Ian Sams is a Senior Managing Director based in Washington, D.C., and a seasoned advisor and strategist with a proven record of helping senior leaders and organizations navigate consequential and mission-critical moments. For more than 15 years, he has led successful communications campaigns in high-pressure environments, shaping complex public narratives amidst intense scrutiny. Sams joined TLG in 2025 and helps lead its work on issues management, sensitive situations, litigation support, and workforce and workplace communications across multiple industries and sectors, advising businesses, global law firms, non-profits and philanthropies, and sports figures.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2026 Lawdragon 100 Global Leaders in Legal Strategy & Consulting | 2026 | Crisis Communications |
Before joining TLG, Sams served as a trusted strategic advisor and communications leader at the highest levels of the U.S. government in the Executive Branch and U.S. Congress, developing deep expertise in legal, medical and scientific issues, and financial, health care, energy and infrastructure policy. As Deputy Assistant to the President in the White House, he was a senior advisor and top spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he took on a newly created role to oversee all strategic communications for the pandemic response, coordinating with agencies including the CDC, FDA, and NIH. He has led preparation for Cabinet-level officials during confirmation processes and for high-profile oversight hearings and crafted multi-faceted stakeholder engagement plans for numerous major public affairs initiatives. Sams also held communications leadership roles in the U.S. Senate and on eight national and statewide political campaigns, where he led policy communications and war room rapid response efforts for significant moments and oversaw large, multifaceted teams.
Sams graduated summa cum laude from the University of Alabama, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and was a fellow in the Blackburn Institute.