Samuel Bressi

Sam has served as President and CEO of Lancaster County Community Foundation in Lancaster, PA since 2008. He has guided the transformation of the Community Foundation from a quiet grant-maker to a highly visible and impactful leadership organization. Under his leadership, the organization has encouraged innovation in the social sector by making early-stage venture grants, fostering thoughtful risk-taking and learning from failure. Recently, they have focused on building community equity and bridging differences in a polarized culture. They manage over $200 million of charitable assets and its signature event, ExtraGive, has raised over $100 million for local organizations in twelve days.

Sam has both his bachelor’s and MBA from Penn State University and started his career as an administrator at Penn State’s College of Medicine, the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. He then served as CEO at the Byrnes Health Education Center rolling out a transformational on-line learning element and reaching more than a million users.

Sam has chaired the Boards of Directors of the National Association of Health Education Centers, Lancaster County Estate Planning Council, and Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations. He brings 30 years of executive leadership and a personal understanding of what it takes to run a high-impact community benefit organization.

Sam lives in Lancaster with his wife, Linda. They have two outstanding adult children, Justin and wife, Lindsay, in Pittsburgh and Hannah and her partner, Sam, in San Francisco. They also have an extraordinary golden retriever named Bixby.