Mentions
Chime X Colleague @ PayPal & Venmo
John Kilpatrick, Head of Design
"I had the pleasure of working with Sam at PayPal. First and foremost, he deeply believes in design as a strategic capability. He combines clear storytelling with a strong focus on bringing teams together to solve complex problems. If you need a design leader who can align stakeholders and deliver on challenging initiatives, Sam can make it happen.
Sam is also a strong culture carrier—he brings people together and consistently reinforces a design-first mindset.
A few highlights from my time working with Sam:
Sam led the vision and execution for redesigning P2P and Money Movement services for PayPal. It was a money movement platform spanning P2P transfers, crypto, wallet, and other financial services. As part of this platform, he helped extend it and establish the P2P partnership between Venmo and PayPal on Meta Messenger.
He also played a key role in the discovery and launch of PayPal World, enabling interoperable global wallets and unlocking international transfers for Venmo customers for the first time."
PayPal X Colleague @ PayPal & Venmo
Michelle Savage, Director Content
"I worked closely with Sam at PayPal, and he's one of those designers who makes everything around him better, not just the work he owns directly.
Sam brought real design and research maturity to our consumer org at a time when it needed it. He didn't just raise the craft bar, he built the conditions for others to do better work too, and he did it through genuine partnership across product, engineering, and business stakeholders.
The scope of what he took on was significant. He led the redesign of PayPal's money movement service architecture, authoring a cross-service platform that spanned P2P transfers, crypto, wallet, and financial services. That kind of work requires someone who can hold a big vision, coordinate across a lot of competing priorities, and still show up in the details. Sam did all of it.
He also launched the first-ever offsite P2P partnership for Venmo and PayPal on Meta Messenger and led the discovery and launch of PayPal World, which enabled international transfers for Venmo customers for the first time. These weren't incremental improvements. They were category-defining moves, and Sam drove them.
Any team would be lucky to have him."
RGA X Colleague @ PayPal & Venmo
Matt Jakob, ECD
"Sam has a way of making complex systems feel almost obvious, like they couldn't have been designed any other way.
We worked together for nearly two years during a major redesign of the PayPal brand and app. As Director of Money Movement, Sam led the team and defined the strategy for a cross-service platform that unified P2P, crypto, wallet, and 30+ services into a cohesive, efficient product system. He stayed hands-on across vision, strategy, cross-functional collaboration, and design implementation.
Sam led efforts that pushed PayPal and Venmo into new contexts, including their first offsite P2P partnership on Meta Messenger, as well as integrations with Google and OpenAI. He also drove the discovery and launch of PayPal World and PayPal Links, expanding how and where people can pay or get paid.
A clear thinker, strong collaborator, and someone you want on complex problems."
OpenAI X Colleague @ Coplex
Jarrett Ford, Product Designer
"Sam is by far the most talented, articulate and hard working designers I've ever had the pleasure of working with. I was easily able to bounce creative ideas off him and he would actively participate in internal critiques that helped push our designs to the next level. Sam was an awesome coworker and I highly recommend him to any team."
Meta X Colleague @ Mason
Brian Hook, VP Engineering
“Sam is a phenomenal design leader who knows what 'excellence' looks like. He helped Mason tremendously in his time there by really coming in and taking a disparate, confused set of tools and design systems and synthesizing them into a broader, more coherent strategy and framework. He was always finding new areas to fix and elevate while tapping into the voice of the customer, and his independence and strong opinions were appreciated. The one area that really set Sam apart is his willingness to step into gaps across the organization -- even outside of design -- to help the company and the team when necessary. There was no "This isn't my problem/domain", it was always "How can I help?" which is incredibly valuable at a startup.”
TikTok X Colleague @ DesignStudio
Ryan Northway, Head of Design
“Proven track record as an incredible design leader and core asset to any company. Strong ability to drive product strategy and longterm vision as well as zoom in to provide both product and marketing designers with hands on guidance. Highly recommended.”
