We are proud to profile a number of our team members spearheading growth and innovation at Roundtrip. Check out the rest of the series to meet our entire leadership team.
Meet Sam Farmer, Roundtrip’s Chief Executive Officer
Sam is a seasoned management consultant and high-growth technology leader. The course of Sam’s career has afforded her the opportunity to build a depth of experience across a wide breadth of business functions. She is data-driven by nature, thrives in ambiguity, and brings a curious and resourceful mindset to any challenge she’s faced with – always seeking out opportunities to combine analysis, evidence, and lived experience to drive positive outcomes. Her ability to communicate the big picture while still being well-versed in the minute details enables her to deliver high impact while building trust at all levels of an organization.
Sam, what project at Roundtrip have you worked on that you are most proud of?
This is so hard to answer as I’ve had the privilege of working within so many parts of our business. I’m deeply passionate about fostering a healthy and equitable team culture. In 2022, we spent some time revamping our employee engagement model, which included rolling out a formal compensation philosophy, publishing pay ranges, and creating a customized total rewards statement for each team member. I turned around this project in a matter of weeks, and it’s been so rewarding to see the impact and engagement it’s created.
What mentor or prominent figure has influenced you in your career and why? You can share more than one.
Many of my former clients from my consulting days make the shortlist of people who have had a great influence on how I approach my career. Notable folks include Nino Davi, who is an expert at developing and driving adoption of processes and frameworks in a data-driven fashion; and Shawn Heming, a CFO and jack of many trades who has seen and done so many things in his career he continues to be one of my most valuable sounding boards.
Can you share some of your favorite books?
Generally, I’m a nonfiction nerd – give me all the business and self-help books. I recently finished “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.”
What future do you envision for your team at Roundtrip in the next two years?
As Roundtrip matures as an organization, I’m focused on continuing to remove friction points for our team – painting a clear picture of what it looks like to deliver our tremendous impact at scale, and supporting the team in challenging assumptions and running experiments around how we do things. Roundtrip’s philosophy and expertise are differentiators that we will continue to build on for years to come.
Tell me about your hobbies and things you enjoy doing in your free time.
I’m a hard-headed DIYer, so you can often find me tackling some sort of house project. I recently relocated to be closer to family, so it has been fun seeing my niece and nephew more often. I also love to go hiking and spend time with my dog.
If you could donate $1million to any organization, what organization would it be?
I’m really passionate about animal rescue, especially foster-based rescue programs which pull the highest-risk animals from shelters and give them the space to decompress and be fantastic companions. I’d spread the money across a few organizations since so many of them are localized. Fun fact: when I first interviewed for a job at Roundtrip, I told our founder, Mark, that my long-term goal was to train rescue dogs to be service dogs.