David Steiner, who also served as president and chief executive officer of Waste Management Inc., is expected to start in July.
Postal Service leaders on Friday selected David Steiner, a member of FedEx’s board, to be the country’s next postmaster general, a choice that critics fear could expedite the Trump administration’s push to privatize the independent agency.
Mr. Steiner, who also served as president and chief executive of Waste Management Inc., is set to take over the post office as it grapples with uncertainty over its future and loses billions of dollars annually. He is expected to start in July after clearing background and ethics checks, agency officials said on Friday.
“I deeply admire the public service and business mission of this amazing institution, and I believe strongly in maintaining its role as an independent establishment of the executive branch,” Mr. Steiner said in a statement. “I am excited by the challenges ahead and by the many opportunities to shape a vibrant, durable and increasingly competitive future for the Postal Service.”
Some Democratic lawmakers and union leaders expressed deep concern over Mr. Steiner’s appointment because of his connection to a direct competitor of the Postal Service. Although the postmaster general is selected by the agency’s board and not the White House, President Trump has said that he would consider a major reorganization of the agency in an attempt to reverse its financial fortunes. In February, Mr. Trump said his administration would look at a “form of a merger,” and that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick would help lead the initiative.
Many Democratic lawmakers and union leaders saw the effort as a way for the administration to take control of the agency and try to sell off or outsource major aspects of its services to private companies. Doing so would disproportionately affect rural areas, they said, where it is less profitable for private companies to deliver mail.
“The Trump administration has been relentless in its attempts to privatize America’s most trusted institution both outwardly and behind the scenes,” Representative Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said in a statement. “It is a blatant conflict of interest.”