Before joining RGMVP, as District Magistrate, West Garo Hills District, Tura, Meghalaya, he negotiated peace with citizens agitating on the issue of Meghalaya Board of School Education, and introduced sustainable best practices in the areas of education, health and farming (tea and diary) and successfully mobilised society around National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)to ensure that West Garo Hills was identified the as one of the best districts in the implementation of NREGS. As  Project Director, Andhra Pradesh Rural Poverty Reduction Project (a World Bank-assisted project implemented by SERP),), he was actively involved in the conceptualisation, planning, execution and monitoring of various initiatives in Nellore District to facilitate improvement of livelihoods of the poorest of the district. He also implemented Participatory Identification of Poor (PIP) to identify the poorest among the poor so as to ensure effective targeting and convergence of various developmental schemes in the district. In his posting as Joint Collector and Additional District Magistrate, Krishna District, Government of Andhra Pradesh, he undertook a special drive for implementation of land reforms during which more than 6000 acres of government land was distributed to the landless poor. He was the team leader in handling the severe cyclonic storm that occurred on December 15, 2003, and was involved actively in the rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations during the Tsunami tragedy on December, 26 2004. He also introduced ‘Personalised Barcoded Food Coupon System’ to streamline the Public Distribution System. He has also served as Additional Secretary, Education Department, Government of Meghalaya; and District Magistrate, West Garo Hills District, Tura, Meghalaya. He was instrumental in the conceptualisation, formation and strengthening of people’s organisations under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in the state of Meghalaya.

Mr P. Sampath Kumar has co-authored a book for development practitioners, titled Convergence and Community Partnership – Learning Experiences. He has been the receipient of several awards such as the L.V.Reddy Memorial Award from the Lal Bahadur Sastry National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie as Best Officer-Trainee from the Disturbed Area Cadres, and Young Leadership Award on the occasion of Golden Jubilee of Rilbong Sports & Cultural Club (Shillong Times daily) in 2007, in recognition of the rare spirit of positive leadership, zeal and for taking the road less travelled thereby emerging as trail blazer and youth icon.

He is a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication but chose to serve the nation as an IAS officer, and stood fifth all-India in the civil service examination.