IRS adds another layer to the leadership shuffling that has occurred at the agency since the beginning of Trump’s term. Bessent was named acting commissioner in August after Trump removed former U.S. Rep. Billy Long from the role less than two months after his confirmation, and made him ambassador to Iceland.
The four acting commissioners who preceded Long in the job included one who resigned over a deal between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and another whose appointment led to a fight between former Trump advisor Elon Musk and Bessent.
With two day jobs, Bisignano joins a number of other Trump administration officials to wear multiple hats, including Bessent, Marco Rubio, Sean Duffy, Jamieson Greer and Russell Vought.
Bisignano has served as chair of Fiserv, a payments and financial services tech firm, since 2020. He is a onetime defender of corporate policies to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination.
Hussein writes for the Associated Press.
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