Matt Pociask, ’20, Named General Counsel of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

NRC Selects Matt Pociask as General Counsel, Michael Franovich as Research Director

Elodie Collins
April 2, 2026 ExecutiveGov

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has named Matt Pociask as general counsel and Michael Franovich as director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Research.

NRC said Wednesday that Pociask succeeds David Taggart, who has been the agency’s acting general counsel since February 2025. Taggart will remain at the NRC as special adviser for strategic coordination of regulatory and policy integration.

Franovich will assume his new responsibilities as NRR’s new director in July.

Who Is Matt Pociask?

Pociask has served as principal deputy general counsel in the Office of General Counsel since February 2026. Prior to entering government service, he practiced law at a litigation boutique, specializing in constitutional and administrative law and Supreme Court litigation.

In addition to his private practice experience, Pociask served as a law clerk to Justice Amy Coney Barrett of the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Gregory Katsas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge Amul Thapar of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.