Sam Barend is an entrepreneur who has spent her career driving innovation through complex bureaucracy. Since 2021, she has served as CEO of AION Biosystems, leading the development and FDA clearance of TempShield™, the first long-term wearable that detects infection before it becomes life-threatening for cancer patients. Under her leadership, AION has brought TempShield to market at scale, secured national distribution, and is enrolling more cancer patients than any other wearable — establishing it as a new standard in oncology care.

Earlier in her career, Sam served as Executive Director of Governor Paterson’s State Asset Maximization Commission (SAM), where she built stakeholder support among labor unions, elected officials, and business leaders for the use of private finance in public infrastructure, paving the way for signature projects such as the rebuilding of LaGuardia and JFK airports. She later joined AECOM, where she helped launch AECOM Capital, developed billions in projects, and became a national voice on private financing of infrastructure, testifying before Congress and advancing federal legislation. She also founded the Performance Based Building Coalition, ran for Congress at 25, and authored the federal Interstate 86 Act, driving billions in economic development for the southern tier of upstate New York. Sam has built her career around turning ambitious ideas into tangible results — from major infrastructure to innovations now reshaping cancer care.