Michael R. Esser was appointed Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in January 2026. Mr. Esser previously served as the Assistant Inspector General for Audits, a role he began when he was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in April 2006. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing the Office of the Inspector General’s Office of Audits in conducting audits of all programs administered by the OPM, the largest of which are the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), and the Civil Service Retirement System and the Federal Employees Retirement System. His office also conducted audits of the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Program, Federal Employees Dental and Vision Program, Flexible Spending Account Program, Federal Long Term Care Program, and the agency's information systems, as well as information systems of the health carriers participating in the FEHBP.
Mr. Esser joined the Office of the Inspector General in February 1991 as an auditor, working primarily on the audits of the agency's consolidated financial statements. Previously, he worked with a northern Virginia CPA firm and a mortgage corporation in Fairfax, Virginia, three years of which was as Controller.
He attended George Mason University, where he played baseball and graduated with a bachelor of science in accounting, going on to earn a master’s in business administration. He is a CPA and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.