Leo Martellotto, Chief Development Officer, JA Worldwide

Leonardo (Leo) Martellotto is Chief Development Officer at JA Worldwide,

For a decade, Leo served as the President of JA Americas, the largest NGO in the region dedicated to inspiring and preparing youth, by activating them for the future of employment and entrepreneurship. Leonardo was responsible for setting the strategic direction of JA Americas, which reaches more than 1.5 million students across 25 countries each year in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada.

Leo exemplifies deep commitment to JA: He originally participated in the JA Company Program when only a young student in Cordoba, Argentina. Eventually, Leonardo became Executive Director of the Cordoba chapter of JA, overseeing a program that reached over 75,000 students across 60 sites, with over 35,000 volunteers from several hundred sponsors. During this time, he was recognized as the “Youth of the Year” by business magazine Punto a Punto, and attended strategic leadership and management courses at Penn State University.

Leonardo brings a dynamism to JA Americas, and his election to lead JA Americas demonstrates JA’s commitment to retaining and empowering young talent. He graduated from the National University of Cordoba and is currently attending the Harvard Business School Program for Leadership Development. He has been featured on CNN en Español with Ismael Cala and was awarded the 2016 "Latin American Entrepreneur of the Year " by the San Ignacio de Loyola University. Leonardo has participated as panelist during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Latin America and published articles on the WEF blog. He was a featured alumnus in Larry C. Farrell´s book The Entrepreneurial Attitude and was honored as a FERD’s List recipient in 2019.