Sumeet Seam

As the chief legal officer at the National Geographic Society, Sumeet Seam leads the organization’s legal and business affairs function and is responsible for legal, governance, risk management, and compliance matters.

Seam joined the Society with 20 years of experience successfully developing high-performing legal and risk departments. Most recently, he served as general counsel for Save the Children, overseeing all of the nonprofit’s legal affairs and key operations functions. In this role he advised on compliance matters, donor requirements, comprehensive governance reform, staff safety, and crisis management. He also focused on matters of workplace culture and chaired its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council.

Seam also spent 11 years at Discovery, where he managed the U.S. corporate legal department. Prior to that, he was a corporate associate at the Hogan & Hartson firm (now Hogan Lovells).

As a public speaker, Seam has addressed legal issues, board governance, crisis management, enterprise risk management, and workplace culture. He is a member of the General Counsel Steering Committee at the National Association of Corporate Directors and a member of the District of Columbia and Maryland bar associations.

Seam holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a B.A. in international affairs from George Washington University.