Sam Azar

Sam Azar is the Founder and CEO of Ascend Impact Advisors, a consultancy helping mission-driven organizations leverage data, evidence, and AI to prove and improve their impact. A certified AI Engineer who has trained nearly 2,000 people in AI, Sam is an expert contributor to AI for Nonprofits: Putting Artificial Intelligence to Work for Your Cause (Wiley, 2025) — an Amazon bestseller — where his insights form the basis of the AI & Strategy chapter. He serves on the AI Advisory Committee for the Rhode Island Foundation, the state’s largest philanthropic organization led by President & CEO David Cicilline, former U.S. Congressman, and appeared on their Together RI podcast to discuss how nonprofits can harness AI thoughtfully and ethically.

Sam brings nearly 20 years of nonprofit and consulting leadership to his work, having held senior roles at Habitat for Humanity International, where he established the U.S. Research and Measurement function; Compass Working Capital, where he led the national scaling of its evidence-based financial coaching model; and United Way Worldwide, where he served as the organization’s first-ever Director of Strategy and founded its Innovation Lab. He also spent several years at Deloitte Consulting advising federal agencies including HUD and GSA. Sam serves on the Board of Directors of One Neighborhood Builders (ONB), a nonprofit community development leader dedicated to improving lives across Rhode Island by building homes and connecting communities, and on the Technology Committee for Leadership RI.

He holds an A.B. in Public Policy and Philosophy from Brown University and an M.P.A. from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.