Trump Team Starts to Fill Out OPM Leadership, With Pick for No. 2 Job

The White House announced Thursday that it would nominate Michael Rigas to serve as deputy director of the Office of Personnel Management.

Rigas is chief of staff at the Massachusetts Department of Veterans’ Services. Before joining that agency, he worked in Republican politics and advocacy, at the Massachusetts Republican Party and conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation.

During the George W. Bush administration, he was associate administrator of the General Services Administration, where he worked on efforts to increase the amount of government contracting to woman- and veteran-owned businesses.

Meanwhile, Rigas’ prospective boss still awaits Senate confirmation. George Nesterczuk was announced and formally nominated as the Trump administration’s choice for director of OPM in May, but he has not yet received a hearing in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Nesterczuk was a key player in the failed attempt to implement performance-based pay at the Defense Department during the George W. Bush administration, an effort known as the National Security Personnel System. NSPS was rolled back in 2009 after a lengthy court battle with federal employee unions.

Following Nesterczuk’s nomination, management groups like the Senior Executives Association said they were supportive of the choice, although one union official expressed concern the new administration would try again to implement some form of NSPS.