S
tephen Ehikian, a tech entrepreneur and former vice president of AI products at Salesforce, has been appointed acting administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) by the Trump administration. The GSA oversees the federal government's 360M SF real estate portfolio.

    Ehikian will focus on efficiency in the government's footprint, working closely with billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. He replaces Robin Carnahan, who was appointed by President Joe Biden in April 2021 and can serve for up to 210 days as an acting official.

    Michael Peters, a veteran of investment banking and former vice president at Honeywell International, has been named commissioner of the Public Buildings Service (PBS), which handles the government's real estate decisions. The PBS commissioner role does not require Senate confirmation.

    Ehikian's appointment is seen as a move to return the GSA to its core purpose of making government work smarter and faster. He stated that under his leadership, the GSA will focus on driving an efficient government and enabling sister agencies to provide better service at lower costs.

    The GSA has made significant progress in reducing its footprint over the past decade, disposing of nearly 11M SF of federally owned space and reducing nearly 18M SF of leased space. The federal government's push to reduce its leased and owned footprint is expected to accelerate, with multiple government leasing officials citing bipartisan support for offloading expensive and underutilized property.

    The impact of President Donald Trump's executive order requiring federal employees to return to the office full-time on the future of the federal footprint remains unclear.