David P. Samson
David Samson enters his 15th season in Major League Baseball and 13th as President of the Miami Marlins. He is one of only nine current Presidents in Major League Baseball who has presided over a World Series champion. As Club President, Samson oversees all aspects of the team’s day-to-day business operations, including sales, marketing, operations and personnel matters. He also oversaw the successful completion of Marlins Park in Miami. Construction of the baseball-only, retractable roof, air-conditioned facility exceeded all stated goals from local worker participation to local firm involvement.
Under Samson’s leadership Marlins Park was completed on budget and on schedule while also earning Gold LEED certification, officially making it the greenest ballpark in America and the world’s first-ever retractable roof facility to earn such distinction. Samson works closely with Owner and CEO, Jeffrey Loria, on all baseball matters and general corporate strategy. Samson is also the President of the Marlins Foundation, which focuses its efforts on baseball, arts and educational needs of the South Florida community. The Foundation has distributed over $4.0 million to worthy charities in South Florida since the ballpark gained approval in 2008.
Samson, 46, was born in Milwaukee, WI, and was raised in New York City. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor’s in Economics in 1990. He received a Juris Doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City in 1993. He is a member of the New York State Bar. Following law school, Samson became President and Founder of News Travels Fast, the first company to deliver the New York Times to Europe on a same-day basis. In 1996, Samson joined Morgan Stanley, an investment bank in New York City, a position he resigned in 1999 when he joined the Montreal Expos as Executive Vice President. Among his accomplishments, Samson was named one of Sports Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” for two years running, 2003-04. Other highlights, in addition to the 2003 World Series Championship, included the Florida Marlins being named South Florida’s No. 1 Film and Entertainment Company of the Year and Baseball America’s Organization of the Year. He and his wife, Cindi, a former school director, have been married for 23 years and have two daughters, Hannah and Kyra, and a son, Caleb.
