National Parks
Trump administration stacks SF Presidio board with tech elite

By Madilynne Medina, News Reporter
May 15, 2026


The Outpost Meadow Picnic Area, a new extension to the Presidio Tunnel Tops and the Outpost Playground, built on part of the parking lot of Sports Basement in the Presidio in San Francisco, on July 16, 2025.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE

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.

The board now includes previous board member Lynne 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.

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May 15, 2026

Madilynne Medina
News Reporter
Madilynne Medina is a news reporter for SFGATE. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she earned a B.S. in journalism from San Jose State, where she served as executive editor for the Spartan Daily, and has also worked at NBC Bay Area. When she’s not out in the field reporting, she’s likely trying a new workout or listening to The Weeknd. You can contact her at madilynne.medina@sfgate.com.