Samuel (Sam) Delgado - Chairman
Born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Sam currently serves as vice-chair of the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission. He is a retired Verizon executive with 21 years of corporate experience. During his last 13 years, he served as Vice President External Affairs for Verizon New Jersey, Inc. and was responsible for matters related for the company’s external environment including: municipal and county relationships, emergency management, public policy, customer service, public relations, and the Verizon Foundation.
Sam is also a retired Marine Corps Reserve Combat Communications Officer with 20 years’ experience having served during Desert Storm, and Operation Uphold Democracy (1994-95) in the Republic of Haiti. In 2010 he returned to Haiti to assist in earthquake relief efforts acting as liaison for Doctors Without Borders, the Haitian Government, NGOs, and U.S. Military Units. https://youtu.be/ouy6h1wWvDk
He served as advisor and key fundraiser for the WNET documentary; “The Borinqueneers” which chronicled the only segregated Hispanic Army Unit in US History.
He is past chairman of Newark Regional Business Partnership; past board member of the Newark Alliance, and the Board of Trustees and Regents of Felician University. He is a 1989 founding board member of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.
In 2017-18, he chaired New Jersey 4 Puerto Rico Relief, a 501c3; helping raise $170,000 in Hurricane Maria Puerto Rican Relief. He is a 1978 graduate of Marist College with a degree in Political Science, a graduate of the Marine Corps Basic School, Quantico, Virginia, and a 2004 Lead New Jersey Fellow. He is married to Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, NJ 19th Legislative District and lives in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.