Investor Ron Conway at the 2015 Fortune Global Forum in San Francisco.Stuart Isett for FortuneOne of the most noted venture capitalists in Silicon Valley resigned yesterday from the board of the philanthropic arm of Salesforce.
The reason? CEO Marc Benioff’s recent comments expressing support for President Trump and welcoming his order to send the National Guard to San Francisco to prevent crime.
“I have expressed candidly to you, repeatedly, in recent days, that I am shocked and disappointed by your comments calling for an unwanted invasion of San Francisco by federal troops,” Ron Conway
wrote in an email, “and by your willful ignorance and detachment from the impacts of the ICE immigration raids of families with NO criminal record.”
He added: “It saddens me immensely to say that with your recent comments, and failure to understand their impact, I now barely recognize the person I have so long admired.”
Conway—famous for his investments in Airbnb, Google, Facebook, PayPal, Twitter, and Snap, among others—had been a member of the Salesforce Foundation board for a decade and a friend of Benioff for more than twice that. He’s also a longtime Democratic donor.
Benioff, for his part, has backed political candidates on both sides of the aisle: Republicans Kevin McCarthy, Elise Stefanik, John Boehner, John McCain, and George W. Bush; Democrats Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, and Hillary Clinton.
—AN