Trump Nominates Former Cushman & Wakefield CEO To Be GSA's Permanent Leader
President Donald Trump selected banking and commercial real estate executive Ed Forst to lead the General Services Administration, the agency in control of the government’s 360M SF office footprint.
Forst would replace Stephen Ehikian, who last month was demoted from his role of GSA acting administrator but will stay on as deputy GSA administrator, Federal News Network reported. The Senate must confirm Forst’s nomination for it to be official.
Now the chairman of consumer brand investor Lion Capital, Forst served as Cushman & Wakefield’s CEO from 2013 to 2015. That followed a 17-year stint working for Goldman Sachs, according to his LinkedIn page.
“We welcome President Trump’s nomination of Ed Forst to serve as administrator of the General Services Administration,” acting GSA Administrator Michael Rigas said in a statement to Federal News Network. “We look forward to the confirmation process and the continued advancement of GSA’s priorities under his prospective leadership.”
The nomination comes after a tumultuous period for the GSA, which acts as the landlord for federal agencies and also leads procurement for items such as office supplies and information technology systems.
Last week, following Ehikian's removal from the top job, Michael Peters resigned as commissioner of the GSA's Public Buildings Service, which leases and manages federal real estate. He plans to transition back to the private sector, and the agency hasn't announced a replacement for PBS commissioner.
Peters and Ehikian had held their positions since the first days of Trump’s second term and spearheaded the administration’s push to downsize the government’s leased and owned office space.
Those plans fluctuated.
A week into Peters’ role, he said at a Public Buildings Reform Board meeting that forthcoming cuts “could be up to a 50% reduction” of the federal government’s office portfolio. The GSA in early March released a list of more than 400 properties totaling nearly 80M SF targeted for disposition, though it took down that list less than 24 hours later.
It then updated the page with a few properties slated for “accelerated disposition” and said it would add to it each week, though the latest update was in May.
Nearly 1,000 GSA employees have been fired during Trump’s second term, according to CNN's federal workforce tracker. As of June, the agency had terminated less than 7M SF of the government's 173M SF of leased office space, Bisnow previously reported.
Further shake-up in federal government staffing last week included Trump firing Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after a weaker-than-expected jobs report on Friday. Trump said the July data was “rigged.” McEntarfer’s predecessor, William Beach, said her firing sets a “dangerous precedent.”
Adriana Kugler, a member of the Federal Reserve board of governors, separately announced Friday that she will step down from her role, effective Aug. 8, shy of the January 2026 end of the unexpired board term she was appointed to fill.
Trump is expected to announce two new appointees to replace McEntarfer and Kugler in the coming days, he told reporters Sunday.
