President elect Trump's Social Security Administration nominee is Frank Bisignano. Like many other Trump appointees Bisignano has a Wall Street and private equity underwriter (PEU) background. Frank's was Chair and CEO of KKR affiliate First Data. First Data was later acquired by Fiserv in 2019.
First Data and KKR paid Bisignano's former employer Jamie Dimon/JP Morgan after Frank violated his employment contract by hiring a number of JP Morgan executives. The settlement was "just under $10 million."
Frank got the next laugh on Jamie by out earning him.
There's a scorecard in there that these guys regularly monitor. Social Security could easily become a chit in their games that include invisible moves and taking very good care of their friends using other people's money.
Bisignano sat on the board of giant health insuror Humana from 2017 until mid 2022. His early Humana bio indicates:
"Mr. Bisignano was previously vice chairman of the Options Clearing Corporation and a board member for the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation"
His annual Humana board compensation:
- 2018 - $323,019
- 2019 - $324,365
- 2020 - $321,177
- 2021 - $133,354
Frank's total Humana board pay was over $1.1 million. Bisignano served on the board organization and compensation committee, responsible for approving outsized pay packages for CEO Bruce Broussard and other executives. Broussard moved his office to Washington, D.C. to get closer to the action.
During his time on Humana's board the company purchased Kindred Healthcare's hospice and home health divisions in conjunction with two PEUs, TPG and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS). Humana had the minority stake (40%) with PEUs holding 60%, but Humana operated the company.
While Bisignano made $647,384 (2018-2019) Humana drastically cut staff at our local hospice, eliminated two paid holidays and reduced holiday pay from 1.5x to regular hourly rate.
Frank has ties to another legendary private equity underwriter, Carlyle Group co-founder Daniel D'Aniello. Bisignano serves on the Advisory Board of Syracuse University's D'Aniello Institute for Veterans & Military Families. Carlyle connections around Washington, D.C. are serious political currency.
So far we have KKR, TPG, WCAS and Carlyle. I'm sure this is the tip of the Bisignano PEU iceberg.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one. It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their friends. Frank Bisignano could steer a good chunk of that as Social Security Administration Commissioner. How much will go to his PEU peers?
