Following a protracted selection process, former national football team captain Kaspars Gorkšs has been confirmed as the new director of the State Chancery, taking charge of the highest-ranking civil service position in Riga starting November 16, 2026.
From Football Pitch to Government Center
The path from central defender to the head of the government's central apparatus has been unconventional. Born in Riga on November 6, 1981, Kaspars Gorkšs earned education in law and political science before building a prominent athletic career playing for the Latvian national football team as a central defender from 2005 to 2017, serving as team captain for seven years from 2010 to 2017. He participated in 89 matches for the national team, scoring five goals. Following his retirement from professional sport in 2018, he transitioned into sports management and public administration, holding leadership roles including president of the Latvian Football Federation after winning a vote in the first round at an April congress following the resignation of former president Guntis Indriksons, executive director of the Association of Latvian Team Sports Games from March 2020 to March 2023, board member of the Latvian Sports Federations Council from March 2021 to October 2023, director of the Jūrmala Football School starting November 9, 2020, and director-general of the Latvian Employers' Confederation since April 3, 2023.
That corporate leadership experience ultimately caught the eye of the selection committee. The post had stood vacant since May 19, 2026. An initial competition yielded no results, leading the government to attempt finding a suitable candidate outside the civil service without organizing a repeated contest before the State Chancery announced a reopened contest in the first half of August with substantially reduced criteria. While candidates previously needed a mandatory master’s degree preferably in law or management, the repeated contest required only higher academic or second-level professional higher education with a master’s degree set only as desirable, and management requirements were also lowered. The repeated contest received 18 applications, leaving three finalists in the final round.
Part of my career has been in professional sports. That is public, can create stereotypes, and that is understandable. But my interests, education, and professional work for nine years after the end of my athlete career have been closely related to administrative work and public administration.
Kaspars Gorkšs, via LSM
Prime Minister Kulbergs Backs an Outsider
Initially planned for a vote the previous week, the decision was postponed so Gorkšs could meet with the New Unity faction, whose chairman Edmunds Jurēvics noted that New Unity ministers would pose questions at the Tuesday cabinet meeting so the public could hear his answers. The political force delegated its ministers to make the final decision on supporting the candidate during the government session, while the Union of Greens and Farmers and the National Alliance had previously confirmed their support for the candidate nominated by the Prime Minister.
Ogre Municipal Council Deputy Egils Helmanis voiced skepticism in television commentary on TV24 program “Preses klubs,” suggesting that an incoming director unfamiliar with the inner workings of the sector will face a steep learning curve in a deeply systematized bureaucracy.
I believe that Kaspars Gorkšs has appropriate experience for the changes I have defined in the State Chancery to be implemented.
Andris Kulbergs, Prime Minister, via Sportacentrs
Prime Minister Demands Comprehensive State Sector Review
Rather than implementing linear across-the-board spending cuts of 5 or 10 percent that would only provide a short-term effect, the Prime Minister stressed that the new director must lead a comprehensive review of state sector functions to eliminate duplication and streamline information and communication technology procurement, governance of state-owned capital companies, and the introduction of artificial intelligence in public administration. The Prime Minister also recommended that the new director first familiarize himself with the 178 employees of the State Chancery.
He has begun filing necessary paperwork to receive a state secret security clearance, having noted that the selection commission included State Security Service head Normunds Mežviets and that the Constitution Protection Bureau will perform personal verification after the State Chancery submits all statutory information.
