Sam Worthington

Retired CEO, InterAction

For 15 years Sam has worked with the senior leadership of a dozen U.N. agencies, often on a weekly basis, to help shape our collective global humanitarian action and practice. In this role, and through many field visits and work at the U.N., he have gained a deep personal appreciation of the operational and political role that the U.N. plays in addressing the often-dire needs of the world’s most vulnerable people.

As he steps down from his current role at InterAction in 2023, Sam wishes to remain engaged in a mission that has motivated him for so many years. As a convener and bridge builder he hopes to be of assistance to the NCA-UNA team.

Since 2006, Sam has served as President & CEO of InterAction, the nation’s largest U.S. alliance of international NGOs focused on people around the world. At InterAction, he strengthened the impact and collective voice of the U.S. NGO sector and lead its engagement on a wide range of policy and programs with the highest levels of the U.N., multilaterals, governments, philanthropies, private sector, and civil society.

Previously Sam served as CEO of Plan International USA (1994-2006), and on the executive leadership of Plan International, a large global child rights NGO. In 2016, he was a resident policy fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center.

Vision Statement:

Sam currently serves as Chair of the UNA-NCA Advisory Council where he encourages Council members to deliberate on topical issues relevant to the UN. He is a Senior Fellow at Forus, a global NGO platform representing 22,000 nonprofits in 164 countries. Sam sits on the board of Plan International USA and the Board Oversight Committee of Plan’s global Member Assembly. He is an Advisory Board member at the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies at Brown University, an Advisory Committee member on the BBB Charity Standards Committee, and serves as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.