Omar Samaniego

March Alumni Spotlight

LEAP Academy Class of 2012

Omar Samaniego pursued a double major in Economics and Political Science at Rutgers University—Camden, ultimately receiving Bachelor of Arts degrees in both.

Throughout his undergraduate career, Omar explored diverse career opportunities. He worked at the Rutgers-Camden Community Leadership Center (CLC) on projects related to alumni relations and implementing interactive programing for current and future Alfredo Santiago scholars. As a fellow alumni and Camden resident, Omar understands the hurdles of being an inner city first generation college student. More importantly, he is grateful of forming part of such a supportive community, which helped him succeed during his time in college and continues to support him throughout his professional journey.

During his time at LEAP Academy, Omar learned the importance of service, a lesson that he implemented throughout his undergraduate journey. He spent close to a year with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP). At the OWCP, he helped adjudicate federal-employee claims for workers’ compensation. While there, Omar was exposed to career opportunities in the public sector. His experience at OWCP helped him land a full-time position as a Contract Specialist with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) in northeast Philadelphia while finishing his last year at Rutgers. During his time at DLA, Omar gained valuable insight in the field of defense contracting and integrated supply-chain management.

Although he gained practical and valuable experience at DLA, his interest in risk management and the healthcare industry led him to a career at Cigna. Omar currently works as an Underwriter for Cigna’s Group Insurance section. In his role, Omar makes risk based decisions on disability, life and accident insurance products. As a member of the Board of Trustees at Leap Academy, Omar feels committed to the organization that expressed the same commitment when he was a student there.