The spouse of Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was simply appointed to a prestigious San Francisco park board place, simply months after the tech govt drew backlash for mass layoffs.
Lynne Benioff was appointed Thursday as certainly one of six new members of the Presidio Belief Board of Administrators, the federal company overseeing San Francisco’s iconic 1,500-acre Presidio nationwide park website close to the Golden Gate Bridge.
The appointment, from President Trump, locations the philanthropist and TIME co-chair again onto the influential board after beforehand serving from 2015 via 2025, together with a stint as chair.
“I’m honored to as soon as once more serve one of many biggest nationwide park websites in America and so appreciative for the chance,” Benioff stated in an announcement.
“The Presidio Belief is an extremely well-run group that brings in help from the non-public sector to help its public mission. I stay up for working with the brand new board to help the Presidio’s subsequent chapter.”
The announcement comes amid renewed scrutiny surrounding her husband who confronted criticism over cuts at his tech empire.
Salesforce reduce almost 1,000 roles in early February 2026. These layoffs focused the advertising, product administration, knowledge analytics, Heroku, and Agentforce AI groups, in keeping with the corporate. This transfer adopted a strategic reorganization late final 12 months, the place the corporate transitioned 4,000 customer support jobs following the rollout of AI brokers
Final 12 months, Benioff sparked controversy after publicly calling for the Nationwide Guard to be deployed in San Francisco to fight crime, marking a pointy shift from many Silicon Valley leaders historically aligned with Democrats.
The Presidio shakeup follows Trump’s dramatic firing of all six earlier presidential appointees to the board final month, fueling fears amongst preservationists and native officers over the administration’s future plans for certainly one of San Francisco’s most treasured public areas.
Earlier this 12 months, Trump additionally focused the Presidio Belief in an govt order aimed toward shrinking what he known as “pointless governmental entities.”
The newly introduced board members embrace a number of figures with shut ties to The White Home and conservative tech circles.
Amongst them is Trevor Traina, the entrepreneur and former ambassador to Austria throughout Trump’s first administration. “I’m delighted to have been requested to serve on the board of this distinctive and particular place,” Traina stated in an announcement.
“As a fourth-generation San Franciscan with a deep connection to the park, I stay up for carrying on the Presidio’s vital mission begun by so many passionate champions.”
Trump additionally appointed Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, the spouse of enterprise capitalist Marc Andreessen, whose agency and founders reportedly donated hundreds of thousands to Trump-aligned political teams through the 2024 election cycle.
Different appointees embrace James Burnham, who beforehand labored with Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity initiative, John Bickford and former Marine Kyle Corcoran.
Not like many federal companies, the Presidio Belief largely funds itself via hospitality, leasing and actual property income somewhat than ongoing congressional appropriations, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The previous Military put up attracts roughly 9.5 million guests yearly and operates in partnership with the Nationwide Park Service and the Golden Gate Nationwide Parks Conservancy.
Lynne Benioff has lengthy performed a significant position in shaping the park’s future, beforehand serving to lead the fundraising marketing campaign for the Presidio Tunnel Tops challenge, which raised almost $100 million in non-public donations for the sprawling public park house that opened above Doyle Drive.
