Sam Gallucci is the senior pastor at Embrace! Church in Oxnard, California. He is also founder and chief executive officer of The Kingdom Center, which provides emergency shelter and transitional living assistance for at-risk women and children, and Embrace! Ministries, which provides aid to migrant field workers and their families.
Gallucci’s career began in 1981 when he was hired after college by IBM. The internet was in its infancy and Sam changed jobs and became a pioneer and leader in the burgeoning field known as “software.” He rose to executive vice president and general manager of PeopleSoft, one of the largest makers of customer relationship management (CRM) software. In 2004 PeopleSoft was acquired by Oracle for $10.3 billion in a deal that helped make Oracle a key player in the Silicon Valley boom that quickly and forever transformed the California economy.
Gallucci soon realize that material wealth left him unfulfilled, and he embarked on a path to help others. In 2006 he became associate pastor of Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, California and in 2009 he founded The Kingdom Center Ministries. Through his pastor work, Gallucci saw how homelessness ruined lives and government programs could actually make the problem worse. The creative business executive wanted to try a revolutionary new approach to the crisis, and to this day Gallucci is the CEO of The Kingdom Center as it continues to battle homelessness by encouraging, equipping and empowering Ventura County women and children caught in the struggle. Since its founding, The Kingdom Center has provided emergency shelter and transitional living centers for more than 1,000 women and their children. Gallucci founded Embrace! Ministries in 2014 to address the suffering in other marginalized communities, providing food and other much-needed resources for migrant farm workers and their families.
Gallucci is a featured speaker in the areas of business, travel and faith. He has authored two books, including Road Warrior published in 2008, which teaches how to protect one’s faith, integrity, and relationships when you travel for work. More than Animals was published in 2021 and chronicles his service to those experiencing homeless. He is a member of the Missionary Church denomination and the HIM network of churches and has served on the boards of several organizations, including the Christian Foundation of America and the national board of directors (GOC) for the Missionary Church.
