San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie announced the first appointments to his upcoming administration December 12. They include a longtime gay politico as his deputy chief of staff.
Matthew Goudeau, who was a senior adviser to Lurie's campaign, is currently director of the office of the mayor-elect. The University of San Francisco alumnus has held roles under five San Francisco mayoral administrations, including 15 years as director of the mayor's office of protocol beginning in 1999 under then-mayor Willie L. Brown Jr.
He also served as deputy chief of protocol, director of appointments, and director of Grants for the Arts, which he left in 2020.
Goudeau also formerly served on the board of the GLBT Historical Society. As one of the first, and few, prominent LGBTQ community leaders to endorse Lurie's mayoral bid, Goudeau was widely expected to be tapped for a prominent role in the new administration at City Hall.
In an interview with the Bay Area Reporter on December 11, Goudeau said his new role will utilize some of the skills from his previous positions.
"Some of the areas I will be working in my portfolio of work include appointments — when [Gavin] Newsom was mayor, I was director of appointments — as well as office events and protocol, which is where I was for a number of years," Goudeau said. "Things like scheduling the mayor's briefings and the schedule of the office are things I was involved with in my other roles as well."
Goudeau said he's "super excited to go back to City Hall."
"So many people have been talking about this as a new day for San Francisco," he added. "The Lurie administration ... is committed to change, and you can already see that reflected in the structure that he announced. ... My whole life has been committed to public service and making life better for the people of this city."
Lurie announced a restructuring of the mayor's office December 11. The current situation has 56 agencies reporting to the mayor through a policy director who reports to the chief of staff, currently former supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who has largely fulfilled his promise of being an unseen partner in the administration of the city to Mayor London Breed. Under Lurie's new structure, there'd be one chief of staff and four separate policy chiefs, covering housing and economic development; infrastructure, climate, and mobility; public health and wellbeing; and public safety.
"The current way of doing business at City Hall is outdated, ineffective, and lacks focus on outcomes," Lurie stated in a news release. "I am restructuring the office of the mayor so that your government is coordinated and accountable in delivering clean and safe streets, tackling the fentanyl crisis, rapidly building housing and ensuring a full economic recovery. The changes we're making at the top will help break down barriers to effective governance that impact every San Franciscan."
Asked if he'd be overseeing any particular areas of interest, Goudeau said he won't be overseeing any agencies. There will be an LGBTQ liaison announced later, but it won't be him, he said.
Thomas E. Horn, a gay man who is the former publisher of the B.A.R. and is president of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center Board of Trustees, has been friends with Goudeau for decades.
"Matthew has been involved in San Francisco city government for 25 years," Horn said in a phone call. "He will bring very useful institutional knowledge to the new administration."
Lurie also announced December 12 that Staci Slaughter, the previous longtime executive vice president for the San Francisco Giants, will be his chief of staff. Slaughter played a key role in the construction and development of Oracle Park, where the ballclub plays on the city's waterfront.
Slaughter left the Giants in 2023; until earlier this week, she was an adviser to global investment firm Sixth Street Partners and a board member of Bay Football Club (Bay FC), a new National Women's Soccer League franchise.
"San Francisco has immense challenges, but they are greatly outweighed by our unique and enormous opportunities," Slaughter stated in the release. "I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to serve the city I love and to help Mayor-elect Lurie execute his vision for a safer and more affordable San Francisco."
Goudeau said he's worked with Slaughter in the past.
"She's incredible and the mayor-elect is really lucky," Goudeau said. "I'm super excited to be working with Staci. When she was at the San Francisco Giants, I was at City Hall, so there were lots of opportunities for us to work together in those capacities. We worked on two World Series parades together, but there were a number of issues that came up in my time at City Hall where we had to work closely with the San Francisco Giants and my point of contact there was Staci."
Finally, Lurie announced Han Zou will lead his office of public affairs. Zou, a strategist, formerly led successful political campaigns on behalf of Congressmember-elect Lateefah Simon (D-Oakland) and Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco). He worked in Haney's office as a legislative aide from 2019-2022. In 2020, Zou unsuccessfully ran for the San Francisco Community College District Board of Trustees.
"I'm humbled by the opportunity to serve the mayor-elect and the people of San Francisco," Zou stated. "Having seen how hard he worked on the campaign, I know how hard he will work for the people of this great city, and I'm grateful to be a part of the team that's going to turn around San Francisco."
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