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The 2017 Pension Political Power 25: Steven Mnuchin

No. 5 Steven Mnuchin

By Peter Vasiliev

February 14, 2017

< 25 Top Pension Power Players

5. Steven Mnuchin

Secretary of the Treasury

Think presumptive Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin won’t have much time to deal with pensions? Think again. The Treasury secretary is one of three board members of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., so pensions fall squarely in his purview. Also, Mnuchin, 54, inherits two ticking pension time bombs. One is the Puerto Rico debt crisis; the other is what to do about the U.S.’s troubled multiemployer retirement funds. Puerto Rico secured itself a stay of execution via the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, which Congress passed in June 2016. The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, formed as part of that legislation, has until February 15 to come up with a plan, but that date is fast approaching. Now Puerto Rico is Mnuchin’s problem, and fixing the commonwealth’s $49 billion pension burden must be a part of any realistic path to fiscal stability. As for U.S. trade unions, they’re not going to wait quietly for a resolution to their growing pension woes. . — Imogen Rose-Smith

The 2017 Pension Political Power 25