Sam Cho currently serves as a Commissioner, Port of Seattle and Corporate Strategy and Development, Volta Charging. Prior to joining the Volta Charging and being elected to the port, Sam was the Founder and CEO of Seven Seas Export, a trading company that exports US commodities to Asia. Sam initially capitalized on the opportunity to export egg products to South Korea at the height of the Bird Flu epidemic in the winter of 2016. Sam was selected as one of 425 Business Magazine’s 30 under 30 for 2019.

Prior to Seven Seas Export, Sam worked as a political appointee under President Barack Obama. In the Obama Administration, he was the Special Assistant to the Deputy Administrator of the US General Services Administration. There, he helped to manage a federal agency of over 10,000 federal employees and worked on agency-wide strategy and execution for its three business lines in real asset management, federal acquisitions, and technology transformation. Previously, Sam was a Legislative Assistant to a member of the United States Congress for whom he managed a legislative portfolio of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Defense, Small Business, Science, Tech, and Financial Services. He also worked as an analyst for the US Department of State straight out of college.

Sam was a recipient of the Congressional Fellowship from the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) in 2014 and was appointed by Washington State Governor Jay Inslee to serve on the Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA) where he chairs the Economic Development Committee. He also currently serves on the board of the Puget Sound Regional Council, Washington Council on International Trade, Washington State China Relations Council, and Korean American Coalition of Washington.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from The American University and a master of science from The London School of Economics