My amazing wife Leslie and I have an eight-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl. He loves to play sports, explore the world, and make as many friends as possible. She loves to use her imagination, learn new songs, and boss the rest of us around. I’ve lived in Maryland, Ohio, Oakland, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco, and in 2019 we moved to Asheville, NC. We were here through Hurricane Helene and saw devastation and resilience up close. I’m proud to be serving on the steering committee of the region’s Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG).
Travel
I love to explore. I’ve visited 44 U.S. states and 14 countries so far, including six road trips across the U.S., a solo backpacking trip in Europe, and a two-month adventure with Leslie in Southeast Asia. We visited Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar. Our most recent international adventures were a road trip in the Netherlands and a family trip to Oaxaca, Mexico.
Books
I also love to read, especially about race, American history, politics, and leadership. Here are some of my recent favorites:
Mentors
I have been fortunate to work with and learn from a diverse and accomplished group of leaders who have taught me so much about life and leadership, some explicitly and most by example. They include former superintendents of Pittsburgh Public Schools Mark Roosevelt and Linda Lane, former California Superintendent of the Year Devin Vodicka, former Dropbox CTO Bharat Mediratta, PIMCO SVP Nate Brown, Grable Foundation E.D. Gregg Behr, and Saleem Ghubril from The Pittsburgh Promise among many others.
Motivation
My own experience as a public school student on Maryland’s Eastern Shore exposed me to the racism and inequity that I have been trying to understand and address ever since.
More!
I’m a certified forklift driver, certified teacher, and have a commission qualification letter qualifying me to be a superintendent of schools.
Being an athlete has been a big part of my life, too. I played basketball at Kenyon College, and I was a good tennis player and runner in high school. I also played baseball and soccer and still play basketball regularly.
Sam K Franklin 