San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie named former Twitter CFO Ned Segal to the post of the city’s chief of housing and economic development, according to a Tuesday release from Lurie’s incoming administration.
Segal will coordinate a portfolio of departments responsible for about $3 billion in spending. The role stems from newly announced plans under which Lurie is restructuring the office of the mayor, with one chief of staff and four policy chiefs — including housing and economic development infrastructure to be led by Segal; climate and mobility; public health and well-being; and public safety, according to the release. Currently the city has 56 agencies reporting to the mayor through the chief of staff and a centralized police director.
“Ned embodies the kind of innovative leadership San Francisco desperately needs to tackle our most pressing challenges,” Lurie said in a statement contained in the release. “With his strong background in the private sector, a deep love for San Francisco backed by extensive civic engagement, and a track record of delivering results, Ned is uniquely positioned to lead the revitalization of downtown, accelerate housing production, and drive economic growth in our City.”
One of Silicon Valley’s highest profile finance leaders, Segal, 50, formerly served for about five years as the finance chief of the social media platform Twitter, now known as X. Along with CEO Parag Agrawal, Segal was fired in October of 2022 by Elon Musk shortly after the billionaire investor closed his deal to pay $44 billion to acquire and take the social media giant private.
Segal was part of a wave of top executives that exited or were ushered out after clashing with the mercurial Musk, who at the time of his takeover brashly tweeted, “Entering Twitter HQ - let that sink in!” along with a video of himself walking into social media’s San Francisco headquarters with a sink.
In contrast to Musk, Segal exudes a wholesome image online, with a recipe for the Segal chocolate chip cookie recipe pinned to the top of his X account. Since his exodus from Twitter, Segal has joined the boards of Beyond Meat, RingCentral and BostonGene, while leaving executive search experts guessing what his next big role would be — until now.
The news of Segal’s new public service role surprised Shawn Cole, president of executive search firm Cowen Partners, who had expected Segal to step into another high-profile CFO role or venture capital. “I’m happy for him, curious if politics will be long term and how this plays out over the rest of his career. Either way, it represents a career transition example for other CFOs to consider,” Cole said in an email.
Segal’s background in leading high-stakes teams, managing billions in financial operations, and driving organizational transformation “positions him to tackle San Francisco’s pressing economic and housing challenges,” Cole said, adding that he has also been exposed to the city’s homelessness issue in his time at Twitter. In addition, his work at the company was under intense public scrutiny, giving him experience in operating transparently, which is essential for building trust in the public sector, he added.
In a statement in the release, Segal said the city has a mandate to “reimagine what’s possible and I feel great urgency to deliver.” He also acknowledged the city faces a budget crisis and that returning to “meaningful economic growth will be critical to helping San Francisco and San Franciscans thrive.”
Segal also received an endorsement from Ruth Porat, who recently stepped down from her long-time post as CFO of Alphabet, shifting to become the company’s president and chief investment officer. “Ned is a first rate financial expert and principled business leader. This is a unique opportunity for everyone in San Francisco to benefit from his professional management,” Porat said in the statement included in the release.
Segal began his career in investment banking, spending 16 years at Goldman Sachs where he held such roles as head of global software banking and COO of tech banking, according to his LinkedIn profile. Immediately prior to joining Twitter he was senior vice president of finance, small business group at Intuit and prior to that he held the CFO post at RPX Corp.
Segal has deep roots in San Francisco, where he grew up and now lives with his wife and three children. He served as co-chair of the Daniel Lurie for Mayor Campaign and has served on numerous non-profit boards in the Bay Area, according to the release, which went on to state that, “his career highlight may still be his tenure as a hot dog vendor at Candlestick Park from 1988-1992.”
