5 things to know about Trump’s Secretary of State pick Rex Tillerson

As CEO of ExxonMobil, he’s negotiated major business deals with Russia. Tillerson first developed a working relationship with Putin in the 1990s while overseeing an Exxon project on Russia’s Sakhalin island, the Washington Post reported. In 2013, Tillerson was awarded the “Order of Friendship” by Putin, according to Politico. A former Eagle Scout, Tillerson served as national president of the Boy Scouts of America from 2010 to 2011. Tillerson is known for pushing the organization to lift its ban on gay scouts and scout leaders, The New York Times reported. Tillerson was recommended to Trump by former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Bob Gates and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Tillerson supported Trump’s rival Jeb Bush for president. He donated the maximum allowable contribution to Bush’s presidential campaign in September 2015, the Washington Post reported. He believes the threat of climate change is “real” and “serious." Under Tillerson’s leadership, Exxon shifted its position away from its past climate skepticism, recently officially acknowledging the link between greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel use and the warming climate, according to the Washington Post. The company is now on record as being supportive of identifying solutions to climate change.