Georgetown Alumni

Waiting for the Hilltop to look like this 🍂

: 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.

This summer, the university passed a major milestone in developing a boathouse; reopened its on-campus hotel; souped up its film screen room; and created a new plaza on the Capitol Campus.

Read more about what's new across Georgetown's campuses: https://g.town/47m4OrA

On September 10, Hoyas around the world welcomed our newest Georgetown alumni to their local neighborhoods.

Hoya Saxa 💙

Carrie Rich (G'09) co-founded The Global Good Fund, a non-profit organization that invests in high potential young leaders including 700 entrepreneurs in over 70 countries. Their work has created thousands of jobs positively impacting 11.6 million lives.

“Great ideas are evenly distributed, but access to opportunity—mentoring, coaching, capital, peer networking—is not,” she says. “The Global Good Fund supports entrepreneurs who are underrepresented in financial markets. With phenomenal ideas and incredible resilience, they are building solutions to real-world problems that they experience firsthand.”

Read more about Carrie Rich's plan to expand The Global Good Fund: https://g.town/4yxstRo

: Jennifer Hernandez (SFS'02)

"I am incredibly proud of my Mexican American heritage and of being the daughter of a family whose values taught me the importance of hard work, faith, family, and service to others. Growing up, I saw firsthand the sacrifices families make to create opportunities for the next generation. As a first-generation college student, attending Georgetown was not simply my accomplishment, it belonged to my entire family.

My heritage has also deeply shaped the work I have chosen to do. Throughout my career, I have been drawn to public service and to creating opportunities for communities that have too often been overlooked. From beginning my career with the United Farm Workers, to serving immigrant and working families in California government, to leading workforce and human services programs, and now helping lead California’s Rural Health Transformation efforts, I have tried to remain grounded in the communities and values that shaped me.

My culture reminds me that success carries a responsibility to bring others with you. I want my daughter, Mia, to see that she can be proud of where she comes from, walk confidently into spaces where people who look like us have not always been represented, and use her voice and opportunities to make a difference for others.

My Jesuit education, classroom experiences, involvement with MEChA de Georgetown, faith community, and friendships challenged me to think critically about justice, opportunity, and who gets a voice in the decisions that affect their lives. Georgetown also taught me that leadership is not simply about holding a position, it is about using whatever influence and opportunity you have to serve others."

Was the Georgetown University Farmers Market (GUFM) one of your favorite parts of living on the Hilltop? Experience it all again at with our Fall Fest on Friday, October 2 🍂

Grab a delicious bite from your favorite vendor at the market, challenge a fellow Hoya to a race through an inflatable obstacle course, and experience those quintessential Georgetown moments of friends, food, music, and more while relaxing on the lawn.

Register now to join : https://g.town/4xv9iae

Our Summer Send-Offs, a nearly 30-year tradition at Georgetown, provide new students an opportunity to connect and meet their local Hoya community before they start in the fall. 🩶 💙

This summer, alumni around the globe joined in welcoming our newest Hoyas and their families to Georgetown. From New Delhi to Detroit and over 30 cities in between, alumni, new students and families, and other friends of Georgetown came together to celebrate the new classes' journey to campus. 🌎

We deeply thank every Hoya who hosted or planned an event in their region and look forward to next summer.

The Psaros family—including Michael G. (B’89) and Robin Psaros (Parents ’21)—has expanded its investment in the Georgetown Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy, bringing the family’s total commitment to the center to $25 million.

Housed in Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, the Psaros Center is a leading destination for unbiased global finance and policy expertise. The family’s commitment includes an $11 million gift to endow the center in 2022 and a new $14 million investment made as part of the recently concluded Called to Be campaign.

This transformational investment will expand the Psaros Center’s ability to shape the future of global finance through the development of objective, research-driven solutions, by convening leaders from the private sector, government, and academia.

Read more about the Psaros family’s support of leadership, faith-driven, and civic-minded initiatives across the university: https://g.town/4AsRizN