“I am proud to have such an incredibly accomplished and selfless individual as Vincent Viola as our secretary of the Army,” Donald Trump said. | AP Photo Trump picks businessman Viola as Army secretary

President-elect Donald Trump has selected billionaire businessman Vincent Viola as the next Army secretary.

A retired Army major and West Point graduate, Viola founded Virtu Financial, an electronic trading firm, in 2008. It went public in 2015 and is valued at $2.4 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Trump’s transition team played up Viola’s business background in announcing his selection Monday, saying his “business experience makes him well positioned to help guide a Fortune 10-sized company, the U.S. Army, to accomplish its broad mission in the most innovative and efficient way possible.”

“I am proud to have such an incredibly accomplished and selfless individual as Vincent Viola as our secretary of the Army,” Trump said in a statement. “Whether it is his distinguished military service or highly impressive track record in the world of business, Vinnie has proved throughout his life that he knows how to be a leader and deliver major results in the face of any challenge."

The son of a Brooklyn truck driver, Viola graduated from West Point in 1977 and served with the 101st Airborne before transition to the Army Reserve following his active-duty service.

After law school, he became a trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was appointed its chairman in 2001.

Viola is worth $1.8 billion, according to Forbes, putting him at No. 374 on its list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. He's also owner of the Florida Panthers, an NHL franchise.

The Panthers said in a statement on Monday that if Viola is confirmed, the team's ownership would be placed "in a trust, subject to NHL Board of Governors approval, for the benefit of the other members of the Viola family."

Viola's New York-based Virtu Financial is one of the largest high-frequency trading companies, a business model that came under pressure in 2014 shortly after Michael Lewis’ bestseller “Flash Boys” debuted.

The book alleged the markets were rigged against investors who do not have the supercomputers needed to compete in the stock market.

Regulators have scrambled ever since to address concerns about high-frequency trading, with the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York attorney general both requesting information from Virtu, the company said in filings.

The firm also came under criticism from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

When Virtu filed for an initial public offering in 2014, the firm said it had turned a profit almost every day of trading. But Warren said that near-perfect record suggested it was not taking risks with investments but rather profiting from other investors’ trades.

Virtu makes money by taking very small profits on trading based on the difference between what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers are willing to accept. To make that model work, it operates on a global scale. As of Sept. 30, it was trading in 12,000 financial instruments 235 venues in 36 countries.

Virtu’s CEO and co-founder, Douglas Cifu, issued a statement saying the company was "honored and proud” that Viola has been nominated to be secretary of the Army. A company spokesman declined to comment further.

While his experience has been primarily in business the past several decades, he played a key role in launching the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point in 2002, a point that Trump’s transition team noted in announcing his pick.

If confirmed as Army secretary by the Senate, Viola would replace Eric Fanning, who has served in the role for less than a year after his confirmation was delayed by Senate Republicans.

But the initial reaction suggests Senate confirmation could be an easy lift. Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) praised his fellow New Yorker on Twitter on Monday, saying "I've known Vinnie Viola for a over decade, and his dedication to the @USArmy is second to none."

"Of course, all PEOTUS' nominees need a thorough investigation & questioning at their Senate hearings but Mr. Viola is up to the job," Schumer said in a subsequent tweet.