Trump nominates banking, real estate executive to be GSA administrator
President Donald Trump nominated Ed Forst, chairman of Lion Capital, to be the GSA’s permanent leader.
Michael Rigas’ term as the acting administrator of the General Services Administration likely will be a short one. President Donald Trump nominated Ed Forst, chairman of Lion Capital and a former senior advisor to the secretary of the Treasury Department during the administration of President George W. Bush, to be the agency’s permanent leader.
“We welcome President Trump’s nomination of Ed Forst to serve as administrator of the General Services Administration. We look forward to the confirmation process and the continued advancement of GSA’s priorities under his prospective leadership,” said Acting Administrator Mike Rigas in a statement to Federal News Network.
Forst needs to be confirmed by the Senate.
Rigas joined GSA last week as acting administrator, replacing Stephen Ehikian, who stayed on as deputy GSA administrator. Ehikian had been acting GSA administrator since January.
Forst would come to GSA after spending most of his career in the private sector, specifically the banking and real estate sectors.
He has led Lion Capital since 2020. The firm invests in companies from the clothing and food sectors, including Gordon Ramsay, Jimmy Choo and Weetabix.
Before coming to Lion Capital, Forst served as CEO of commercial real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield for two years and worked for Goldman Sachs for 17 years.
Forst would inherit an agency that has been at the center of much of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal government. GSA has been leading efforts to reduce the size of the federal real estate portfolio, reimagine federal acquisition, including becoming the centralize office for buying for common goods and services, renegotiating technology contracts and providing technology tools like artificial intelligence to other agencies.
At the same time, GSA is reducing the size of its workforce. In its fiscal 2026 budget request to Congress, the agency said it is shrinking its workforce by more than 30 percent.
“As GSA continues to right size our real estate portfolio, reduce the number of external contracts, and unleash technology to streamline government operations, the agency’s budget requests will incorporate even more savings in the coming years,” GSA stated in its request. “GSA’s revolving funds budget requests also reflect the administration’s commitment to efficient government operations. The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) continues to provide efficient and effective acquisition solutions across the Federal Government. In fiscal 2026, FAS will focus on leveraging the Government’s buying power to secure the best prices for the taxpayer while streamlining and consolidating Government-wide procurement through a whole-of-Government approach. The Public Buildings Service (PBS) is requesting net zero obligational authority in addition to its anticipated annual revenues and collections for a total of $10.5 billion in Federal Buildings Fund (FBF) new obligational authority (NOA). The requested NOA includes $1.7 billion for GSA’s Capital Investment Program, whose funds are used to repair mission critical federally owned facilities, reduce operating expenses, consolidate into long term assets and facilitate the disposal of underutilized assets through the optimization of core federal buildings.”
Forst would take over at GSA during a time of leadership change.
Several sources say Ehikian may be on the way out in the coming weeks as well as other political appointees. Forst would need to bring in another deputy administrator as well as a new commissioner of the Public Buildings Service. Michael Peters, the current PBS commissioner, announced he’s leaving to return to the private sector earlier this week.
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