Team

Peter Fortune, President

Peter graduated from Yale University and has a law degree from the Northwestern University School of Law.  Peter has  retired from a 41-year career as a trial lawyer and in addition serves on the Northern Police District’s Community Police Advisory Board. He has previously served on the Board of the Marina Community Association, the Board of NAPP (Neighborhood Associations for Presidio Planning), the Committee that conducted the annual San Francisco City Golf Tournament, and the City’s News Rack Advisory Committee after he helped draft the City’s news rack ordinance to clear up the pervasive news rack clutter. An avowed tree advocate, Peter is responsible for planting over 60 street trees in the Marina and Cow Hollow.

Thomas Butler, Treasurer

Thomas Butler serves as Treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors of San Francisco Beautiful, providing financial oversight and governance leadership in support of the organization’s mission. He is a finance professional with extensive experience in wealth management and investment advisory services and currently serves in a leadership role at Fidelity Investments. Thomas holds a degree from St. Edward’s University’s Bill Munday School of Business and brings strong financial stewardship expertise to the organization’s work advancing San Francisco’s public spaces.

Matthew Friese, Secretary

Matthew Friese  has served on the San Francisco Beautiful Board since 2022 and is our Board Secretary. A native San Franciscan, Matt is a Manager at Forest Grove Capital and is a graduate of Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business. For the past three years Matt has been running the Neighborhood Grants Initiative, has been maintaining the website and has overseen SFB’s fiscal sponsorships. He has volunteer experience with HAP (Homeless Advocacy Project), GLIDE, Raphael House SF, and mentoring at risk youth in the SF Public School system.

PJ Handeland, Director

Patricia “PJ” Handeland serves as a member of the Board of Directors of San Francisco Beautiful, where she contributes strategic guidance and community leadership in support of the organization’s mission to enhance and steward San Francisco’s public spaces. She brings extensive experience in nonprofit leadership, fundraising, and institutional advancement, including her professional roles as: 

• Executive Director of the Russell/Engleman Rheumatology Research Center at UCSF, where she oversees development, operations, and strategic partnership.
• Senior Giving Officer for Stanford Medical Development in support of the Stanford School of Medicine.
• CEO of the Arthritis Foundation-Northern California Chapter where she was responsible for all mission activities, fundraising & board development.

PJ also served on the board of several of San Francisco’s fine arts and performing arts organizations.  She is married to Bill Diefenbach and is the mother/grandmother of two sons and two granddaughters.

Chandra Friese, Director

Chandra Friese serves on the Board of Directors of San Francisco Beautiful, where she works on nominating and board development, and helps guide organizational strategy and governance.  She moved to San Francisco in 1973, where she later married the late Robert Friese, and where they raised their three children.   

Chandra is a graduate of Mills College and spent her career as a real estate agent at Sotheby’s and Mayne & Co Real Estate. Her interests include voting rights and election integrity, economic and social justice, sustainable gardening, and playing the fiddle. She brings significant experience working with community-based and nonprofit organizations, among them the League of Women Voters, Child Abuse Prevention Society, and The San Francisco Opera Guild, contributing expertise in civic engagement, stakeholder collaboration, and philanthropic leadership.

Leah Culver, Director

Leah Culver is a new member of the Board of Directors of San Francisco Beautiful, where she supports the organization’s mission to create vibrant, people-centered public spaces and celebrate the city’s unique character. She is a three-time tech founder, software engineer, and angel investor focused on building products and communities that bring people together.

Leah has lived in San Francisco for nearly 20 years and is an active supporter of local nonprofits and civic efforts to make the city more beautiful, welcoming, and accessible for all. She is an avid lover of art, and her husband is a local artist who works in murals and public art. Leah lives with her husband, two young children, and elderly pug in the Duboce Triangle neighborhood.

Robin Pam, Director

Robin Pam is the San Francisco Director of Streets For All, which advocates for streets that are safe enough for kids to walk and bike to school and a robust public transit system. She was a co-founder of KidSafe SF, where she led the campaign to make JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park car-free as the campaign manager for 2022’s Proposition J, which passed with 63% of the vote. Robin also serves as a founding board member and President of the Westside Family Democratic Club. Before advocacy, Robin began her career in national politics, then spent a decade leading marketing teams at high-growth technology companies. She lives in San Francisco, where she is raising three kids.

Chris Keene, Director

Over the last decade, Chris has imagined and brought to life some of San Francisco’s most beloved civic spaces: converting a parking lot into the Noe Valley Town Square, and founding Friends of Embarcadero Bricks, which sparked a $40 million public/private partnership to create a new town square for downtown San Francisco. He has also organized over 1,000 neighbors to make Slow Sanchez the city’s premier pedestrian street. He is a technology entrepreneur, open water swimmer and avid gardener.