The Honorable Samuel B. Brown was nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by the Senate on July 30, 2025, to serve as the 8th Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In this role, he oversees the operation and maintenance of 157 VA national cemeteries and the delivery of memorial products such as headstones, markers, medallions, and Presidential Memorial Certificates. He also administers the federal grant program supporting the establishment and expansion of Veterans cemeteries managed by states, territories, and tribal governments. His responsibilities further include leading programs that honor and preserve the memory of Veterans through the Veterans Legacy Program and the Veterans Legacy Memorial.

Prior to this appointment, Under Secretary Brown served as a Senior Advisor to Secretary Collins, supporting strategic initiatives and special projects. Drawing upon his military service, personal experience as a recipient of VA health care and benefits, and prior work as a VA contractor, he provided informed counsel across a broad range of departmental issues.

Before joining VA, Mr. Brown led efforts to advocate for a change in national leadership and priorities aimed at benefiting all Americans. Prior to this, and shortly after earning his MBA from Southern Methodist University, he founded and served as CEO of Palisade Strategies. The company supported Veterans by providing urgent and emergency pharmaceutical access and services within local communities on behalf of VA. Under his leadership, Palisade expanded from serving a single VA region to offering services nationwide, including the U.S. Pacific Islands. Mr. Brown sold the company in 2021, enabling its continued impact on behalf of Veterans.

Mr. Brown began his military career in 2006 after commissioning as an Infantry Officer from the United States Military Academy at West Point. An Airborne Ranger-qualified leader, he led soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division in combat operations during Operation Enduring Freedom in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2008. He was severely wounded during this deployment, resulting in his medical retirement at the rank of Captain. His awards include the Combat Infantryman Badge, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Army Commendation Medal with “V” device for valor.

Sean Cairncross was confirmed as the National Cyber Director by the United States Senate on August 2, 2025, and joins the White House as President Trump’s principal advisor on national cybersecurity policy and strategy.

Before leading the Office of the National Cyber Director, Mr. Cairncross served as the Chief Operating Officer for the Republican National Committee, overseeing operations during both the 2024 and 2016 presidential cycles.

In 2019, he was appointed by President Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Prior to this appointment, he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the White House Chief of Staff.

Previously, Mr. Cairncross was a partner at a nationally recognized election law firm. He has also served as Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee under Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) from 2009 to 2013 and as RNC Chief Counsel from 2007 to 2009.

Mr. Cairncross began his career at Covington & Burling and holds a J.D. from the NYU School of Law, an M.Phil. from Cambridge University, and a B.A., summa cum laude, from American University.

Edward C. Forst is the 24th Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration. He oversees about 8,000 people who handle the federal government’s buildings, purchasing, and technology.

Before being nominated by President Donald J. Trump, Ed spent more than 40 years in finance, real estate, academia, government, and senior management. He ran large organizations, made tough calls in difficult markets, kept costs under control, and invested with discipline. Over time, he came to believe that clear accountability, efficiency, and strong risk management are what drive results.

Ed was a General Partner at Goldman Sachs and served on the firm’s Management Committee. Working out of New York and London, he was Co-CEO of Goldman, Sachs & Co. Asset Management, which managed over $1 trillion at the time. He also served as the firm’s Chief Administrative Officer, overseeing operations, real estate, risk, and technology, and chaired the Global Capital Commitments Committee. He sat on the board of GS Bank and was Chairman of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

During the financial crisis, Ed left Goldman, Sachs & Co. to help his alma mater, Harvard University, serving as Executive Vice President and Principal Operating Officer. Reporting directly to the university president, he oversaw finance, operations, and real estate, and served on the board of the Harvard Management Company, which manages the university’s endowment. During this period, he also worked with the U.S. Treasury Department as an advisor on the creation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

After retiring from Goldman Sachs in 2011, Ed continued in leadership and investment roles. He served as President and CEO of Cushman & Wakefield, running the global commercial real estate firm across more than 60 countries and leading its sale for its private-equity owner. He later became Chairman and a member of the Investment Committee at Lion Capital, a London-based private equity firm that has invested more than $8 billion in consumer brands.

On September 25, 2023, Dr. Bryan Shone became the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff (DCS), G-8, within the Headquarters  Department of the Army (HQDA).
As the Assistant DCS, G-8, Dr. Shone is responsible for overseeing three organizations including the Program Analysis  and Evaluation (PAE) Directorate, the Force Development (FD)
Directorate, and the Center for Army Analysis (CAA) Directorate. In this capacity, he is the principal advisor to the DCS, G-8 and is responsible for providing professional advice on key issues that 
include defining requirements, formulating plans and programs, obtaining and optimizing resources, procuring and acquiring systems to enable warfighters, and evaluating results.

In his previous position, Dr. Shone served as the Deputy Director of PAE. As the Deputy Director of PAE, Dr. Shone developed the Army’s Program Objective Memorandum (POM), defended the Army’s POM during Program Budget Review (PBR), and led independent analyses on behalf of the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff of the Army.

Dr. Shone became a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) in 2019 when he was appointed to serve as the Director for Policy and Resources and Chief Financial Officer for the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)/DCS, G-6. In this capacity, he oversaw the Army’s 
digital portfolio comprising networks, information technology, and cybersecurity capabilities. Prior to his selection to the SES, Dr. Shone served as the lead Operations Research Analyst for 
cyberspace activities in the C4 and Information Programs Division, Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). Dr. Shone also served as the Senior Special Assistant to the Director of CAPE and as an Operations Research Analyst for the Economic and Manpower Analysis Division in CAPE.

Dr. Shone’s professional experience covers the breadth of DoD’s Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process. He has analyzed, developed, and integrated programmatic plans across the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) to improve the alignment of funding and manpower in support of strategic national defense priorities.
Dr. Shone has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Salisbury University, a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Tennessee, and a PhD in Economics from the University of 
Tennessee. Dr. Shone lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, Sara, and their son, Andrew.

Eric Ueland is a veteran Republican leader with a career spanning over three decades, marked by significant roles in the U.S Senate, the White House, and the State Department. He began his career in 1989, in a variety of responsibilities for prominent Senate Republicans, including Chief of Staff for both Majority Leader Bill Frist and Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles. Ueland also served as the Republican staff director for the Senate Budget Committee from 2013 to 2017. In the first Trump term, Ueland was Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council, then Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, where the played a key role in promoting the Administration’s Hill priorities. Additionally in the first Trump term, Ueland served at the State Department, including as Acting Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources. In 2022 he was appointed a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), where he served as Vice Chairman. During President Trump’s second term, Mr. Ueland first served as the Acting Chief of Staff in The Office of Management and Budget, and now serves the President as OMB’s Deputy Director for Management.