SPG brings relationship development, operational discipline, platform growth and sector expertise together. Each role supports the same outcome: a useful introduction with a person accountable for what happens next.
Institutional relationships, chambers, associations and the regional network.
Meet Sam 02 / Founder and COOOnboarding and operations, plus economic empowerment, veterans affairs, travel and member organisations.
Meet Rick 03 / Founding Partner, PlatformThe platform and growth engine that support the member experience.
Meet Thomas 04 / Founding Partner, OpportunitiesData centres, real estate and energy gateways, with specialist sector knowledge.
Meet Sheikh Momin
Sam Jakobs is the founder and President of Strategic Partner Group. He leads relationships with institutions, chambers, trade groups, associations, family offices and investor groups across SPG’s regional chapters. His work brings business leaders, advisers, governments and investors together around commercial needs, and his own career supplies the pattern: more than four decades across banking, finance, insurance, technology, public companies and international business development.
He held executive roles with Capital One, HSBC, Republic Bank, North Fork Bank and Morstan Insurance, gaining first-hand experience of banking, financial regulation, product development and strategic implementation. In May 2022 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Aluf Holdings, a publicly traded holding company. He was the only American executive invited to speak at India's "Make in India: Making It Work" national seminar, alongside union ministers, government officials and global business leaders.
WAFUNIF council membership is an advisory role within that organisation and confers no authority to represent it or the United Nations. Honours are listed as conferred by the organisations named.
Rick Reese is a retired United States Air Force officer whose forty-year career spans strategic planning, military systems programme management and acquisition, satellite launch and control operations, procurement, logistics, quality, software development and configuration and data management. At SPG he brings that operating discipline to onboarding, member records and billing, and he leads SPG’s work in the areas below.
A plastics engineering graduate of the University of Lowell, he became a commissioned officer and, in 1989, led the space operations team that launched the first GPS II navigation satellite. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the United Way appointed him to lead the Colorado Springs effort providing relief services to 1,500 relocated survivors. He holds dual master's degrees in procurement and logistics.
His Air Force experience covers aerospace and satellite operations, training, launch and control, military systems acquisition, logistics and development, including the GPS satellite and F-15 programmes. Alongside it, he has spent more than two decades building an online travel business.
Sources: SPG executive profile (July 2026), Rick Reese (October 2026) and University of Massachusetts Lowell, "Engineering a Future for Students", 12 October 2022.
Commercial growth and sector knowledge give the network a practical route from a member’s need to its next decision.
Thomas leads the platform and the growth engine.
An investment banker by background, he has been based between Dubai and London for 25 years and is now building AI cloud infrastructure.
RemitPlatform and growth, supporting SPG’s member experience and commercial development.
Sheikh Momin leads the data centres, real estate and energy gateways.
His work spans real estate in the United Kingdom, Dubai and Saudi Arabia, renewable energy and modular data centres.
RemitSector leadership across the three gateways, bringing relevant specialist experience to member requirements.
Nine senior vice presidents and more than forty Strategic Advisors bring expertise and relationships across SPG’s programmes and regional chapters.
Selected, vetted Strategic Advisors lead a sector under a six-month appointment, renewed on results.
A Sector Ambassador appointment is separate from the paid Ambassador membership level. Scope, responsibilities and any strategic mandate are confirmed in writing.
Explore sector leadershipA specialist qualifies the fit. A named owner keeps the relationship. A person approves each introduction, commitment and invoice.
The strongest starting point is a specific business need and an open discussion about the people, expertise and resources required to address it.