Dina Powell McCormick recently co-hosted a luncheon in Washington, D.C., an event Meta leveraged to highlight its ambitious artificial intelligence initiatives. The gathering, held in April amidst the pre-White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner festivities, drew a notable cross-section of political figures and business leaders, including Republican consultant Kellyanne Conway, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, and Democratic Senator John Fetterman. Powell McCormick, currently serving as president and vice chairman at Meta, used the platform to articulate the company’s strategic shift toward AI, emphasizing its potential impact on various sectors.
Her address underscored the scale of this technological transition, drawing parallels to transformative periods such as the Industrial Revolution and World War II. Powell McCormick suggested that the United States would require 250 gigawatts of power and an influx of 500,000 new electricians within two years to construct the necessary AI infrastructure. This vision forms a core part of Meta’s updated strategy, which includes substantial capital investments in AI data centers and infrastructure. The company increased its full-year 2026 capital expenditure guidance to a range of $125 billion to $145 billion, a notable increase from its previous projection.
Powell McCormick’s extensive network and experience across both government and finance are assets for Meta as it navigates this strategic pivot. Her career includes a significant tenure at Goldman Sachs, where she became a partner and held senior roles in finance and economic development, cultivating relationships with major institutional investors. During her time there, she also played a role in developing programs like 10,000 Small Businesses and 10,000 Women, initiatives designed to empower marginalized populations through education and capital. Her deep ties to Washington are equally significant; she served as a close advisor to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner during the Trump administration and was appointed deputy national security advisor for strategy, focusing on Middle East policy. These connections are particularly valuable given Meta’s ongoing legal challenges, which include an FTC appeal in an antitrust case and a landmark verdict concerning social media design and youth addiction.
Meta’s reorientation towards AI represents a departure from its previous primary focus on digital advertising across platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. While the company has acknowledged trailing competitors such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic in advanced AI model development, it possesses a considerable distribution advantage through its existing user base. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has outlined aggressive AI aspirations, necessitating a significant investment in compute infrastructure and a specialized talent pool. This strategic overhaul also involves a planned workforce reduction of approximately 10%, impacting around 8,000 jobs.
In her role, Powell McCormick co-leads Meta Compute, the division responsible for the company’s AI infrastructure build-out. She also spearheads an initiative aimed at helping small-business owners, including the 200 million already using Meta’s platforms, integrate AI tools into their operations. She articulated a belief that these products are designed to empower individuals ranging from small-business owners to welders, fiber technicians, and artists, connecting people in new ways. She expressed a personal commitment to ensuring that women, in particular, embrace AI, noting studies indicating a disparity in adoption rates compared to men. Her perspective is that AI can be transformative by giving individuals, especially mothers, more time, thereby helping them reach their potential.
Powell McCormick’s background, moving from Egypt to Texas at a young age and rising through various political and financial roles, underscores her ability to bridge diverse environments. From an internship in the state senate to serving as assistant secretary of state under George W. Bush, her career trajectory has consistently involved high-level engagement. Her current position at Meta, which she joined full-time in January after a year on its board, places her at the center of a critical technological evolution, tasked with advocating for the company’s vision among key stakeholders in both government and the financial sector.
