Carla Sands

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Carla Sands
Carla Sands official photo.jpg
United States Ambassador to Denmark
In office
December 15, 2017 – January 20, 2021
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byRufus Gifford
Succeeded byStuart Dwyer (acting)
Personal details
Born (1960-10-13) October 13, 1960 (age 60)
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1999; died 2015)​
Children1
EducationLife University (DC)

Carla Sands (née Herd; born October 13, 1960)[1] is an American businesswoman, political fundraiser, and former actress who is the chair and CEO of Vintage Capital Group. She served as the United States ambassador to Denmark from 2017 to 2021.[2][3] She also served as an economic advisor to Trump.[4] Sands worked as a chiropractor and as an actress.[5] She married business executive Fred Sands in 1999. Following his death in 2015, she succeeded him as chair and CEO of Vintage Capital Group.

Prior to her nomination, she donated nearly a quarter-million dollars to, and organized high-dollar fundraisers for, Trump's presidential campaign. She also gave $100,000 to Trump's inaugural committee.[1][6][7]

Early life and education[]

Sands was born Carla J. Herd, daughter of Jack (a chiropractor)[8] and Barbara Herd, on October 13, 1960. She grew up in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Sands attended Cumberland Valley High School, where she was active in student council, the ski club, and various other student-led organizations.[9] She studied fine art at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and chemistry at Elizabethtown College.[10] She later attended Life Chiropractic College, now Life University, and earned a Doctor of Chiropractic degree.[11][6][12]

Career[]

Sands had a brief career in acting in the 1980s,[2] appearing in several episodes of the television series The Bold and the Beautiful in 1987[13][14] and in two movies, the 1988 sword and sorcery fantasy film Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell and the 1989 South African action film Wild Zone.[15]

Sands worked as a chiropractor in private practice from 1990 to 1999. On April 10, 1999, Sands married real estate mogul Fred Sands. Following his death in 2015, she succeeded him as the chair and CEO of Vintage Capital Group, which has around $150 million in assets, and of Vintage Real Estate.[12][16]

Politics[]

She is also a Republican fundraiser and donor; she supported the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump.[6][17][18][19] In 2016, Sands donated nearly a quarter-million dollars and organized high-dollar fundraisers for Trump's campaign, and subsequently gave $100,000 to Trump's inaugural committee.[1][6][7][20] Sands was previously an economic advisor to Trump; she was one of eight women that Trump added to his economic advisory council after facing criticism for initially naming an all-male slate.[4][20][7]

Sands was also a California delegate for the 33rd congressional district to the 2016 Republican National Convention.[6][21]

After the 2020 presidential election, Sands wrote twice on Twitter that she was "disenfranchised" because her absentee ballot in Pennsylvania was "not counted". The New York Times reported that when they ran a search on Pennsylvania's election website with Sands' information, it showed that her ballot had been received and counted in Cumberland County.[22]

U.S. Ambassador to Denmark[]

Sands in a meeting in 2020 with U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, discussing ties between Alaska and Greenland.

Trump nominated Sands to the post of U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark. The convicted fundraiser Elliott Broidy had put her name forth to Trump.[23] She was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 2, 2017, on a voice vote.[24][25] She formally assumed the office on December 15, 2017.

While serving as Ambassador, Sands prioritized pushing the Danish government to increase military spending.[26]

In December 2019, she vetoed the presence of Stanley Sloan, a scholar of the NATO alliance, at a Danish Atlantic Council conference that was meant to celebrate the 70th anniversary of NATO and discuss its future. Sloan had been invited by the head of the Council, Lars Struwe, to give the keynote address at the conference.[27] Days before the conference, Sands objected to Sloan speaking because he had criticized Trump; after Sands' intervention, the Danish Atlantic Council canceled the conference rather than accede to Sands' wishes.[27][28]

Struwe wrote to Sloan that "we believe that freedom of speech is paramount in every democracy" and that the think tank saw no conflict between Sloan's criticism of Trump and his participation as a speaker at a conference.[29] The U.S. Embassy posted a Twitter message saying that the "proposed last-minute inclusion" of Sloan into the conference did not comply with the "agreement that we followed when recruiting all other speakers."[30] Struwe said that the process alluded to by the U.S. Embassy for recruiting speakers did not exist. According to Struwe, the U.S. Embassy did not play a role in choosing the conference's other speakers or in confirming whether they would attend the conference.[27] In June 2020, Sands re-opened the United States consulate in Nuuk, Greenland alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.[31]

Sands was accused in February 2021 by the United States Office of Special Counsel of violating the Hatch Act of 1939 multiple times while serving as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark by using her official Twitter account to tweet about political matters, including criticisms of Joe Biden and tweeting an article questioning whether Kamala Harris was eligible to be vice president.[32]

Sands received the Medal for Distinguished Public Service from the Department of Defense for her tenure as Ambassador. [33]

Additional affiliations[]

