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The White House officially released the information that Amy Gleason was running the Department of Government Efficiency on February 25, 2025. There were weeks of debate, lawsuit filing, and rumors over the direction of the pivotal cost-saving initiative during President Donald Trump's second administration.
While tech mogul-turned-spokesman billionaire Elon Musk has been the loudest personality linked to DOGE, the government announced Gleason, rather than Musk, as the appointed acting administrator. So who is this unassuming head assuming this high-risk role?
Amy Gleason, age 53, isn’t a household name, and that’s likely by design. Her career has been built behind the scenes, blending expertise in healthcare technology with a passion for problem-solving. She first entered the public sector during Trump’s initial term, serving from 2018 to 2021 with the United States Digital Service (USDS)—an agency now rebranded as the US DOGE Service. There, she tackled tech-driven challenges, including a stint on the White House’s COVID-19 response team, where she focused on data management and coordination with agencies like the CDC and Medicare.
Before and after her government tenure, Gleason carved out a niche in the private sector. She held the role of chief product officer at two Nashville-based healthcare startups, Russell Street Ventures and Main Street Health, both founded by Brad Smith—a healthcare entrepreneur with ties to Trump’s first administration and DOGE itself. Her work centered on using technology to improve care, especially for underserved communities, a mission that hints at her practical, results-oriented approach.
Gleason's promotion to interim DOGE administrator caught many off guard—not least, it seems, Gleason herself. She had apparently been on holiday in Mexico when the White House made her public, not realizing the announcement was imminent. The shock is a measure of the fuzzy leadership situation at DOGE, a short-term agency tasked with reducing federal spending by July 2026. Created by an executive order on Trump's Inauguration Day, DOGE swallowed the USDS and set to work "modernizing" the government with wholesale reductions, a mission that is shared by Musk and his friend Vivek Ramaswamy.
Yet, despite Trump’s repeated claims that Musk was “in charge,” the administration insists Musk is merely a senior adviser, not an employee with formal authority. Gleason, reporting to Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, appears to be the operational backbone—though how much power she truly wields remains unclear.
Beyond her biography, Gleason's tale has a personal strand. She's a vocal advocate for juvenile myositis, a very rare autoimmune condition that her now-grown-up daughter suffers from. Speaking in a 2020 TED talk, she explained how dealing with the inefficiencies of the health system encouraged her to become an activist for tech-enabled reform—a line of thought that probably informs her DOGE crusade. This intersection of personal and professional experience makes her a compelling, if under-the-radar, figure in Trump's sphere.
But DOGE's purpose has ignited outrage. More than 20 USDS personnel resigned in indignation, criticizing Musk for tearing down necessary services, as lawsuits question the project's legality. Gleason, pulled into this maelstrom, has to work within a mandate that is politically charged, driven by ambition, and under public scrutiny.
As acting administrator, Gleason has a daunting task: giving life to a vision that's half optics, half outcomes. With a Musk-sized ego at the helm, her tenure will either make her a trusted hand or a footnote. She's an enigma for now—a health tech veteran-turned-government reformer, walking the tightrope between a personal mission and a polarizing national experiment. Whether she can turn DOGE into a reality or even crave the spotlight, only time will tell.
