Sam is a Senior Officer for Solve’s Innovator Program. In this role, she supports innovators to strengthen their organizations and scale their impact.

Prior to Solve, Sam spent five years at the Barr Foundation, a private regional funder located in Boston. At Barr, she helped develop and execute the strategy of two investment portfolios and managed over 50 grantee relationships within its Education Program focused on advancing initiatives that connect students to success in high school and beyond. 

She began her career at EF Education First in Cambridge, MA, where she provided targeted consulting and training support for educators implementing immersive global travel experiences for students. Sam holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree from The Heller School for Social Policy and Nonprofit Management at Brandeis University, where she concentrated on children, youth, and family policy, and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Bates College.

Sam is from a small town outside of Boston (near the start of the Boston Marathon), and now lives in the Boston neighborhood of Charlestown with her husband and young daughter. She loves traveling, trying new restaurants and recipes, playing on her co-ed soccer team, skiing in Utah, reading historical fiction novels, and volunteering in a second grade Boston Public Schools’ classroom.