Sands served on the boards of Pepperdine University, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Arts, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.[6] She was also named by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be on the board of the California Cultural and Historical Endowment.[4][6] Sands served as the President and Chairman of Blue Ribbon, an organization that supports the Los Angeles Music Center and also as a Director of the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County.[6][34][35]

Personal life[]

Sands has one child, a daughter named Alexandra.[36]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Role Notes
1988 Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell Carissa / Elizena
1989 Wild Zone Nicole Laroche

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes
1987 Houston Knights N/A Episode: "Gun Shy"
1987 The Bold and the Beautiful Alex Simpson 15 episodes
1987 1st & Ten Tina Sawyer 2 episodes
1991 Monsters Dolores / Creature Episode: "The Maker"

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "U.S. Ambassador to Denmark: Who Is Carla Sands?". October 16, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Trump picks new US ambassador to Denmark". The Local. September 8, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  3. ^ "PN1112 — Carla Sands — Department of State". Congress.gov. U.S. Congress. September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c "U.S. Republican presidential candidate Trump's economic team". Reuters. August 11, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  5. ^ Claire Parker, Military support, canned pork and an air base: Here’s why Denmark has been an important U.S. ally, Washington Post (August 21, 2019): "The Trump administration’s ambassador to Denmark, socialite and former actress Carla Sands, is not nearly as popular in Copenhagen as beloved former Ambassador Rufus Gifford"
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h "Ambassador Carla Sands". U.S. Embassy in Denmark. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c Gibson, Kate (August 11, 2016). "Meet the 8 women Trump just added to his all-male economic council". CBS News. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  8. ^ Herd Clinic, "Meet Our Doctors"; accessed 2019.09.03.
  9. ^ "Cumberland Valley grad serving US overseas as Denmark ambassador". December 14, 2018.
  10. ^ "U.S. Ambassador to Denmark: Who Is Carla Sands?" allgov.com; accessed 2019.09.03.
  11. ^ Rose-Smith, Imogen (September 6, 2016). "The Rise of Carla Sands". Institutional Investor. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b Rose-Smith, Imogen (September 6, 2016). "From Socialite to Donald Trump Adviser: The Rise of Carla Sands". Institutional Investor. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  13. ^ "Carla Sands Actress". IMDb. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  14. ^ "More Heat for Feinstein". Politico. September 8, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  15. ^ "Biography". IMDb. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  16. ^ "Vintage Capital Group, LLC". California Secretary of State. December 9, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  17. ^ Martin, Jonathan (January 13, 2016). "Ted Cruz Starts to Crack G.O.P. Establishment's Wall of Opposition". TheNew York Times. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  18. ^ Marinucci, Carla (August 12, 2016). "Olympic Medalists tax bill". Politico. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  19. ^ Balcerzak, Ashley (April 19, 2017). "250 donors shelled out $100k or more for Trump's inauguration, providing 91% of funds". The Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b "After Criticism, Trump Adds Women To His Economic Advisory Team". NPR. August 11, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  21. ^ "Delegates" (PDF). Cloudfront. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  22. ^ Lara Jakes (November 11, 2020). "A U.S. ambassador claimed her absentee ballot was not counted. We found it was". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  23. ^ Faturechi, Robert. "Sessions Turned to Convicted Fundraiser for Advice on U.S. Attorneys". ProPublica. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  24. ^ "New U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Confirmed by Senate". Archived from the original on November 14, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  25. ^ "PN1012 — Carla Sands — Department of State". congress.gov. November 2, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  26. ^ Sands, Carla (October 22, 2019). "USA's ambassadør: Hvorfor skal USA investere mere i Danmarks sikkerhed, end I selv gør?" [US Ambassador: Why should the US invest more in Denmark's security than you do?]. www.information.dk (in Danish).
  27. ^ Jump up to: a b c Teo Armus (December 9, 2019). "A NATO expert criticized Trump on Twitter. So a U.S. ambassador barred him from speaking at a conference". Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  28. ^ "The Danish Atlantic Council candels NATO conference". December 8, 2019.
  29. ^ "A Danish Think Tank Says The US Ambassador Banned A Trump Critic From An Event". December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  30. ^ "NATO seminar canceled as US objects to anti-Trump speaker". December 8, 2019.
  31. ^ Sarah Cammarata (June 10, 2020). "U.S. reopens consulate in Greenland amid White House's Arctic push". Politico. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  32. ^ "A MAGA ambassador violated the Hatch Act. Biden must decide what to do about it". POLITICO. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  33. ^ John Cole. "2022 GOP Hopefuls Shred Wolf and Election Laws at PLC". PoliticsPA. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  34. ^ "18/19 Blue Ribbon Board of Directors". The Music Center. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  35. ^ "Fiscal year 2014" (PDF). The Music Center. June 30, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  36. ^ "Fred Sands, once the king of high-end L.A. real estate, dies at 77". Los Angeles Times. October 27, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2018.

External links[]

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Rufus Gifford 		United States Ambassador to Denmark
2017–2021 		Succeeded by
Stuart Dwyer
Chargé d’Affaires
Retrieved from ""