The first employee of Andreessen Horowitz, Formation Bio board member, SVCF board member, Rhodes Trust investment committee member, former NVCA chairman, and now the Director of the US Office of Personnel Management — the man who sat at the intersection of the anonymous $30M OpenAI grant, the Rhodes Scholar pipeline that produced Benjamine Liu, the venture capital industry’s lobbying apparatus, and the federal government’s 2.1-million-person civilian workforce.
Bio
Scott Aaron Kupor (born October 6, 1971, Houston, Texas) is the Director of the United States Office of Personnel Management, confirmed by the Senate on July 9, 2025 in a 49-46 mostly party-line vote and sworn in on July 14, 2025. Before entering government, he spent 16 years as the first employee, managing partner, and growth-stage healthcare investor at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), where he managed the firm’s expansion from $300 million to over $45 billion in assets under management. [1][2][3]
Kupor graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in public policy with honors and distinction, and earned his Juris Doctor with distinction from Stanford Law School in 1996. He is a member of the State Bar of California. [4][5]
Before a16z, Kupor’s career traced through Wall Street investment banking and Silicon Valley operations: Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers (software M&A and financing transactions), then Opsware (Ben Horowitz’s company — senior VP of global field operations, VP of financial planning, VP of corporate development), then Hewlett-Packard (VP and GM of SaaS, joined as part of HP’s 2007 acquisition of Opsware for $1.6 billion). When Andreessen and Horowitz left HP to found a16z in 2009, Kupor was their first call. [4][5][6]
Kupor is the author of “Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It” (2019), a Wall Street Journal bestseller that became the standard text for founders navigating VC fundraising. He co-founded and co-directed the Stanford Venture Capital Director’s College and has taught venture capital and corporate governance courses at Stanford Law School, Stanford GSB, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, and UC Berkeley School of Law. [4][5]
Basic Information
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Scott Aaron Kupor |
| Born | October 6, 1971, Houston, Texas |
| Education | Stanford University BA Public Policy (Phi Beta Kappa, honors and distinction); Stanford Law School JD (with distinction, 1996) |
| Current Role | Director, US Office of Personnel Management (sworn in July 14, 2025) |
| Previous Role | Managing Partner, Andreessen Horowitz (first employee, 2009-2025) |
| Prior Career | Credit Suisse First Boston → Lehman Brothers → Opsware (Horowitz’s company) → Hewlett-Packard → a16z |
| Book | “Secrets of Sand Hill Road” (2019, WSJ bestseller) |
| Children | 3 |
| Bar Membership | State Bar of California |
Board and Committee Positions (Pre-OPM)
This is where the network convergence becomes visible. Before his government appointment, Kupor simultaneously held positions across institutions that connect to virtually every node in this investigation:
| Board / Committee | Role | Network Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) | Board member | SVCF provided the anonymous $30M grant that was 99.7% of OpenAI nonprofit’s FY2019 revenue. SVCF also funds the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI, formerly Lincoln Network) where Liu’s Oxford colleague Jon Askonas shapes Trump AI policy. Kupor sat on the board of the foundation that anonymously funded OpenAI. [7] |
| Rhodes Trust | Investment committee | Benjamine Liu is a Rhodes Scholar. The Rhodes Trust investment committee manages the endowment that funds Rhodes Scholarships. Kupor helped manage the money that funded Liu’s doctoral education at Oxford, where Liu developed the research that became TrialSpark/Formation Bio. [7] |
| National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) | Chairman of the Board | The NVCA is the lobbying and trade organization for the entire US venture capital industry. Kupor chaired the organization that represents Sequoia, Thrive, Kleiner Perkins, and every other VC firm in this investigation. [4][5] |
| Formation Bio | Board member (Series D, 2024 — resigned April 2025) | The company that operated Project Covalence, received Altman’s nonprofit grant, and developed the Muse platform with OpenAI and Sanofi. [3] |
| Heartland Whole Health Institute | Board member (resigned April 2025) | Founded by Alice Walton (Walmart heir) in 2019 “to rework the healthcare payment and healthcare delivery system.” Walton’s foundation also funds integrative medicine initiatives. [3] |
| St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital | Vice-chair, investment committee (resigned April 2025) | One of the largest pediatric research hospitals in the US. Kupor managed part of St. Jude’s endowment. [3][7] |
| Stanford Medical Center | Investment committee | Stanford’s medical center endowment. Kupor helped manage healthcare investment capital. [7] |
| Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) | Board member | The GIIN is the leading organization for impact investing — investments intended to generate social/environmental impact alongside financial returns. [7] |
| a16z portfolio company boards | Board member: Cedar, Headway, Foursquare, Labster, Ultima, SnapLogic, Infinitus, Talkiatry, Pearl Health | Healthcare-heavy portfolio. Cedar (healthcare payments), Headway (mental health), Pearl Health (primary care), Talkiatry (psychiatric care). [4][5] |
The SVCF Connection
This is the most analytically significant board position in Kupor’s portfolio.
