Speakers
Sam Santiago is a long-time corporate social responsibility professional with over 25 years of experience in global corporate volunteering, talent management, diversity and inclusion, fundraising, board service and nonprofit leadership in the travel and hospitality industries with organizations like American Airlines, Hilton Worldwide and others.
In 2006, Sam joined the Corporate Social Responsibility team at American Airlines as Senior Manager of Community Programs. He launched the first global corporate volunteering program in the history of the company. He would later join the American Giving Charitable Fund and the American Airlines and American Eagle Family Fund as vice president and fund manager. During his tenure, American Airlines became the single, largest corporate donor to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF – $1.2 to 1.6 million annually for five consecutive years – and provided emergency relief funding for natural disasters in Chile, Haiti, and in support of victims of Super Storm Sandy, among others.
Sam has served several terms on the board of directors of the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) and the Volunteer Center of North Texas, and is chair emeritus of the Global Corporate Volunteer Council. While serving on the board of IAVE he contributed to: The Global Corporate Volunteering Research Project – Global Companies Volunteering Globally and The Big Tent: Corporate Volunteering in the Global Age. He’s also had numerous speaking engagements in partnership with the United Nations (New York), the European Volunteer Centre (Brussels), YMCA Colombia (Bogotá), the Hungarian National Volunteer Centre (Budapest), The National Volunteer and Philanthropy Center (Singapore) and the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce, among others. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Earl G. Graves Award for Leadership, for his work in the advancement of diversity and inclusion; in 2012 he was bestowed the President's Volunteer Service Award by Points of Light on behalf of President Barack Obama, for his work in the development of global corporate volunteering as a professional practice; and in 2014 he was recognized as a BIG Influencer by the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Sam attended business school at the University of Puerto Rico and studied French at the famed Alliance Française. He also holds a Training Manager Certificate from the Training Institute and a Nonprofit Management Certificate from the Center for Nonprofit Management. After a career that spanned almost three decades, he recently retired from his post as Principal of Community Programs at American Airlines. In addition to his consulting, public speaking and voice over work, Sam recently joined the American Heart Association as the first-ever and highest-ranking member of management exclusively dedicated to advancing diversity, inclusion and the development of cultural competencies.