The Commerce Department’s top lawyer is leaving the agency and heading back to New York, where he was formerly a partner at consulting firm McKinsey and law firm Cahill Gordon.

Pierre Gentin joined the Trump administration in February 2025 as part of a wave of private-sector executives that also included Michael Grimes, Elon Musk’s longtime investment banker who left government service earlier this year to return to Morgan Stanley.

The department has outgrown its reputation as the federal government’s hall closet, overseeing CHIPS Act money under the Biden administration and serving as a scout and clearinghouse for deals under President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick. The department houses the government’s stakes in Intel and two rare-earth minerals companies, and controls its board seat at US Steel, and is helping orchestrate the rescue of Spirit Airlines — all signs of how Trump has wielded executive power to exert unusual influence on private companies.

“Pierre left a successful career to join the government more than 15 months ago,” a Commerce spokesman said. “He is returning to New York, his family, and the private sector, and we thank him for his extraordinary work at the department.”