Arielle
Gross

Arielle Gross Samuels is the Head of Global Business Strategy and Engagement at Facebook. She founded and leads a global team that builds initiatives and strategic partnerships focused on ESG, social good, and business equality in service of 200M+ businesses around the world. Key initiatives include running Facebook’s grants program to provide $40M to 10K Black-owned businesses in the US to boost liquidity for those businesses hit hardest by COVID-19, overseeing Facebook’s commitments towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8 ‘decent work and economic growth’, and leading Facebook’s business sustainability presence through initiatives like Communities for Recycling – a Messenger experience to improve recycling. 

Her team leads business equality actions for the advertising industry to take – including increasing representation in advertising and media, expanding capital deployment to diverse suppliers across the ecosystem, and running corporate partnerships with leading organizations like ADCOLOR, MAKERS and more. At Facebook since 2013, she has held a number of roles at the company, including most recently serving as the Business Lead for Global Business Marketing and Creative, running the business of the global organization, and serving as strategic advisor to the VP of Global Business Marketing and Chief Creative Officer of Facebook. 

Prior to Facebook, Samuels did Engineering and Construction Consulting at Deloitte. Accolades include being named a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Marketing and Advertising, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeeper, Board Member of the Geena Davis Institute of Gender in Media, Board Member of Girl Up – United Nations Foundation, Board Director of the University of Illinois Alumni Association, Adweek Executive Mentor, Representative on the United Nations Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change, 92Y Women inPower Fellow, Women in Need Partner, Lead of Facebook Women New York, Founding Member of Chief, and Advisor for #BuiltByGirls. 

Samuels holds a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, where she founded the Arielle Gross Engineering Visionary Scholarship Fund to accelerate the diversity of engineering students.