US President Donald Trump has wasted little time in kickstarting the leadership transition process at the country’s export credit agency, making three senior appointments on the first day of his new term.

David Slade, José Cunningham and Bryce McFerran are the initial senior members of the so-called “beachhead team” at the Export-Import Bank of the United States (US Exim), and according to a statement, were sworn in “immediately” after Trump’s inauguration as the 47th US president yesterday.

Slade joins as senior counsel and will lead the team, while Cunningham and McFerran take on senior advisor roles.

“The ‘beachhead’ team is responsible for assisting the new administration during the transition and will be working in the coming weeks to bring on additional staff,” a US Exim spokesperson tells GTR.

Reta Jo Lewis’s term as US Exim’s president and chair drew to a close on January 20, nearly three years after her appointment by the Joe Biden administration.

Two US Exim board members – vice chair Judith Pryor and director Owen Herrnstadt – have also seen their terms expire, while director Spencer Bachus will remain on the board until 2027, the spokesperson says.

For now, it remains unclear who Trump will nominate to lead the agency on a permanent basis. It took the Biden administration over a year to complete the selection and confirmation process for Lewis.

Bachus will be interim chair of the agency, US Exim’s spokesperson says.

Meanwhile, Kimberly Reed, who previously led US Exim under Trump, is also part of the transition team.

Reed was present at the virtual ceremony announcing the beachhead appointments yesterday. Speaking at the event, she flagged the ECA’s progress during Trump’s first spell at the White House.

“During President Trump’s first term, we were proud to work with the extraordinary career staff to re-open Exim and secure the longest Congressional reauthorisation in the agency’s nearly-91-year history,” Reed told attendees, in reference to the 2019 legislation that reinstated US Exim’s financing powers.

Prior to this, the agency spent four years without a board quorum and lost market share to rivals in Asia and Europe.

Reed also noted the launch during Trump’s first term of the China and Transformational Exports Program, which aims to help US exporters compete with Chinese rivals and win contracts overseas.

US Congress directed the agency to establish the initiative in 2019 and instructed it to ringfence 20% of its financing authority – equivalent to US$27bn – with a focus on 10 key sectors.

“As Exim’s 2026 Congressional reauthorisation approaches, this team will continue our important work of getting deals done to empower US workers to compete and win in the face of fierce global competition and advance our nation’s economic and national security,” Reed added.

Senior counselor Slade previously served as US Exim’s general counsel during Trump’s first term.

He most recently worked as a peerpoint attorney at Allen & Overy and has more than three decades of experience in the private sector as an international project finance lawyer.

Senior advisor Cunningham served within the US Department of Commerce during Trump’s first term. He also previously held chief sales and business development roles at three global law firms: Nixon Peabody, Crowell & Moring and Shaw Pittman.

McFerran was most recently vice-president of the Zug Commodities Association and director of Black Bay Services, an international trading and logistics firm.

“McFerran has extensive experience in international management, trade, banking, finance and logistics, having begun his career at Morgan Stanley in the US and more recently leading various international physical commodities trading and financing businesses,” US Exim says.

More staff announcements will be made soon, the agency says.