The Social Security Administration announced a new leadership roster and agency reorganization on Wednesday, installing several industry executives from organizations including the National Rifle Association and X with no government experience.
Many of the recent additions to Commissioner Frank Bisignano’s leadership team have never worked in the government at all. Although SSA released the list of executives this week, those helming the roles aren’t necessarily new to the jobs. Some have been in these roles for months.
“By combining the knowledge and experience of long-term career employees with new perspectives and talent of recent appointees, we are aligning our organization with today’s priorities and tomorrow’s opportunities,” Bisignano said in a statement.
SSA’s chief communications officer, Nicholas Perrine, formerly worked at the NRA for 13 years as its director of executive operations, per his LinkedIn.
The outward-facing media part of the communications office, which also has other duties like running websites, has been centralized to the commissioners office. The entire shop has lost around 100 employees to people leaving government service entirely or being reassigned to other work, according to a former SSA official, who requested anonymity because of fear of retaliation.
SSA’s two chief information officers, both with connections to Elon Musk businesses and no government experience, are in charge of the agency’s technology. SSA has had at least four different CIOs since Trump took office.
Michael Russo, charged with core business functions, is an associate of the Department of Government Efficiency and was previously the agency’s CIO before being moved to a senior advisor position. Previously, he worked for years as an executive at a tech company that does payment processing for Musk’s Starlink.
Aram Moghaddassi, who’s in charge of technology and consumer products at SSA, previously worked for Elon Musk companies X and Neuralink.
Russo and Moghaddassi are both specifically named alongside two other DOGE associates in a recent whistleblower account alleging that DOGE officials employed by the agency put SSA data on Americans at risk by uploading a copy of SSA information into a cloud server.
They’re two of several executives with no prior experience at the agency.
According to Kathleen Romig, director of social security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the number of executives new to the agency is unusual.
“Previously, most agency leaders were long-serving career officials with deep expertise in the agency’s programs, operations and the beneficiaries it serves. They provided institutional knowledge and continuity over time,” she told Nextgov/FCW. “The majority of Social Security’s leaders have no previous government experience or Social Security expertise.”
The agency’s new chief of field operations, Andy Sriubas, comes from a job as the chief commercial officer of Outfront Media, a 2,000-employee commercial billboard company. Mark Quinlan, the chief of processing centers at SSA, worked as executive vice president and chief information officer of First National Bank of Pennsylvania, a regional bank.
SSA’s chief of law, policy and legislative affairs, Mark Steffensen — who’s been at the agency since February in a deputy commissioner role — comes from HSBC, a bank and financial services group.
Thomas Holland, who started as the agency’s chief financial officer in May, has a long track record at global consultancy Bain & Company. He more recently worked at Homebound, a real estate startup.
A few in leadership roles at SSA aren’t new to the agency, including the chief of staff and chief risk officer, Chad Poist; chief actuary, Karen Glenn; chief of digital services, Stephen Evangelista; and chief human capital officer, Florence Felix-Lawson. Some have worked at SSA for years.
SSA’s new chief of security and resiliency, Jessica Taylor, is new to the agency, but has worked in the government for years, most recently as the director of the U.S. Park Police.
The agency also announced a reorganization on Wednesday, although sources within SSA said that Bisignano’s plan — which touts realigning the agency’s operational functions into three buckets: field operations, processing center and digital service — remains in its infancy, with scant details.
“We’re still working toward obtaining additional information on the full scope and effect of the reorganization operations on the bargaining unit,” said Rich Couture, spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees’ SSA general committee. ”Certainly we’re interested in ensuring that the rights of the employees and the rights of our union are honored through this process.”
