President Donald Trump has nominated long-time Wall Street executive Edward Forst to lead the General Services Administration (GSA) as its next administrator.
The White House announced Forst’s nomination late Thursday to fill the vacant role at the top of GSA, which has not had a Senate-confirmed administrator since Robin Carnahan left in January during the transition from the Biden administration to the second Trump administration.
If confirmed by the Senate, Forst will be taking over an agency that has been headed in an acting capacity since earlier this month by Michael Rigas, who also is deputy secretary of Sate for management and resources.
Prior to the appointment of Rigas, GSA was being run by Stephen Ehikian as acting administrator. He took on the new title of deputy administrator once Rigas arrived.
Under Ehikian’s leadership GSA has been instrumental in pushing forward the agency’s OneGov initiative which aims to modernize and streamline Federal IT and other acquisitions through standardized terms and pricing. The OneGov initiative is executing on an executive order signed by President Trump in March that looks to consolidate Federal procurement, including IT contracts, under GSA.
Forst most recently served as a chairman and partner of Lion Capital, a private equity firm headquartered in London, from 2020 to 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He also spent 16 years at Goldman Sachs where he held positions including co-chief executive officer of asset management, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, and chairman of the global capital commitments committee.
He also has been CEO and president of global real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, and executive vice president and principal operating officer at Harvard University.
The nominee’s experience in the Federal government includes a stint as advisor to the Treasury secretary between 2008 and 2009.
Forst currently serves on the boards of Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health, the Investment Committee of Roundabout Theater, and the East Hampton Healthcare Foundation.
He holds a master’s in business administration from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s of art in economics from Harvard University.