ALSAC appoints new Chief Marketing and Brand, Data and Analytics officers to drive fundraising growth for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Two recognized leaders with major-brand experience in their fields are joining the executive leadership team of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, to help drive future-focused strategies to advance its lifesaving mission. 

Samantha Maltin joins ALSAC as its new Chief Marketing and Brand Officer after most recently serving as Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing and Brand Officer at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind Sesame Street. Ankur Jain joins ALSAC as its first Chief Data and Analytics Officer after most recently serving as Vice President and Head of Data Science, Analytics, AI/ML at Whole Foods, an Amazon company. 

“Samantha and Ankur are two incredible professionals who are choosing to bring their world-class expertise to serve a greater purpose — driving forward the mission of St. Jude to advance treatments and cures for the sickest kids in the world,” said Richard C. Shadyac Jr., President and CEO of ALSAC. “Samantha and Ankur will help propel the continued growth of St. Jude and its impact on families across the globe by leading cutting-edge strategies to continue meeting our generous supporters where they are in a rapidly changing world.”

Maltin brings more than 25 years of experience as a brand leader, largely in the entertainment and media space, having also held significant roles at the History Channel and Viacom/Nickelodeon. Most recently at Sesame Workshop, Maltin was instrumental in shaping the nonprofit’s global brand strategy, overseeing consumer engagement, strategic communications, events, social media, data strategy, digital and brand creative.  

Maltin has been recognized as a Top 25 CMO by Business Insider and a Top 50 Forbes Entrepreneurial CMO. She earned a B.A. in political science and French from the University of Michigan, studied at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and completed management programs at the Hearst Management Institute and Northwestern University-Kellogg School of Management.  

In her new role, Maltin will lead marketing, brand and communications functions, developing and executing strategies to deepen the impact of St. Jude, named the most trusted of all for-profit and not-for-profit brands in consumer research performed by Morning Consult the past two years.

“From the first moment I visited the St. Jude campus, I felt a deep connection to the mission of supporting the world’s most vulnerable children and families. Sharing their stories, inspiring compassion, and rallying support to make a lasting difference — that’s exactly where I want to dedicate my energy and my heart,” Maltin said. “I’m thrilled to work alongside the ALSAC team to further advance the impact of the lifesaving work of St. Jude and continue building hope for so many.”

Most recently at Amazon, Jain led a large, centralized data, science and analytics organization for Amazon’s grocery business (Whole Foods Market, Amazon Fresh, and Amazon Go). Prior to that, he held leadership roles at Tiffany & Co. (now part of LVMH) and the Estée Lauder Companies. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Delhi, India.

At ALSAC, Jain will help enhance the organization’s data, AI, and analytics capabilities to create highly personalized experiences for the 11 million active supporters of St. Jude, as well as other critical business initiatives. 

“My wife and I experienced the pain of losing a child ourselves, so this opportunity to help advance cures and treatments across the world is deeply meaningful,” Jain said. “In my career, I have been deeply involved in harnessing the power of data to drive personalized experiences for consumers and now I’m privileged to work to deliver even more rewarding journeys for our supporters who rally for such a pure cause." 

Jain and Maltin both plan to relocate to Memphis, the home of ALSAC and St. Jude, from Austin and the New York City area, respectively.  

St. Jude is in the midst of a $12.9 billion strategic plan to advance cures and treatments for childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases across the globe, which will also mean some 2,500 new jobs at ALSAC and St. Jude this decade. Under Shadyac’s leadership since 2009, ALSAC has nearly quadrupled revenues to fund the lifesaving mission of St. Jude: Finding cures. Saving children.