Carlos’s most prominent weakness is his inability to talk about his strengths, so I’m writing this for him. This is Tessi, Carlos's wife.

Carlos rarely acts in his own interest, focusing instead on helping others fulfill their dreams with his innovative ideas.

He is from Quito, Ecuador. As the firstborn to young parents, he faced complex situations in a crisis-ridden country, developing a resilience that keeps him steady, even in the most stressful situations.

He excelled in school across various countries.

Following his dad’s diplomatic career, he grew up in Uruguay, Switzerland and Argentina where he faced his father’s death.

But Carlos is strong, adapts, and overcomes.

We met when he was studying a double degree at LSE and Peking University, with an excellence scholarship from his home country.

He was a nerd in the class, but the good kind of nerd, getting excellent grades and prizes while helping others along the way. That's how we met.

When he does something, he does it with more than 100% involvement, organizing people to learn from one another. This because Carlos embodies authenticity, excelling in emotional intelligence, social finesse, and street smarts.

His ability to see opportunities amid challenges and his love for people truly define his character.

Fast forward, we married and moved to Ecuador. There, he served his country by advising the Minister of Health, taking on the role of Red Cross CEO and finding his passion for education with his unique style, going the extra mile, getting internships, graduate programs and conferences for his students, doing a program at Harvard with Marshall Ganz, and supporting me advance in my career.

But, with Ecuador becoming unsafe, I wanted to return to Europe. After some thought, Carlos agreed. It meant the world to me, as I know how much Ecuador and its development mean to him.

On top, he started doing the Stanford LEAD program, which pointed more in the direction of us moving to the US.

But that showed me -once again- the power of his character, his values and his priorities.

Our faith and our family are paramount to him.

Despite the chaos of moving and a new pregnancy, Carlos excelled in the program, earning 7 Intellectual Contributions Awards, a record in Stanford Lead's history.

Currently, he pursues an OB PhD, supervised by one of top scholars in the field, while he supports & advises high officials in governments and international organizations informally.

If you connect with him, chances are you end up at our dinner table leaving it with a completely different outlook on life. 😊

Carlos Santos Saint Romain

Mastery Talks

On Mastery Talks, my co-host and I decode leadership science into real-world strategies. 
Each month, we dive deep into the minds of Ivy League professors, turning cutting-edge research into practical insights for modern leaders. It's raw, insightful, and designed to help leaders rewrite the rules of the game. Tune in to transform the way you lead.

Host

Tokarev Foundation Ukraine

Advising the Tokarev Foundation in harnessing tech to reshape Ukraine. Focused on advancing EdTech, HealthTech, and GovTech for impactful social change, I support initiatives that strengthen education, health, and government transparency. Together, we're driving resilient, tech-powered solutions for a sustainable Ukraine.

Board Member

Stanford Seed

As a part of diverse pool of professionals I’m helping emerging entrepreneurs across South Asia and Africa scale their ventures by fostering sustainable growth, economic development, and innovation. Through strategic guidance, mentorship, and leveraging the resources of Stanford, I contribute to the empowering leaders to break the cycle of poverty while driving lasting business success.

Consultant

SET University

Collaborating with SET University, I help bridge the gap between Silicon Valley and Ukraine's growing tech ecosystem. By offering insights, guidance, and leveraging my professional network, I contribute to building an innovative educational institution that empowers aspiring tech leaders to drive change and make a global impact.

Competera Pricing Platform

Competera enables retailers and brands to increase customer trust by setting and maintaining optimal prices in real-time. As advisor I provide guidance on talent development and acquisition strategies. Collaborating with founders, I contribute to enhancing the company's approach to building a skilled and dynamic workforce in the ever-evolving retail technology landscape.

LEAD for Boards

LEAD for Boards is an emerging organization within the Stanford LEAD community. In this role, I provide strategic advice to enhance leaders' governance skills and strategic decision-making.

CAPS

I led a groundbreaking initiative to reshape leadership development in Ukraine. Over seven years, I launched and curated more than 150 executive programs in collaboration with  the world's top 10 business schools,—recognized by Financial Times. These programs —transformed leaders into global thinkers, fostering high-performance leadership across public, private, and entrepreneurial sectors.

Our focus spanned Public Leadership, Organizational Development, and Entrepreneurship. We built a thriving community of over 1,000 change-makers and contributed to Ukraine's HR transformation, particularly in public sector reform and business leadership.

Key Achievements:

Developed over 150 programs with top-tier academics and leaders from LinkedIn, Tesla, and more.
Pioneered Ukraine's HR transformation in public leadership, recognized for strategic excellence.
Built a leadership community of over 1,000 leaders, shaping a new generation of change-makers.

Founder & CEO

ISAIA

In this tenure, my partners and  I launched and developed a successful franchise business from scratch to the market leader in its segment and the most extensive branch in Eurasian countries.
➺ Introduced ISAIA Napoli brand to the Ukrainian market.
➺Consistently achieved revenue growth goals during 10 years of business operations.

FRANCHISE CO-OWNER | MANAGING PARTNER

I believe leadership is a science based craft—and anyone can master it.

For over a decade, I’ve worked to redefine how we build leaders, from founding Ukraine’s first leadership school to consulting with Stanford, to building Skillware—a platform designed to move beyond traditional training.

At Skillware, we’re transforming leadership development by embedding real-time, AI-driven learning into the flow of daily work. 

As co-host of Mastery Talks, I sit down with Ivy League experts to distill the science of leadership into practical, real-world strategies. We cut through the noise to uncover what really works.

Before, I founded CAPS in Ukraine, developing over 1,000 change-makers with a focus on public leadership, organizational change, and entrepreneurship. I’ve collaborated with execs from LinkedIn, Tesla, and more to scale leadership across all levels, and partnered with institutions and faculty like Harvard, INSEAD, HEC Paris, and Stanford GSB to co-design programs that transform leadership across Europe's leading companies.

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The Battle

Carlos Santos Saint Romain

Yana Ibrahimova 🇺🇦

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