H.S. ("Sam") Hamadeh is a media entrepreneur based in New York with business interests in digital media, publishing, and film.[1]
Hamadeh co-founded VAULT.com in 1997 [2] and served as the company’s President through its successful sale in 2007 to a major private equity firm. He reportedly remains a significant minority shareholder of VAULT.
Hamadeh is a graduate of UCLA, the University of Pennsylvania Law School with a JD, and holds a MBA from the Wharton School of Business.[3] He speaks and writes frequently about entrepreneuership, including being the Keynote Speaker at Wharton's Annual Entrepreneurship Conference.[4]
Honors and awards have included Crain’s Top Entrepreneur's Award,[5] the Harvard Business School Club’s Entrepreneur of the Year[6] Silicon Alley Reporter’s “100 Most Important Internet Executives”[7] Deloitte & Touche’s 50 Fastest Growing Companies,[8] and the University of Pennsylvania Law School's Young Alumnus of the Year award.[9] He has also been an Executive Producer of several notable films, including Home Movie[10] starring Adrian Pasdar, and Made For Each Other[11] starring Chris Masterson, Danny Masterson, and Bijou Phillips.[12]
Hamadeh's prominent charitable activities include supporting the charity Right to Play, which sets up sports and athletic programs for children in the world's war-torn areas, recently hosting a major benefit in New York City attended by prominent Olympic medalists and New York Governor David Paterson, raising over $50,000 from just this event.[13]