Gordon Hartogensis was nominated by President Donald Trump to be director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. on Tuesday.
If confirmed, he would replace W. Thomas Reeder Jr., who was nominated by Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate in October 2015. It could not be learned why Mr. Trump is looking to replace Mr. Reeder.
The White House said in a statement that Mr. Hartogensis is an investor and technology sector leader in software development with experience managing financial equities, bonds and private placements. He currently serves as director of a family trust. He co-founded Auric Technology LLC, a company that develops customer relationship management software.
Mr. Hartogensis is also Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao's brother-in-law.
Former PBGC Director Joshua Gotbaum noted that like many past directors, Mr. Hartogensis doesn't bring pension expertise, "but that's not what the agency needs. It has plenty of experts. What the retirement community needs now is an active, creative PBGC to help figure out how to preserve multiemployer plans and the hundreds of businesses and millions of people who depend on them," Mr. Gotbaum said. "If Mr. Hartogensis takes on these challenges with the energy he showed in private business, he'll turn out to be a good choice."