Tessie San Martin

Dr. Tessie San Martin is the Chief Executive Officer of FHI 360, an international nonprofit working to improve the health and well-being of people in the United States and around the world. 

A vocal advocate for gender equality, she has dedicated her career to creating a better and more just world for people everywhere. 

Prior to joining FHI 360, Dr. San Martin was CEO and President of Plan International USA, an international development and humanitarian organization that partners with adolescent girls and children around the world to overcome oppression and gender inequality. 

Previously, Dr. San Martin served as group vice president at Abt Associates and as director for the Operations Group of the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. 

She has more than 30 years of experience working as an executive in the public and private sectors, bilateral and multilateral development agencies and academia, focusing especially on economic growth and political reform. She has been a forceful advocate for aid effectiveness, serving as co-chair of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network and a board member of Friends of Publish What You Fund. 

Dr. San Martin has a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University. She is fluent in Spanish and has a working knowledge of French. 

She credits Amigos de las Americas for launching her career in international development. She first came to AMIGOS in 1974, when as a sophomore in high school she joined the Miami Chapter and went to Paraguay for five weeks as a volunteer to vaccinate children against the measles. She came back in 1975 as staff, working as a Route Leader in Honduras and the Assistant Project Director in Western Honduras in 1976.