GSA was an early focus of the administration’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency. Douglas Rissing/Getty Images
Trump nominates financial executive to be GSA administrator
The nominee, Ed Forst, is a longtime Goldman Sachs alum.
The White House has named financial executive Edward Forst as nominee for the head of the General Services Administration, seven months into President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Forst is currently the chairman of Lion Capital, a British private equity firm. He previously worked at commercial real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield, and before that at Goldman Sachs for 17 years. He was also a senior advisor at the Treasury Department for one year in 2008, per his LinkedIn.
The nomination follows a recent leadership shakeup at the agency, which is a central nerve center for the government’s technology, real estate and procurement.
GSA was an early focus of the administration’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency. Last week, the acting head of the agency was replaced by Michael Rigas — the deputy secretary of state for management and resources at the State Department, who also served in the first Trump administration — in a move some at the agency have interpreted as a shift away from DOGE.
Since billionaire Elon Musk backed away from the effort earlier this summer, he’s publicly feuded with Trump, and the leadership of the efficiency effort has been unclear. Politico has reported that Steve Davis, Musk’s longtime associate and former operational head of DOGE, had sought to have GSA’s former acting head, Stephen Ehikian, and the agency’s Federal Acquisition Service commissioner, Josh Gruenbaum, lead DOGE.
At GSA, Rigas has brought with him officials he placed throughout the agency where DOGE members had held influence. Since his placement as acting head of the agency, other early Trump appointees at GSA — Frank Schuler and Michael Peters — have both resigned from their posts.
“We welcome President Trump's nomination of Ed Forst to serve as Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration,” Rigas, GSA’s acting administrator, told Nextgov/FCW in a statement. “We look forward to the confirmation process and the continued advancement of GSA’s priorities under his prospective leadership.”