Wilbur Ross, 79-year-old American investor specializing in distressed assets, has been named commerce secretary in President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration.
Ross was previously part of the Trump campaign’s economic team (as senior adviser on trade) and contributed to Trump’s 100-day action plan.
The billionaire investor was one of Trump’s early supporters and has known the president-elect for decades, helping Trump avoid bankruptcy in the 1980s. He has supported Trump’s hostile stance against free-trade agreements like NAFTA while welcoming the proposal to drastically cut taxes on corporations.
Ross, known as the “King of Bankruptcy,” is a big fan of deregulation and has been accused of being anti-worker for his business dealings. On Election Day, he said a Hillary Clinton presidency would essentially be a “third term of Obama” and push the US into a recession.
With a net worth of $2.9 billion, Ross ranks 232nd on 2016’s Forbes 400 list. He began his career at Rothschild, spending the next 25 years working on bankruptcy and restructuring before going on to found WL Ross & Co. in 2000. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard University.