Kiran Ahuja, director of the Office of Personnel Management, testifies during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on March 9, 2023. Ahuja has been chief of the agency for almost three years. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
OPM Director will leave the Biden administration
Kiran Ahuja oversaw efforts to transform the federal government’s HR agency into a government-wide leader on human capital policy, issuing new policies governing interns, telework and civil service protections.
Office of Personnel Management Director Kiran Ahuja will leave government in “the next several weeks,” the agency announced on Tuesday. Her nearly three years at the helm of the federal government’s HR agency marks the longest tenure of an OPM director in a decade.
“Serving in the Biden-Harris administration, and in support of the 2.2 million federal workers who dedicate themselves to the American people, has been the honor of my life,” she said in a statement. “From my time as a civil rights lawyer in the Department of Justice to my years as OPM’s chief of staff, I’ve seen the power that public service has to change lives, rebuild communities, and make our nation stronger. We have accomplished so much these last three years at OPM, but I am most proud of the friendships and bonds we built together in public service.”
Ahuja’s tenure saw a marked shift for OPM, which went from being on the cusp of dissolution at the hands of the Trump administration to charting a new path toward becoming a strategic human capital leader for the federal government, as envisioned in a reform plan from the National Academy of Public Administration.
OPM has served as a cornerstone for implementing several key Biden administration priorities, from COVID-19 response to rebuilding and protecting the federal workforce and making the federal government a “model employer.” Over the last three years, OPM has rolled out guidance or regulations enforcing a $15 minimum wage for federal employees, expanding access to telework and remote work, advancing new diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility principles, revamping the federal hiring process and, most consequentially, new rules aimed at preventing—or at least slowing—a future Republican administration from stripping the civil service protections of tens of thousands of federal workers through Schedule F.
“Kiran leaves an incredible legacy as a strong and indefatigable champion of the 2.2 million public servants in the federal workforce,” said OPM Deputy Director Rob Shriver. “Under Kiran’s leadership, OPM has bounced back stronger than ever and partnered with agencies across government to better serve the American people. Kiran represents the very best of the Biden-Harris administration, and I am honored to call her a dear colleague and friend.”