Biden nominates Robin Carnahan to lead General Services Administration

By Ariana Figueroa

States Newsroom

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden Tuesday nominated former Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan to lead the General Services Administration.

GSA is a $20 billion independent agency that provides basic support and supplies communications for federal agencies. The post is subject to U.S. Senate confirmation.

Carnahan ran for Missouri’s Senate seat in 2010, but lost to Republican Sen. Roy Blunt, who is not running for reelection. In a statement, Blunt said he plans to back her nomination.

“Robin Carnahan is smart, capable, and understands what they do at GSA. I look forward to supporting her nomination,” he said.

Carnahan, 59, served as Missouri’s secretary of state from 2005 to 2013. From 2016 to 2020, she founded and led the State and Local Government Practice at 18F, which is a digital services agency within GSA that collaborates with other agencies to help them build and buy technology.

“At GSA, Carnahan helped federal, state and local government agencies improve customer facing digital services and cut costs,” the White House wrote in a release. “In particular, she taught and empowered non-technical executives about how to reduce risk and deliver better results for the public by more effectively budgeting, procuring, implementing and overseeing digital modernization projects.”

She comes from a long line of Missouri politicians.

Her father, Mel Carnahan, served as governor and her mother, Jean Carnahan, became the first woman to serve as a U.S. senator for Missouri. Her brother, Russ, was a member of Congress from 2008 to 2013. Her grandfather, Albert Sidney Johnson Carnahan, also served as a congressman for Missouri.

Robin Carnahan is currently a fellow at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center, where she co-founded the State Software Collaborative, which helps states obtain software so they can coordinate better with the federal government’s technology.

She was also a fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics in 2013.

Carnahan earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., and a juris doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Ariana Figueroa covers the nation's capital for States Newsroom, a network of state-based nonprofit news outlets that includes The Missouri Independent. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance. Before joining States Newsroom, Ariana covered public health and chemical policy on Capitol Hill for E&E News. As a Florida native, she's worked for the Miami Herald and her hometown paper, the Tampa Bay Times. Her work has also appeared in the Chicago Tribune and NPR. She is a graduate of the University of Florida.