The White House has named Amy Gleason as the acting administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a low-profile executive with a background in health care technology and public service.
Gleason, 53, worked in the United States Digital Service (now renamed the US DOGE Service) from 2018 to 2021, assisting in the federal Covid-19 response. She returned to government service in January after President Donald Trump took office.
DOGE has been at the center of efforts to push federal agencies to cut budgets, fire employees, and cancel contracts—moves backed by billionaire Elon Musk, who is serving as a senior adviser to Trump on government efficiency. However, the White House has maintained that Musk is not an employee of DOGE.
Before her return to government, Gleason worked as “chief product officer” at two Nashville-based health care startups, Russell Street Ventures and Main Street Health, both founded by former Trump administration official Brad Smith. She also runs a consulting firm, Gleason Strategies.
Gleason has been an advocate for juvenile myositis research, a rare autoimmune disease that affects her daughter, and has spoken on the need for technological improvements in healthcare.
Gleason shared her frustrations with how the health care system handles such diseases in a 2020 TED talk and called for technology and data changes that could help patients and doctors.
She worked as vice president for research at the Cure JM Foundation from 2014 to 2018, according to her LinkedIn profile. She was also a co-founder and executive at Care Sync, a telehealth company based in Florida.
Her appointment comes amid controversy, as more than 20 members of the former US Digital Service resigned in protest, accusing Musk of attempting to “dismantle critical public services.”