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Trevor D. Traina (born 1968) is an American businessman who served as the United States Ambassador to Austria from 2018 to 2021.


Early life

Traina was born in San Francisco, California in 1968. He is the son of Diane Buchanan Wilsey and the shipping magnate and art collector John Traina. His younger brother Todd is a film producer. His maternal grandfather,
Wiley T. Buchanan Jr. Wiley Thomas Buchanan, Jr. (January 4, 1913 – February 16, 1986) was an American diplomat and author who served as the Chief of Protocol of the United States and the U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg and Austria. Early life Buchanan was born on ...
was U.S. Ambassador to Austria from 1975 to 1977. Trevor Traina graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in politics in 1990, having written a 112-page long senior thesis titled "The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act: A Model for the Future?". He later studied at the University of Oxford and at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business where he graduated as Master of Business Administration.


Career

Traina 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. 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 Traina was an honorary advisor to the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Haas School of Business, the Princeton University Art Museum and other institutions. He wrote columns for
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
and for '' Town and Country'' magazine.


Ambassador to Austria

On January 23, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Traina to become ''Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Austria''. The post had been vacant since January 2017. The U.S. Senate confirmed Traina's nomination on March 22, 2018. He was unanimously confirmed Traina was sworn in on March 29, 2018 and arrived in Vienna on May 18, 2018 to present his credentials. Traina subsequently presented his credentials on May 24, 2018. 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. 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.


Awards

The 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 Publications: American Photography. 2020 Walter Moser, Anna Heinrich, Trevor Traina


Personal life

Traina is married to Alexis Swanson Traina and has two children. His hobby is collecting photographs, an exhibition of his collection in summer 2012 at the Fine Arts Museum was discussed in the media. Traina made a major loan of photographs to the Albertina museum in Vienna for the Fall 2021 exhibition American Photography. In 2023 Traina paid to restore the Red Rooms in the Schloss Leopoldskron - home of the Salzburg Forum.


References


External links


Trevor D. Traina biography
at
U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Traina, Trevor Living people People from San Francisco Princeton University alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Haas School of Business alumni American philanthropists 1968 births Ambassadors of the United States to Austria