Samuel Blatteis is the co-founder and CEO of The MENA Catalysts Inc., a Middle Eastern government affairs advisory firm.
Blatteis was born in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. He received a bachelor's degree in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College in 2001 and also studied Arabic at The American University in Cairo and Damascus University in Syria.In 2005, Blatteis received a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct field research on China's role in the Middle East. He graduated from Georgetown University with a master's degree in Gulf Public Policy in 2007.
At Google, Blatteis served as Head of Government Relations and Public Policy, Gulf Countries for over 3 ½ years. In February 2017, Blatteis worked on a partnership between Google and the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Foundation to launch a digital literacy initiative for Saudi youths called We Are All Online. Blatteis left Google in July 2017 and co-founded The MENA Catalysts Inc., a Middle Eastern government affairs consulting firm. Blatteis previously worked for Deloitte Middle East as a Public Policy Manager and then senior manager until 2014, when he joined Google.