Trump nominates former private equity executive Edward Forst as GSA administrator
President Donald Trump has nominated Edward Forst, a longtime financial services executive, to serve as the next administrator of the General Services Administration.
The nomination was received in the Senate and referred to the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday, congressional records show.
“We welcome the nomination of Ed Forst to serve as Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration,” Marianne Copenhaver, GSA’s associate administrator for strategic communications, said in a statement to FedScoop. “We look forward to the confirmation process and the continued advancement of GSA’s priorities under his prospective leadership.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, Forst was most recently the chairman of Lion Capital, a private equity firm, and previously served as president and CEO of Cushman and Wakefield, a real estate services firm.
Earlier in his career, Forst spent nearly 17 years at Goldman Sachs, and in 2008, he served as an adviser to the Treasury secretary for a year, per his LinkedIn.
A request for comment by FedScoop to Forst via LinkedIn wasn’t answered by the time of publication.
The nomination follows various staff shakeups at GSA and comes just weeks after Trump tapped State Department leader Michael Rigas to serve as GSA’s acting administrator. Rigas is also serving as the deputy secretary for management and resources and was previously a senior adviser to the Trump-Vance 2025 transition team.
Prior to Rigas’ appointment, Stephen Ehikian, a former Salesforce vice president, held the role of GSA’s acting administrator since former GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan resigned in January.
Ehikian, who is still working at the GSA as deputy administrator, was linked to the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency. Politico reported earlier this week that the White House has since detailed nine federal workers to GSA who are believed to be more aligned with Trump than the “unconventional” staffers Musk preferred while leading DOGE.
