Trevor D. Traina (born 1968) is an American businessman who served as the United States ambassador to Austria from 2018 to 2021.
Trevor Traina | |
|---|---|
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| United States Ambassador to Austria | |
| In office May 24, 2018 – January 20, 2021 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Alexa L. Wesner |
| Succeeded by | Victoria Reggie Kennedy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1968 (age 55–56) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Spouse | Alexis Swanson |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Diane Buchanan Wilsey John Traina |
| Relatives | Herbert Henry Dow (great-great-grandfather) Wiley T. Buchanan Jr. (grandfather) Todd Traina (brother) Danielle Steel (ex-stepmother) Nick Traina (adopted stepbrother) |
| Education | Princeton University (BA) University of Oxford Haas School of Business (MBA) |
| Occupation | Businessman |
Early life
editTraina was born in San Francisco, California to Diane Buchanan Wilsey and John Traina in 1968. His father was a shipping and cruise executive and Napa Valley vintner and art collector.[1][2] His parents divorced when he was 12. He has a younger brother Todd, and five younger half-siblings through his father's marriage to Danielle Steel. He was also brother to Steel's son Nick Traina, who was adopted and given the family name by his father. His maternal grandfather Wiley T. Buchanan Jr. was U.S. ambassador to Austria from 1975 to 1977.[3]
Traina attended the Cathedral School for Boys in San Francisco and later graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in politics in 1990. He later studied at the University of Oxford and has Master of Business Administration from the Haas School of Business.[4]
Career
editTraina started his career as brand manager at Seagram's. As an entrepreneur, he was involved in the creation of CompareNet, which was bought by Microsoft in 1999.[5] In total he founded or co-founded five technology startups which were all sold. The most recent was IfOnly which was sold to MasterCard in August 2020.[6]
Traina was an honorary advisor to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco as well as the Haas School of Business, the Princeton University Art Museum and other institutions.[citation needed]
U.S. ambassador to Austria
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On January 23, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Traina as Ambassador to Austria.[7] The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Traina's nomination on March 22, 2018.[8][9]
Traina risked controversy for supporting the LGBTQ community by flying a rainbow flag at the Embassy during Vienna Pride despite a ban from the State Department on doing so.[10] Traina is credited with arranging the most high level meetings between Austria and the US in history and bringing about an era of Verbundenheit or "new closeness" between the two countries that had not before been seen.[11]
He is also a noted public speaker, having spoken to the Harvard Republican Club in November of 2024. [12]
Awards
editThe Secretary of Defense awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service to Traina in January 2021. The Chancellor of Austria awarded Traina the Austrian Grand Declaration of Honor in Gold in January 2021. Traina has been awarded over two dozen patents from the USPTO.[citation needed]
Personal life
editTraina is married to Alexis Swanson Traina.[13] He and his wife have two children Johnny and Delphina.[14] His hobby is collecting photographs, an exhibition of his collection in summer 2012 at the Fine Arts Museum was discussed in the media.[15][16] Traina made a major loan of photographs to the Albertina museum in Vienna for the Fall 2021 exhibition American Photography.[17]
References
edit- ^ "Curious Collector". May 2011.
- ^ "John Traina, Jr". 6 February 2011.
- ^ W.T. Buchanan was also the U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg from 1953 to 1956 and U.S. protocol chief during the second term of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
- ^ ORF.at (January 22,2018): IT millionaire becomes new US ambassador; accessed July 6, 2018.(in German)
- ^ "IfOnly – Extraordinary Experiences for Good". IfOnly. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
- ^ "Mastercard acquired and shut down IfOnly, an experiences marketplace hit by COVID-19". 24 August 2020.
- ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Trevor Traina of California, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Austria". whitehouse.gov. January 22, 2018 – via National Archives.
- ^ "PN1517 - Nomination of Trevor D. Traina for Department of State, 115th Congress (2017-2018)". www.congress.gov. March 22, 2018.
- ^ "Ambassador presented his credentials". U.S. Embassy in Austria. May 25, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
- ^ Garchik, Leah (June 12, 2019). "Cheering the red, white and blue ... and green, purple, yellow". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ "Vienna Is the New Havana Syndrome Hot Spot". The New Yorker. July 16, 2021.
- ^ https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/11/8/trevor-traina-harvard-republicans/
- ^ Wine: Alexis Swanson Traina and Target launch...; by Jessica Yadegaran, San Jose Mercury News, published on November 21, 2013
- ^ "Napa of Another Time: Restoring a 100-Year-Old Home in Wine Country". 18 January 2018.
- ^ cf. Kevin Moore: Real to Real: Photographs from the Traina Collection. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. ISBN 9780884011347. 2012
- ^ New York Times (March 16,2013): Turmoil at Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, accessed on January 24, 2018
- ^ "American Photography" (PDF).
External links
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