Rex Tillerson has been the chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp for 10 years and, like Mr Trump, has never held public office.
US President-elect Donald Trump says Rex Tillerson's background as a successful international dealmaker makes him a prime choice to serve as America's new Secretary of State.
A statement from Mr Trump says the Exxon Mobil chief will fight for America's best interests after years of what he calls "misguided foreign policies" that have "weakened" the country's position on the international stage.
As CEO of the world's largest energy company, Mr Tillerson established close relationships in several foreign countries.
His most public ally is Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Amid reports that the Central Intelligence Agency believes Russian hackers helped Mr Trump secure the Presidency, Mr Tillerson's appointment has been met with scepticism from White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
"Throughout his campaign, the President-elect indicated his intent to pursue warmer relations with Russia. So what better way to do that than to choose somebody who's been awarded the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin to be your Secretary of State? So this isn't a surprising or unexpected development. I suspect there will be many members of Congress in both parties who will have some questions about that."
Mr Tillerson has been backed by several Republican establishment figures, including two former Secretaries of State: James Baker and Condoleezza Rice.
Others in the party are less optimistic.
Before the announcement, Republican Senator John McCain said Mr Trump's pick would undergo a thorough confirmation hearing by the US senate.
And for Mr Tillerson, Senator McCain says his relationship to Russia will be publicly dissected.
"Anybody who's a friend of Vladimir Putin must disregard the fact that Vladimir Putin is a murderer, a thug, a KGB agent whose airplanes as we speak are targeting with precision weapons hospitals in Aleppo, have committed atrocities throughout the region, has invaded Ukraine trying to destabilise Baltic countries, the list goes on on and on, and I don't see how anyone can be a friend of this old-time KGB agent."
Mr Tillerson's appointment has been cautiously welcomed by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop.
"Many Australians who have worked for Exxon Mobil speak very highly of him. He will, it would seem, have an extraordinary network of contacts and as the head of a multinational company, one of the largest in the world, he will have a very deep understanding of foreign affairs."
US Democratic Congressman Eliot Engel is sceptical, saying the appointment poses "an untenable conflict at the State Department".
It's also puzzled analysts, including political science professor Matthew Wilson from Southern Methodist University.
"It is certainly surprising. Usually you look in a secretary of state for someone who has some level of diplomatic experience, perhaps some foreign service experience. This choice would not reflect that. This would be very much a corporate choice. Perhaps someone who would be more appropriate to be secretary of energy or secretary of commerce. But nothing with Donald Trump has been by the book and I think this is just a continuation of that."
But Victor Kremenyuk, from the Institute of US Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, says ultimately Mr Trump will still be calling the shots.
"He (Tillerson) doesn't have his own policy and has never had one. He will be doing what the president tells him. If he says 'Let's be friends with the Russians', he will do it. If the president says: 'There's no need to be friends with the Russians', he won't. He's not yet the type of politician whose views are widely known."
President Putin has told Russian TV he is willing to meet Mr Trump after he's finalised his administration.
"It's widely known that the President-elect of the United States is in favour of normalising relations between Russia and the US. We can't ignore this. Of course we're in favour of it. But as I've said in the past it won't be an easy task, keeping in mind the degree of degradation in current Russian-American relations. But we are ready to fulfil our part."
China says it's also looking forward to working with the new US Secretary of State, despite tensions surrounding Mr Trump's phone call with the President of Taiwan.
With a little over a month before Mr Trump's inauguration, US President Barack Obama says he will be watching the new administration closely.
In an interview with the Daily Show, President Obama vowed to speak up if he thinks core American values are being threatened.
"I'll be paying attention; I'll be a citizen of this country that I love deeply. I don't anticipate that I suddenly just vanish. But I think it's important to give the incoming administration the space and to give the public clarity about what it is that they're trying to do."
