Sam Rizzo serves as Director for Policy, focusing on trade issues. He comes to ITI having spent three years at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where he was Director for Europe in USTR’s Office of Europe and the Middle East. In that capacity, Sam was responsible for the development of U.S. policy positions for bilateral trade engagement with the European Commission with a focus on EU regulatory and non-tariff barriers to trade. While at USTR, he worked extensively with White House and USTR leadership, as well as a wide range of trade policy officials across the U.S. interagency. From 2015-2016, Sam served as part of the U.S. coordination team for negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP), where he worked to develop U.S. negotiating and engagement strategies as well as public messaging.

Prior to joining USTR, Sam served as an International Affairs Specialist and Presidential Management Fellow in the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

Sam holds a bachelor’s degree in Hispanic Studies from the College of William & Mary and a master’s degree in International Relations and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) with a concentration in European Studies. Sam speaks Spanish and originally hails from North Carolina.