GSA announces a fresh cohort of Presidential Innovation Fellows

The General Services Administration announced 17 new Presidential Innovation Fellows on Thursday, refreshing the technologist-focused program.

A release shared with FedScoop ahead of the announcement described the 2026 cohort as “experts from top tech companies, startups, and organizations around the country.” Per that announcement, the fellows will serve their yearlong tours of duty at 10 federal agencies. The PIF program is located under GSA’s Technology Transformation Services and has been around since 2012.

“This class of PIFs represents the highest standard of technical talent in the federal government,” Greg Barbaccia, the federal chief information officer and acting director of TTS, said in a statement included in the release. “Their advanced expertise will advise our partner agencies on how they can best scale, secure, and transform the technologies that power our government.”

The announcement comes as President Donald Trump has focused efforts on technology hiring, including its U.S. Tech Force program for early career workers and recent news that the U.S. DOGE Service — formerly the U.S. Digital Service — is expanding. In fact, the PIF announcement noted that in addition to the new class of fellows, GSA has hired “top technology talent” recently to focus on priorities such as Login.gov, TTS engineering and USAi.

“The PIF program represents one of several pathways GSA is using to build federal technology capacity, alongside direct hiring authorities and other specialized recruitment programs,” per the announcement.

Notably, the Trump administration’s current hiring efforts follow its previous work to reduce the size of the federal workforce, including technologists. Within GSA, the Trump administration eliminated 18F and oversaw the alteration of the U.S. Digital Service to the U.S. DOGE Service. In February 2025, WIRED reported that the administration’s terminations of probationary and short-term workers included fellows in the PIF program.

While the PIF program began in 2012, it became a permanent fixture of the federal government in 2015 via an executive order signed by President Barack Obama. The model allows established technologists to serve tours of duty in the government to share their expertise.

The new fellows and their agencies are:

• Richard Cocchiara, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity Division 
• Janet Covey, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity Division 
• Grace Hoang, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity Division
• Yosh Miller, Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Osazee Paul, Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology Adler Archer, Department of Energy, Office of Geothermal
• Jessica Wang, Department of Energy, Office of Policy
• Ben Wilson, Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy
• Felix Wang, Department of State, Consular Affairs – Overseas Citizens Services
• Anastasia Hanan, Department of State, Consular Affairs – Passports
• Lacey Jacoby, Department of State, Consular Affairs – Executive Director
• Adam Mansour, Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of the CTO & CAIO
• Mahruq Siddiqui, Executive Office of the President, Council on Environmental Quality
• Janel Paulk, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight
• Suzanne Currie, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service
• Daniel Elkins, U.S. Army Corps of Engineer, Regulatory Program
• Anne Marie Alexander, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Bridge Programs