Should she be confirmed by the U.S. Senate as administrator of the Small Business Administration, Linda McMahon said she would divest herself of an array of assets and positions, including her vice chairmanship of the board of trustees of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.
Although the co-founder with her husband, Vince, of Stamford-based World Wrestling Entertainment, McMahon left that company to mount what proved to be two failed bids as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, losing in 2010 to Richard Blumenthal and in 2012 to Chris Murphy.
In a letter to the Small Business Administration and filings with the Office of Government Ethics, McMahon reported millions of dollars”™ worth of stocks, bonds, mutual funds real estate and other assets, including property in New York valued at $5 million to $25 million and dividends of over $5 million a year from WWE stock valued at more than $50 million.
Within 90 days of her confirmation, McMahon said she would divest her interests in the HPD Alkeon Growth Partners Fund and Skybridge Multi-Advisor Fund Portfolios, reporting that she has invested $1 million to $5 million in each of those funds. Within 180 days of her confirmation, she stated that she would divest her interest in HPD Millennium Strategic Capital Fund, another hedge fund in which she has an interest worth between $1 million to $5 million.
Upon her confirmation, she also agreed to resign from the Sacred Heart board, of which she”™s been a member since 2004; the Stamford-based nonprofit Vincent & Linda Family Foundation; APCO Worldwide, a Washington D.C.-based public relations firm; the nonprofit Close Up Foundation; American Corporate Partner, Inc., a mentoring program for veterans; McMahon Ventures, a consulting firm based in her home state of North Carolina; and Women”™s Leadership LIVE, an organization that supports female entrepreneurs.
Such divestitures and resignations are designed to prevent the appearance of conflicts of interest. As for her remaining connections to WWE, McMahon noted that her husband is employed by and has an equity interest in the company but stated that she would not “participate personally and substantially in any particular matter that to my knowledge has a direct and predictable effect on the financial interests of the World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., unless I first obtain a written waiver.”
McMahon easily won approval on Jan. 31 by the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, which voted 18-1 to advance her nomination to the full Senate; in turn, it is expected to confirm her as a member of the Trump Administration.