Telly X Colleague @ Coplex
Ilya Pozin, CEO & Founder
“Sam's creative skills are at the top 1% of the industry. He's not just a designer but a strategist. He digs into real problems, understands them, and only then comes up with a solution. He is a great communicator, incredibly talented designer, and works very well within his team. I would put Sam in front of any client any day!”
HBO - WarnerMedia X Colleague @ AT&T, DirecTV, HBO
Robbie Tseng, VP Design
“Sam came onto our team at a critical time where we were working on big ideas with impossible timeframes. He brought to the table an ability to ideate and lead conversations, weaving together product design & strategy and content design & strategy that came at the perfect time for the initiative we were working on. Sam always pushed the boundaries with bigger questions, and was always ready to lean in across all disciplines to get the vision out. Most importantly, he helped bring our big ideas across the finish line under extreme pressure and was extremely hands on with his design craft. Sam has a true ability to think and execute big picture and is the perfect person to help take new visions that extra step forward.”
Warner Brothers X Colleague @ AT&T
Matt St. Pierre, Director Design
"I worked with Sam on several enterprise initiatives at AT&T; innovating the future experience of att.com, redefining the digital brand and merchandising ideation. Sam is a versatile creative leader able to develop a vision, clearly articulate its value to the business and deliver results. Ideation, strategy, UX, UI, visual design, prototyping – Sam can do it all. And do it well. He's an ambitious creative leader, willing to get his hands dirty. I'd gladly work with Sam again in the future."
AT&T X Colleague @ AT&T/DirecTV/HBO
Adam Thielman, Principal UX Strategist
“I was exposed to Samuel and his team for nearly a year and was impressed with the awesome work he does. Samuel provides a seasoned UX perspective and is able to take complex experiences and simplify them using innovative technologies. I enjoyed Samuel personal approach and his effective engagement across teams and stakeholders. All in all, I'm a fan of Samuel's work and would recommend him.”
Goldman Sachs X Colleague @ Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management
Daniel Ryan, Global Head of UXR
“Sam is an incredibly talented design leader. He is able to take complex systems and processes, with several variables and build an experience that is easy for the end-user to follow and remains true to the brand's identity. He brings relevant groups like User Research in early, providing thoughtful questions and the appropriate context to ensure he is designing directly to the wants and needs of the end-user. He is able to break down complex problems and lead a team to find creative solutions that make digital products stronger.”
JP Morgan X Colleague @ Goldman Sachs, Private Wealth Management
Jeffrey Easton, Global Head of UXR
“I supported Sam as a user researcher in the Private Wealth Management wing of Goldman Sachs. Sam is the kind of designer that every user researcher dreams of working with - he not only understands the value of user research, he is also insistent that research is iteratively conducted throughout the design process. Sam makes sure that he and the rest of the team are truly empathetic of the client users, and that led to his design successfully driving increased usage - one of the major business goals. On a personal note, Sam is a great person to work with who makes effort to know you and be there for you when you need a helping hand.”
Citi X Colleague @ Goldamn Sachs
Daniel Chandler, Head of Global Design
“I worked alongside Sam on a large-scale design initiative - he made a huge impact and his involvement was critical in its success. Sam is an excellent design leader who is equally comfortable talking 'big picture' to stakeholders or getting into the weeds with his design colleagues. He is also a great judge of when to step in to provide oversight & guidance and when to leave designers to get on and do their thing. Sam also has spent a lot of time mentoring and upskilling the team - many of us have Sam's hard work to thank for making us better designers.”
Mason X Colleague @ Mason
Nancy Xiao, CEO
“Samuel is an absolute delight to work with. He jumped right into the deep end of our chaotic startup and quickly elevated our design language and practices, developing and implementing a north star vision for our software product. In his time at Mason he led multiple functions across research, product design, and industrial design. Hope to cross paths again with him someday soon!”
