The University announced three industry-leading alumni as new Board of Trustees members June 4: Bret Johnsen, chief financial officer of SpaceX, Wil Smith, president and chief executive officer of Greenlaw Partners, and Glenn Sonnenberg, president of Sonnenberg Real Estate Holdings.

The Board of Trustees is the “ultimate decision-making body” of the University, according to the Student Handbook, and will select the next permanent University president after Carol Folt steps down on July 1. The Board previously selected Beong-Soo Kim to serve as interim president in the meantime.

Bret Johnsen

Johnsen, a Leventhal School of Accounting alum who graduated with a bachelor’s in accounting, told USC News he was honored to serve on the Board of Trustees and give back to his alma mater, where two of his children also studied.

“When you get to a certain point in your career, you really want to drive impact in the organizations and the missions that are important to you,” Johnsen told USC News. “I’m first and foremost a family man, but right after that I’m an American, and I’m a Trojan — if I can make an impact in all three of those areas, I certainly want to do that.”

The SpaceX CFO has spent 14 years with the company. He was previously CFO of Mindspeed Technologies, a semiconductor company in Newport Beach. Johnsen was named CFO of the year in 2010 by The Orange County Business Journal for his actions in carrying Mindspeed Technologies through the Great Recession. 

Johnsen said he has worked with hundreds of fellow USC alums and often hires from his former school because he sees them as “low risk” due to the quality of education.

Board of Trustees Chair Suzanne Nora Johnson told USC News that the CFO brings “great experience” in financial management to the Board.

“He has been at the forefront of developing the next-generation aerospace industry in our country,” Johnson said. “He has been an active and prolific recruiter of Trojans with accounting, business and engineering degrees to the sector, and he has been a strategic ally in driving USC’s leadership in the space sciences.”

Wil Smith

Smith, an alum of the Price School of Public Policy who graduated in 1999 with a master’s degree in real estate development, told USC News that he is motivated to do whatever he can to support students’ opportunities and connections through the USC Alumni Association. 

Before joining the Board, he served as the vice chair of the Price Board of Councilors and a member of the executive committee of the Lusk Center for Real Estate. In 2020, Smith gifted Price $10 million to establish funds for student scholarships and faculty research, which he said he hopes will allow students with a variety of backgrounds to attend the University.

“If you can help subsidize them a little bit, you end up with terrific alumni who place themselves in wonderful professional positions,” Smith told USC News. “I always want to help and support the school and do whatever I can to be a good alum and do my part.”

In his last year at USC, Smith took out a student loan to help pay for expenses, and with the remaining money of the loan, he bought and fixed up a house. Smith then sold the house and used the money to create Greenlaw Partners, a Southern California-based commercial real estate development and operating company. 

According to the company website, Smith managed to grow Greenlaw Partners to a value of $5 billion through the buying and selling of 150 properties, owning and managing a $3 billion portfolio with about 10 million square feet of commercial building and 4,000 acres of land.

“[Smith] brings broad life experience and another set of diverse perspectives to our board table, both as an accomplished real estate developer in Orange County and as someone raised in rural Northern California,” Johnson said in a USC News article. 

Glenn Sonnenberg

Sonnenberg, a 1977 alum of the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences with a bachelor’s in history as well as a 1980 alum of the Gould School of Law, returns to the Board of Trustees for his second term. He previously served from 2003 to 2008. Members can serve a maximum of three five-year terms. 

Now serving as president of Latitude Real Estate Holdings, Sonnenberg cited his USC education as what helped him become successful in an interview with USC News. 

“The university gives you career guidance and a place to learn, grow up and mature,” Sonnenberg told USC News. “And then, little by little, you are no longer the consumer of the guidance and support — you become a provider.”

Sonnenberg received the USC Alumni Service Award in 2004 for his work with the University, including co-founding the USC Libraries Scripter Award, co-chairing Gould’s Real Estate Law and Business Forum, and serving as founding president of USC Junior Associates. 

“It is a pleasure to welcome Glenn back to the USC Board of Trustees,” Johnson told USC News. “He has been a commercial and civic leader in a number of important institutions in Los Angeles and has long been actively engaged with the Jewish community and fostering interfaith dialogue throughout his career.”

Sonnenberg’s opinions on politics and culture, including criticisms of President Donald Trump and his rhetoric as well as book and movie recommendations, can be found in his Substack, “Musings Beyond the Bunker.”