John Koskinen served as the non-executive chairman of Freddie Mac from September 2008 to December 2011, retiring from the board in February 2012. On December 20, 2013, Koskinen was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to head the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as Commissioner of Internal Revenue. On December 23, 2013, Koskinen was sworn in as the 48th IRS Commissioner after being nominated by President Barack Obama.
Koskinen served as president of the U.S. Soccer Foundation from 2004-08. He previously served as the deputy mayor of the District of Columbia, the deputy director for management of the Office of Management and Budget, and then later President Clinton's chairman of the President's Council on Y2K, 2000 Conversion, the Year 2000 problem.
He served on the board of AES from 2004–13 and American Capital, Ltd from 2007-13. On March 11, 2009, he was announced as the interim CEO at Freddie Mac. On April 23, 2009, he became the principal financial officer after the death of Freddie Mac's acting CFO, David Kellermann. In August 2009, with the hiring of a new CEO, he returned to his position as non-executive chairman of the board of Freddie Mac.
Prior to entering government service, Koskinen worked for 21 years for The Palmieri Company as vice president, president, CEO, and chairman, working on the turnaround of large, failed enterprises such as the Penn Central Transportation Company, Levitt and Sons, the Teamsters Pension Fund, Mutual Benefit, and Equity Programs Investment Corporation.
He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.