Trevor Traina


Trevor D. Traina is an American entrepreneur and the current United States Ambassador to Austria.

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. was U.S. Ambassador to Austria from 1975–77.
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 several innovative companies, including CompareNet, which was bought by Microsoft in 1999. He founded DriverSide, SchemaLogic, and StepUp Commerce.
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 and for Town and Country magazine. He is managing director of the leisure company IfOnly.com, which he founded and which markets unique experiences and luxury articles and, according to his own statements, dedicates a portion of the proceeds to a charitable cause.

Ambassador to Austria

On January 23, 2018 Traina was nominated by President Donald Trump 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.
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.

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.