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation is the largest community foundation in the United States. In FY2019, SVCF provided an anonymous $30M grant that constituted 99.7% of OpenAI nonprofit’s total revenue for that year. The donor has never been publicly identified. [7][8]
SVCF also funds the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI), formerly Lincoln Network, where Jon Askonas — who was in the same Oxford DPhil cohort as Benjamine Liu — works on AI policy that shapes the Trump administration’s technology agenda. FAI’s board includes Trump’s CTO. [8]
Kupor sat on the SVCF board while simultaneously:
- Investing in Formation Bio (the company Liu built after Oxford)
- Sitting on the Rhodes Trust investment committee (the trust that funded Liu’s Oxford education)
- Chairing the NVCA (which represents the VC industry’s policy interests)
- Investing in OpenAI (through a16z’s multiple rounds)
The question is not whether Kupor personally directed the anonymous $30M SVCF grant to OpenAI. The question is whether anyone sitting at the intersection of SVCF (the grant source), a16z (an OpenAI investor), the Rhodes Trust (which funded Liu), the NVCA (which represents all VC firms), and Formation Bio (which partnered with OpenAI) can be described as having “no conflicts of interest” when managing any of those institutions’ resources.
The OPM Appointment and Divestiture
Timeline:
- December 22, 2024: Trump names Kupor as OPM Director nominee
- April 3, 2025: Confirmation hearing before Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Ethics letter made public. [3]
- April 9, 2025: Committee advances nomination along party lines
- July 9, 2025: Senate confirms 49-46 (Lisa Murkowski sole Republican no vote) [1][2]
- July 14, 2025: Sworn in as OPM Director [1]
What he gave up:
- Resigned as a16z Managing Partner
- Gave up managing member seat in 32 a16z funds (including bio and seed funds)
- Resigned from Formation Bio board
- Resigned from Talkiatry, Pearl Health, Foursquare boards
- Resigned from Alice Walton’s Heartland Whole Health Institute board
- Resigned from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital board [3]
What he kept:
- Passive investor stakes in 38 a16z funds (forfeiting only unvested carried interest) [3]
- His book royalties, Stanford teaching positions, and professional relationships are not subject to divestiture
What OPM controls:
- The federal civilian workforce of 2.1 million employees
- Federal hiring, compensation, benefits, performance management
- Workforce reduction policies (RIFs, voluntary separations)
- The Trump administration’s federal workforce overhaul agenda
- Schedule Policy/Career employment classification changes [1][2]
If any of the 38 a16z funds Kupor retains passive stakes in hold positions in companies that interact with federal agencies — FDA (drug approvals for Formation Bio’s pipeline), NIH (grants that funded Project Covalence-adjacent research), DOD (defense contracts for a16z’s Anduril, Shield AI portfolio), DOE (nuclear for Altman’s Oklo/Helion) — then the OPM Director has residual financial interest in the regulatory environment his agency’s workforce administers.
