Who is Frank Bisignano, the new CEO of the IRS?

And you thought you were wearing many hats at work…

Frank Bisignano is officially doing double duty. This month, Bisignano was appointed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, to take on the newly created role of CEO of the IRS. That brings his full-time job count up to two: Bisignano is already the head of the Social Security Administration.

If you’re glancing at your unread emails and wondering how anyone could possibly balance two stressful government agency gigs, you’re not alone.

The Treasury Department said in a statement that the IRS and Social Security Administration “share many of the same technological and customer service goals,” making “Mr. Bisignano a natural choice for this role.” But news of his appointment has ushered in worried comments from Social Security advocates who believe that whole thing about chasing two rabbits.

How’s he going to handle it? It helps to take a look at his track record (and new job description).

Double duty. Before his new gig(s), Bisignano served as CEO of financial services and payments firm Fiserv from 2020. The year before, as CEO of First Data, he led a merger with that firm and Fiserv, according to the Treasury Department. Prior to those roles, he served as COO of JPMorgan Chase, and he held a number of roles at Citigroup, including CEO of its global transaction services unit.

In his new (IRS) gig, Bisignano will report directly to Bessent, who’ll stay in place as acting commissioner. Because Bisignano’s role didn’t previously exist at the IRS, he’ll likely avoid a lengthy Senate confirmation process.

As far as a job description goes, the Treasury Department said Bisignano will oversee “all day-to-day IRS operations while also continuing to serve in his role as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration.”

The leadership reshuffling is part of a larger trend at the IRS since the start of President Trump’s second term. Since January, Trump has kept turnover remarkably high, going through six IRS leaders in that time. One of them, Billy Long, “an auctioneer and former Republican representative from Missouri whose tax experience consisted of a three-day course,” only lasted in the role for 53 days, CFO Brew previously reported. That’s not even the shortest tenure: Another IRS commissioner, Gary Shapley, held the title for just a handful of days in April.

In addition to a remarkable leadership turnover rate, the Trump administration has also shrunk the agency’s workforce by 26% this year.

Too many hats? Given the challenges facing the IRS, some experts have called into question Bisignano’s hiring and the nature of his multi-tasking role.

“I don’t see how you can [hold both roles] with the IRS being gutted the way it is, Social Security being gutted the way it is, the massive changes that they’ve got underway, and a massive tax law that you’ve got underway,” Nina Olson, former national taxpayer advocate, the IRS’s “consumer watchdog,” between 2001 and 2019, told the Washington Post.

“This arrangement doesn’t sound like stability at the IRS,” Alex Muresianu, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, told CNBC. “To me, this seems like yet another sort of odd, unusual interim arrangement.”

Others are worried that the sensitive information under the purview of the different agencies could intermingle.

“The reason it’s never happened in the history of the country is because there are two separate positions for very good reasons,” Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group that calls for the expansion of Social Security, told CNBC.

There might be a reason most of us only have one full-time job.