White House Appoints Three New Members to Trust Board
(Presidio of San Francisco – June 29, 2015) — The White House has announced the President’s intention to appoint three new members to the Presidio Trust (Trust) Board of Directors. Lynne Benioff, Nicola Miner and Janet Reilly will replace outgoing members Nancy Hellman Bechtle, William Hambrecht, and Charlene Harvey. Paula Robinson Collins, the current Vice Chair of the Board, has been appointed to a second term. Alex Mehran and John Keker will continue to serve. Six members of the Trust Board are appointed by the President of the United States and the seventh member is appointed by the Secretary of Interior or his or her designee. The current Secretary of Interior’s designee is John Reynolds.
Lynne Benioff is an independent marketing consultant and philanthropist. Ms. Benioff was Director of Public Relations Campaigns at OutCast Communications from 1998 to 2003. In 2011, Ms. Benioff co-founded Star Community Home, a short-term residential community for homeless families in San Francisco. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Hampton Creek, the Board of Overseers of the University of California San Francisco Foundation, the Board of Directors of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland and the Board of Directors of Common Sense Media. Ms. Benioff was honored by Mayor Ed Lee as one of San Francisco’s “Women of the Year” in 2014. She received a B.S. from the University of Washington.
Nicola Miner is a philanthropist with strong ties to the Bay Area’s cultural and educational communities. Ms. Miner is also President of the Miner-Anderson Family Foundation, a position she has held since 2010. She was Co-Founder of Quotidian Gallery from 1999 to 2005 and is a member of the Board of The Baker Street Foundation. Ms. Miner is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Ballet and San Francisco University High School. Ms. Miner received a B.A. from Brown University, a M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a M.A. from Mills College.
Janet Reilly is the Producer and Host of The Mix with Janet Reilly on NBC Bay Area. Ms. Reilly is Co-Founder of Clinic by the Bay, a medical clinic providing free health care for the working uninsured established in 2010. She is a former President and member of the Board of Directors of Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District and previously served on the Executive Committee of the Asian Art Museum. Ms. Reilly was Director of Public Relations for Mervyn’s Department Stores from 1997 to 2001. Ms. Reilly received a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles and a M.S. from the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism.
Ms. Benioff, Ms. Miner and Ms. Riley replace former board Chair Nancy Hellman Bechtle and board members William Hambrecht and Charlene Harvey. Ms. Hellman Bechtle, Mr. Hambrecht and Ms. Harvey helped lead the Trust to financial self-sufficiency, which the organization achieved in 2013. They were active in the decision to select a design team for 13 new acres of Presidio parkland being created atop the new Presidio Parkway tunnel tops. Mr. Hambrecht served on the finance committee of the board and Ms. Harvey served on the programs committee. Ms. Collins, the current Board Vice-Chair, will take over the responsibilities of the Chairmanship of the Board until a permanent selection is made.
This week an Interim Leadership Team took over from outgoing Executive Director Craig Middleton, who announced in February that he would be stepping down after 18 years with the Trust. Michael Boland, Chief of Park Development and Operations, will lead the team, which includes Fran Gonek, Chief of Business Operations Officer and Joshua Steinberger, Chief of Strategy and Communications. The three will share responsibilities until a new Executive Director is selected by the Board. The executive search firm Spencer Stuart has been hired to assist the Board with the search.
The Trust Board is responsible for overseeing the Presidio Trust, a federal executive agency created by the United States Congress to manage the Presidio of San Francisco, a former Army base and new kind of National Park. The Trust achieved financial self-sufficiency in 2013 and now operates without taxpayer support. Ms. Benioff, Ms. Miner and Ms. Reilly join the board at a time when the organization turns its focus from saving the Presidio to sharing it with a broader public.
About the Presidio Trust
The Presidio Trust, a federal agency, is an innovation in the management of a treasured American place. The Trust was created to save the Presidio and transform it into a new kind of National Park. The Trust’s vision is that the Presidio will be forever a public place: vital to the Bay Area, important to all Americans and recognized for achieving broad benefits for the nation. Today, the Presidio welcomes visitors, is home to a vibrant community of residents and tenants, and inspires greater good through programs that draw on its history and natural resources. The Presidio Trust serves the public with events, lodging, venues and recreational opportunities. To learn more, visit www.presidio.gov.