History of Ward Brehm in Timeline

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Ward Brehm

Ward Brehm is a Minnesota businessman who has served as chairman of the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) under multiple administrations and is currently president of USADF. He was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal.


March 3, 2025: Brehm named USADF president

On March 3, 2025, Ward Brehm was appointed as USADF president during an emergency meeting of the board of directors. This followed President Trump's executive order to eliminate certain functions of USADF, leading to temporary fund disbursement halts. Prior to this, Democratic senators opposed any reduction or elimination of USADF and the Trump administration attempted to appoint Pete Marocco to run USADF.

March 5, 2025: Trump administration officials turned away from USADF offices

On March 5, 2025, Pete Marocco and five USDSTO staffers were denied access to the USADF offices. Ward Brehm, not present at the time, communicated that he had instructed staff to disallow meetings without his presence and expressed willingness to collaborate with Marocco if the Senate confirmed his nomination to the USADF board.