10/02/2026
: Federico Sainz de la Maza (SFS’26)
Born in Coral Gables, Florida, to Cuban-American parents, Sainz de la Maza grew up navigating multiple cultures from an early age. Spanish was his first language, and he learned English at age five by watching Sesame Street. That bicultural upbringing would later shape both his academic interests and his professional life, grounding his work in questions of identity, policy and global systems.
Sainz de la Maza’s academic journey at SFS actually began much earlier than his peers. “I started out as a Latin American Studies major back in the 90s. Given that my parents are Cuban immigrants to the U.S., I wanted to learn more about my heritage,” he says.
After a 30-year hiatus spent in the professional world, he is now retired and has completed another degree, this time in international history (IHIS).
Before returning to Georgetown, Sainz de la Maza built a career at the intersection of communications, public service and advocacy. He began his professional journey in Washington, DC, working in the White House during the early years of President George H.W. Bush’s administration. Over time, his work evolved into a leading role in national advocacy, including at the Human Rights Campaign, where he helped shape some of the most visible public-facing efforts in the fight for equality. Most recently, he was senior director of Global Corporate Communications at Apple, where he led communications strategy across some of the company’s most high-profile businesses, products and issues.
At the Human Rights Campaign, Sainz de la Maza worked on high-profile national campaigns that helped define public discourse around LGBTQ+ rights. During the lead-up to the Supreme Court’s landmark marriage equality decisions, he contributed to communications strategies that elevated the issue to a national audience, helping drive widespread engagement across media, digital platforms and grassroots activism.
These efforts reached millions. From coordinating messaging to amplifying stories that resonated across political and cultural lines, his work reflected a broader goal: making complex policy debates accessible and human.
That experience informed the way he approached his studies.
“IHIS is where curiosity meets rigor,” he says. “Every class challenged me to ask not just what happened, but why—and that question has changed the way I see the world.”
📸: Sainz de la Maza standing in front of the Supreme Court with Jim Obergefell, the named plaintiff in the Supreme Court marriage case that gave gay and le***an couples the freedom to marry in 2015; Sainz de la Maza in front of Healy Hall; Sainz de la Maza with his husband, Mark Lowell.
