Politics

Trump picks NHL team owner for Army secretary

Businessman Vincent Viola arrives at Trump Tower for meetings with Donald Trump.Getty Images

WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump tapped a fellow New York billionaire Monday to join his prosperous cabinet.

Brooklyn native Vincent “Vinnie” Viola, a former Army infantry officer and owner of the NHL Florida Panthers, is Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Army.

“Vinnie has proved throughout his life that he knows how to be a leader and deliver major results in the face of any challenge,” Trump said in a statement announcing his pick. “He is a man of outstanding work ethic, integrity, and strategic vision, with an exceptional ability to motivate others.”

Viola joins a cabinet that’s shaping up to be the wealthiest Administration in modern history.

Among the other successful Trump nominees are billionaire industrialist Wilbur Ross for commerce secretary; Todd Ricketts, son of a billionaire and co-owner of Chicago Cubs, for deputy commerce secretary; former Goldman Sachs executive and Hollywood financier Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary, Michigan billionaire and school choice activist Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary and Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State.

Born and raised in Brooklyn to Italian immigrant parents, Viola was the first in his family to attend college, graduating from West Point in 1977, Ranger School and later earning his juris doctor in 1983 from New York Law School.

He was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served in the 101st Airborne Division. Viola financially backed the creation of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point following the Sept.11 terrorist attacks.

Instead of the courtroom, Voila turned to trading in the 1980s and was appointed in 2001 as chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In 2008, he founded Virtu Financial, a large high-frequency trading firm, and took the company public in 2015.

He purchased the Florida hockey team in 2013.

Viola says his priority would be to make sure US soldiers have the necessary resources.

“A primary focus of my leadership will be ensuring that America’s soldiers have the ways and means to fight and win across the full spectrum of conflict,” Viola said in a statement. “This great honor comes with great responsibility, and I will fight for the American people and their right to live free every day.”

Like the incoming commander-in-chief, Viola values good real estate. He was in a court battle with a Brooklyn Law School instructor who refused to move out of the prime Brooklyn Heights waterfront property Viola purchased for $35 million in 2015.

Viola lives in New York City with his wife, Teresa.