Trump administration stacks SF Presidio board with tech elite

After months of political turmoil surrounding San Francisco’s Presidio Trust board of directors, on Thursday, the White House appointed six new members to oversee the national park site, including tech elites and prominent MAGA allies.

Read more Suisun City Walmart closed indefinitely after ‘significant’ damage, arson

The board now includesprevious board memberLynne Benioff, the co-chair of Time and wife of Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, a Stanford educator and nonprofit leader and wife of tech billionaire Marc Andreessen. Two people with ties to the Trump administration were also named: Trevor Traina, a tech entrepreneur and Republican donor, who served as an ambassador to Austria during Trump’s first term, and James Burnham, who previously served as senior associate counsel for Trump and was recently appointed general counsel for Elon Musk’s xAI and X.

The other two seats on the board will be filled by John Bickford, a real estate executive, and Kyle Corcoran, a former Marine and chief financial officer at Redpanda, who will hold the veteran’s seat. 

The seventh board seat, which is supposed to be held by the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, is still vacant and has been for years. 

The move comes just a month after Trump fired all six of the board members appointed by then-President Joe Biden. Before firing the board, Trump signed an executive order in February that labeled the Presidio Trust an “unnecessary governmental entity” and directed it to reduce spending and staffing.

Read more Carson Kelly drives in 4 as the Cubs beat White Sox 10-5

The Presidio Trust is the federal agency that manages the 1,500-acre site next to the Golden Gate Bridge. Approximately 9.5 million people each year visit the park, according to its website. The agency gets its funding by leasing homes, offices, hotels, restaurants and others spaces inside the park.The trust also debuted a new park in 2023, Presidio Tunnel Tops. Lynne Benioff was a co-chair of the Presidio Tunnel Tops campaign, which raised $98 million for the project, according to the Presidio’s website.