Trump taps family friend as tech adviser

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped family friend Reed Cordish as a White House technology adviser.

In a Jan. 17 announcement, the President-elect said Cordish would serve as assistant to the president for intragovernmental and technology initiatives.

Cordish has directed agency beachhead teams for the president-elect during the transition. His family is also friendly with the Trump family and met through real estate concerns.

According to the announcement, Cordish will be responsible for presidential initiatives that require multiagency collaboration. Additionally, it said he will focus on technological innovation and modernization and oversee a series of "high profile task forces."

In a news item on the announcement, the Baltimore Sun described Cordish as "a prominent Baltimore-based real estate developer and longtime friend of the Trump family." The Cordish family firm has worked on several high-profile real estate projects in Maryland such as Baltimore Inner Harbor’s Power Plant Live and the Maryland Live Casino.

Currently, according to the president-elect’s statement, Cordish is a principal and partner of The Cordish Companies, an international real estate development and entertainment company. He is also president of Entertainment Consulting International, a national entertainment and restaurant operating company he cofounded.

"I am humbled by the role and excited to work with the incredible people within the West Wing and the Agencies to effect change," Cordish said in the transition team email about the appointment.

It’s not clear if the intragovernmental and technology initiatives work is a version of the current White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, which is led by Valerie Jarrett, a longtime counselor and friend of President Barack Obama. The intergovernmental office "serves as the front door to the White House through which local, county, tribal, and state governments can participate in and inform the work of the President," according to its website.

The president-elect's media office didn't reply to FCW's email inquiry about the Intragovernmental and Technologies Initiatives by press time.