The Opsware-HP-a16z Pipeline
Kupor’s pre-a16z career is a case study in how Silicon Valley’s revolving door operates at the firm level:
| Period | Company | Role | What Happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-2000 | Credit Suisse First Boston / Lehman Brothers | Investment banker (software M&A) | Wall Street training |
| 2000-2007 | Opsware (Ben Horowitz, CEO) | SVP Global Field Operations, VP Financial Planning, VP Corp Dev | Horowitz’s company. Kupor was a senior executive. |
| 2007-2009 | Hewlett-Packard | VP and GM of SaaS | HP acquired Opsware for $1.6B. Kupor came with the acquisition. |
| 2009-2025 | Andreessen Horowitz | First employee → Managing Partner | Andreessen and Horowitz left HP to start a16z. Brought Kupor. |
Kupor has worked for or with Ben Horowitz continuously since approximately 2000 — a quarter century. When Horowitz started a16z, Kupor was the first person he hired. When a16z needed someone on the Formation Bio board, it was Kupor. When Trump needed someone to run OPM, a16z’s first employee got the call. The institutional loyalty chain runs: Horowitz → Kupor → wherever Horowitz’s interests go.
Investigative Findings
Finding 1: The SVCF-OpenAI-Rhodes-Formation Bio Quadrilateral
Kupor simultaneously sat on: (a) SVCF board (source of anonymous $30M to OpenAI), (b) Rhodes Trust investment committee (funder of Liu’s Oxford education), (c) Formation Bio board (Liu’s company, partnered with OpenAI), and (d) a16z investment committee (investor in both OpenAI and Formation Bio). [3][7]
This is not a conflict of interest in the traditional sense — it’s a convergence of institutional positions that gives one person visibility into, and influence over, the financial flows connecting a nonprofit grant (SVCF → OpenAI), an educational endowment (Rhodes Trust → Liu’s scholarship), a pharmaceutical company (Formation Bio), and a venture capital firm (a16z). No other person in this investigation holds positions across all four institutional types simultaneously.
Finding 2: The NVCA Chairmanship and Regulatory Capture
As chairman of the NVCA, Kupor led the trade organization that represents the entire US venture capital industry’s policy interests — including lobbying on AI regulation, pharmaceutical policy, and defense procurement. [4][5] He then moved to OPM, where he oversees the federal workforce that implements the regulations the NVCA lobbied on. The people who enforce FDA drug approvals, NIH grant compliance, and DOD procurement standards are now managed by the former chairman of the industry that those regulations are designed to constrain.
Finding 3: The Healthcare Board Concentration
Before OPM, Kupor’s a16z board portfolio was heavily concentrated in healthcare: Cedar (healthcare payments), Headway (mental health), Pearl Health (primary care), Talkiatry (psychiatric care), Formation Bio (AI pharma), plus committee positions at St. Jude’s and Stanford Medical Center. [4][5] He was simultaneously governing healthcare companies AND managing healthcare institution endowments. The companies he governed commercially AND the institutions he governed philanthropically operate in the same healthcare ecosystem.
Finding 4: The Stanford Teaching Position and Pipeline
Kupor co-founded the Stanford Venture Capital Director’s College and teaches VC and corporate governance at Stanford Law School and GSB. [5] He is shaping the next generation of VC professionals AND governing companies they might work for AND chairing the industry association they’ll join AND now running the federal agency whose workforce regulates their portfolio companies. The educational pipeline, the industry pipeline, and the regulatory pipeline all run through one person.
Finding 5: The Confirmation Vote Context
The 49-46 confirmation vote occurred while the Trump administration was conducting mass firings of probationary employees, deferred resignation programs, and major workforce reductions. [1][2] Kupor told the Senate committee the government must make “tough choices” to stop operating under a budget deficit but “generally equivocated when asked about the president’s workforce reduction plans.” The person who managed a16z’s growth from $300M to $45B in AUM is now making “tough choices” about which federal employees keep their jobs — while retaining passive financial interest in 38 venture funds whose portfolio companies benefit from a reduced federal regulatory workforce.
Nodes / Open Questions
- What are the 38 a16z funds Kupor retains passive stakes in? Which specific funds? Which portfolio companies do they hold? Do any of those companies have FDA applications pending, NIH grants active, DOD contracts, or other federal agency interactions?
- Did Kupor have any role in or knowledge of the SVCF $30M anonymous grant to OpenAI? As an SVCF board member, he would have visibility into major grant decisions. Was he on the board when the FY2019 grant was made? When did he join the SVCF board?
