Trump appoints Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia to new chief design officer role

U.S. President Donald Trump will appoint Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia to lead a team charged with remaking the government’s digital services, according to two officials familiar with the matter, as part of his goal to transform federal agencies in the name of efficiency.

Trump signed an executive order creating a National Design Studio to improve the “usability and aesthetics” of federal digital services. Trump named Gebbia the chief design officer. He will report to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, according to the order.

Trump since taking office has remodeled federal agencies. Gebbia, who joined the administration earlier this year, is poised to help lead the next phase of that effort as chief design officer.

Billionaire and former Trump adviser Elon Musk led the administration’s initial project, called DOGE, to remake government in the name of efficiency. The initiative involved slashing jobs, shuttering departments and clawing back funding to achieve Trump’s political objectives. 

Former President Joe Biden in 2021 set a similar goal to make government websites easier to use. The Trump administration halted a few projects to accomplish that, including the IRS’s free tool to file taxes directly to the agency. Former IRS Commissioner Billy Long said in July the agency would wipe out that program. Long left the agency in August. 

Trump’s National Design Studio will close in three years, according to the order. The studio will advise agencies on how to reduce duplicative design costs and use standardized design on sites where people interact with the government, according to the order.

—Christian Martinez and Bhargav Acharya, Reuters