Diego Miguel Sanchez, APR

A native of Augusta, GA and long-time Massachusetts resident, Diego Miguel Sanchez joined PFLAG National in 2013 as Director of Policy. He later served as Director of Advocacy, Policy & Partnerships and, as of 2024, serves as Director of Policy & Government Affairs. Immediately prior to his tenure at PFLAG National, Diego was Senior Policy Advisor to Congressman Barney Frank until the Representative’s retirement in 2013. Diego made history with that appointment, being the first openly transgender senior staffer on Capitol Hill and led staff roles on many landmark laws through 2012 affecting the LGBTQ+ community. He testified before Congress in the historic Transgender Discrimination Hearing in 2008 and that year was named as the first openly trans person ever appointed to the DNC Platform Committee and a co-author of the National AIDS Strategy.

Diego spent five years as Director of Public Relations and External Affairs at the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, and AIDS Action Council, DC. Before moving into the nonprofit sector, Diego worked for 20 award-winning years in global public relations and public affairs, crisis management, marketing, and diversity management at world headquarters of Fortune 500 companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Holiday Inn Worldwide, ITT Sheraton, and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (now Marriott Worldwide) and began his career in 1980 at Burson-Marsteller/NY, then the world’s largest public relations firm. Diego was among The 100 Most Powerful Latino/as in Corporate America named by Hispanic Business Magazine, named an LGBT Latino Hero by the Mayor of Washington, DC, in the 100 most powerful Latinos/as (Poderometro) in Massachusetts by El Planeta and in 2013, was named to the Out 100. Other honors include being named in the Inaugural Trans 100, the 2022 Frank Kameny Award from the National LGBTQ Bar Association, and the 2023 Community Honors Legacy Award from the National TransLatin@ Coalition.

Accredited in Public Relations, Diego earned a BA in Journalism with a major in Public Relations from the University of Georgia, where today he serves on the Journalism College’s Board of Trust. He is a member of G-Club, the University’s Letterman Club as the only male athlete who lettered on the women’s tennis team. Diego is a Senior Fellow of UMass Boston’s Emerging Leaders Program in the College of Management and graduated from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business LGBTQ Executive Leadership Program in 2023.