Exclusive: Tessie San Martin to step down from FHI 360's helm

After four years leading FHI 360 — one of the largest U.S.-based aid agencies in the world — Tessie San Martin is stepping down from her role as chief executive officer. San Martin will be stepping down from her role this calendar year, an FHI 360 spokesperson told Devex, though she will continue to serve as the organization’s chief executive officer until a successor has been identified and onboarded. FHI 360 is now launching a “comprehensive search,” the spokesperson added, stating that FHI 360 is “committed to investing the time it takes to identify the right new leader.” San Martin joined FHI 360 in September 2021. In the years since, she saw the organization through a multitude of challenges, from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic to the collapse of the U.S. Agency for International Development. By the end of 2025, the organization had lost about half of its revenue and was forced to lay off a quarter of its workforce — some 4,000 people across the world. Even so, FHI 360 is still the second-largest USAID implementing agency, according to a Devex analysis from April of last year. Today, it continues to operate in 60 countries and all 50 U.S. states and territories, employing more than 2,200 staff across the world. Prior to San Martin’s tenure at FHI 360, she served as the chief executive officer of Plan International USA, a Washington, D.C.-based aid agency, for just over a decade. Before that, she served as group vice president at Abt Associates and director for the operations group of the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, or MIGA. “This is not a decision I have come to lightly; I love this job and this organization,” San Martin said in a statement to Devex. “I’m incredibly proud and honored to have worked with our inspiring global team. Together, we have navigated transformational change and put FHI 360 on the path to a new era of growth and influence.” San Martin has not said what she will do next, but Devex understands she will not retire.