Sammy Politzner

Arbor Rising, Co-Founder

Sammy Politzner co-leads Arbor Rising, a grantmaking organization that funds and supports early-stage nonprofits that are all building pathways out of poverty.  Sammy graduated from the University of Michigan and moved to New York City, where he taught second grade in the South Bronx with Teach for America and founded a small academic summer camp for his students.  After a stint of world traveling, Sammy moved north for a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and then down south to teach at a KIPP school in North Carolina.  Sammy returned to New York for a job in investment banking at Kildare Capital, a boutique firm, where he spent five years providing sell-side M&A and capital formation advice before launching Arbor Rising.  When not co-leading Arbor Rising, Sammy often dreams of starting a family band, running marathons in faraway lands and Michigan football winning the national championship (again!).