Meet the New IRS Executives in a Shrunken Leadership Circle

The new IRS leadership ranks include a mix of agency veterans and those with ties to Republicans and billionaire Elon Musk.

The overhaul outlined last month by IRS CEO Frank Bisignano fills many vacant and acting positions and comes at the start of tax filing season, which will serve as an important test for the agency shrunken by the Trump administration and implementing the massive GOP tax law.

In the most critical and outward-facing parts of the IRS, the roster is deep. Seasoned officials—including National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins, Chief of Taxpayer Services Ken Corbin, and Chief Information Officer Kaschit Pandya—remain.

On the operations side—which saw steep workforce cuts and data-sharing controversies in 2025—some catapulted up the agency’s hierarchy in the new administration while others came from the private sector.

Here’s a look at the new leaders at the IRS.

Jarod Koopman

Jarod Koopman, who has been at the IRS since 2002, will now serve as co-tax compliance officer and chief of criminal investigations.

As director of cybercrime for the IRS criminal investigation unit, he helped with major wins against crimes involving cryptocurrency, including the dismantling of the so-called Silk Road dark web fraud, which led to the government seizing $3.36 billion worth of bitcoin.

Koopman joined the IRS executive ranks in October as acting chief tax compliance officer. His promotion has some practitioners worried about criminal enforcement tactics bleeding into civil.

IRS officials Gary Shapley, left, and Joseph Ziegler testified during a House Oversight Committee hearing in July 2023.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler

Gary Shapley will serve as deputy chief of criminal investigation under Koopman. He and Joseph Ziegler rose to prominence as whistleblowers at GOP-led congressional hearings probing alleged government wrongdoing in investigating Hunter Biden’s taxes. Both were promoted within the Treasury Department at the beginning of the second Trump administration.

Ziegler will serve as chief of internal consulting, a new position. He joined IRS-CI in 2010 after working as an auditor at EY.

Shapley, who’s been with IRS since 2009, briefly served as acting IRS commissioner at the peak of the agency’s chaotic workforce cuts. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent replaced him within days.

Still, Shapley has remained among the agency’s top ranks, and in November suggested in a TV interview he would be named chief of IRS-CI instead of deputy.

Todd Newnam

Todd Newnam, who joined Treasury as part of Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, will oversee the IRS budget as chief financial officer. He’ll also lead procurement, facilities, and privacy, which are new additions to the purview of the CFO.

Newnam joined as the lead of the Treasury DOGE team after March 4, according to a court document. He reported to Daniel Katz, former Treasury chief of staff, as of April 2025. Another DOGE worker, Sam Corcos, currently Treasury’s chief information officer, was among those who reported to Newnam.

DOGE is at the center of multiple lawsuits concerned about unfettered access to government data. A federal judge in May found that Newnam, along with others on the Treasury DOGE team, went through proper training to access Treasury payment data.

Newnam is a former CEO of tech IT company Encore Technology Group and managing director at private equity giant the Carlyle Group.

Newnam takes over for Anthony Chavez, who started in the role in the spring of 2025. Three people held the role in 2025.

Dottie Romo

Romo is now chief risk and control officer, after serving as chief operating officer through most of last year.

Romo has been at the center of some of the agency’s more controversial moves, including implementation of a data-sharing agreement between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security, which a judge halted in one of several lawsuits against the agreement. Romo also oversaw reductions in force at the IRS during the longest-ever government shutdown in the fall. The firings were ultimately reversed.

She started in the IRS procurement division in 2020.

David Borden

Borden, the new chief of the independent Office of Appeals, joined the IRS as a special counselor to the IRS commissioner in 2022 after a stint at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He later became a special counselor to chief counsel. As the head of the Office of Appeals, Borden will lead the division that helps taxpayers resolve controversies without litigation.

He follows John Hinding, who took over the role in an acting capacity in August. Hinding will still serve on Bisignano’s senior leadership team.

Alex Kweskin

A new face at the IRS, the chief human capital officer role is Kweskin’s first at the agency. It’s a job that in 2025 was charged with carrying out massive workforce cuts and resignations.

Now, the role will likely figure in the massive changes President Donald Trump has made to the federal workforce, making it easier for the president to fire nonpolitical public workers.

The final rule issued Feb. 5 will reclassify some policy-related positions into a new category called “policy/career,” loosening job protections and allowing political appointees to fire them—and handpick replacements—without violating civil service laws.

Kweskin is joining from Banc of California, one of the largest banks headquartered in the state. He was an executive vice president and chief human resources officer.

He spent more than two decades working in human resources and previously had roles at Union Bank, Morrison & Foerster, and Wells Fargo. He follows David Traynor, who was in the role in an acting capacity.