- The Rhodes Trust investment committee and Liu: Did Kupor and Liu ever interact through the Rhodes Trust? Did the Rhodes Trust’s investment strategy ever intersect with a16z’s portfolio? Does the Rhodes Trust endowment hold any positions in a16z funds or portfolio companies?
- Did Kupor’s NVCA chairmanship involve lobbying on any policy that directly affected a16z portfolio companies? The NVCA lobbies on tax, regulatory, and trade policy. As chairman, Kupor set the lobbying agenda. As a16z managing partner, he benefited from the outcomes. Was there any formal separation between these roles?
- Alice Walton’s Heartland Whole Health Institute: Kupor sat on this board alongside his Formation Bio board seat. Walton’s institute aims to “rework the healthcare payment and healthcare delivery system.” Formation Bio is developing AI-powered pharmaceuticals. Are there any shared advisors, funding sources, or strategic alignments between Walton’s healthcare reform agenda and Formation Bio’s commercial activities?
- The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN): Kupor sat on GIIN’s board while managing a16z’s growth fund. Did a16z market any of its funds as “impact investments”? FPV Ventures (which invested in Formation Bio’s Series D) describes its LPs as “mission-driven endowments.” Is there an “impact investing” narrative being applied to pharma investments that originated from a nonprofit-funded COVID platform?
- What happened to Kupor’s Stanford teaching positions? Does he still teach VC and corporate governance at Stanford Law School while serving as OPM Director? If so, is he teaching future VCs about corporate governance while running the agency that manages the federal workforce those VCs’ companies are regulated by?
Sources
- [Archive] Government Executive — “Senate confirms new OPM head in mostly party-line vote” (49-46, Murkowski sole GOP no, Jul 9, 2025): https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/07/senate-confirms-new-office-personnel-management-head-mostly-party-line-vote/406617/
- [Archive] OPM.gov — “OPM Director Scott Kupor” official bio (sworn in Jul 14, 2025): https://www.opm.gov/about-us/who-we-are/opm-director-scott-kupor/
- [Archive] Fortune — “Trump appointee Scott Kupor resigns from some a16z funds, boards ahead of confirmation” — Formation Bio board, 32 funds resigned, 38 kept passively, Heartland, St. Jude (Apr 3, 2025): https://fortune.com/2025/04/03/trump-appointee-scott-kupor-resigns-some-a16z-funds-boards-opm-confirmation
- [Archive] a16z — Scott Kupor bio (first employee, $300M to $30B+, Cedar/Headway/Foursquare boards, NVCA chairman, Stanford teaching): https://a16z.com/books/secrets-of-sand-hill-road/
- [Archive] Health Evolution — Scott Kupor bio (Opsware, HP, NVCA chairman, Stanford lecturer): https://www.healthevolution.com/bios/speaker/scott-kupor/
- [Archive] Wikipedia — Scott Kupor (born Oct 6, 1971 Houston, Stanford BA/JD, OPM Director, 49-46 vote): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Kupor
- [Archive] SVCF — Scott Kupor board bio (SVCF board, Rhodes Trust investment committee, Stanford Medical Center committee, GIIN board, St. Jude vice-chair): https://www.svcf.org/about/meet-the-team/scott-kupor
- [Archive] Prior investigation sessions — SVCF anonymous $30M grant = 99.7% of OpenAI nonprofit FY2019 revenue. SVCF also funds FAI (formerly Lincoln Network). Jon Askonas Oxford → FAI → Trump AI policy. Confirmed across multiple sessions.
- [Archive] NVCA — “Statement on the Confirmation of Scott Kupor as OPM Director” — “longtime venture capital industry leader and former Chair of the NVCA” (Jul 10, 2025): https://nvca.org/press_releases/nvca-statement-on-the-confirmation-of-scott-kupor-as-opm-director/
This analysis does not constitute evidence of illegal action. The opinions expressed here are the professional opinions and analytical conclusions of the author, a published corporate ethics researcher and analyst specializing in business leadership ethics, governance structures, and nonprofit compliance. Readers are encouraged to examine the primary sources cited above and draw their own conclusions.
A conflict does not become less important because it was routed through a quieter entity. It becomes more important to map.
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