Carla Sands

Carla Sands (née Herd; born October 13, 1960)[1] is a businesswoman and investor, former actress, chiropractor, and American diplomat who serves as the United States Ambassador to Denmark.[2][3][4]

Carla Sands
United States Ambassador to Denmark
Assumed office
December 15, 2017
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byRufus Gifford
Personal details
Born (1960-10-13) October 13, 1960
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
​
(
m. 1990; died 2015)
Children1
EducationIndiana University of Pennsylvania
Elizabethtown College
Life University (BS)

Early life and education

Sands was born Carla J. Herd, daughter of Jack (a chiropractor[5]) and Barbara Herd, on October 13, 1960. She grew up in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. She studied fine art at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and chemistry at Elizabethtown College.[6] She later attended Life Chiropractic College, now Life University, and earned a doctor of chiropractic degree.[7][8][9]

Career

Sands started a career in acting in 1987, appearing in several episodes of the TV Series "The Bold and the Beautiful".[10][11] In 1988 and 1989 she appeared in two movies, including Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell.[12]

Sands worked as a chiropractor in private practice from 1990 to 1999. In 1999 Sands married real estate mogul Fred Sands. Following his death in 2015, she became the chair and CEO of Vintage Capital Group, which has around $150 million in assets, and of Vintage Real Estate.[9][13] In 2016, Sands donated nearly a quarter million dollars and organized high-dollar fundraisers for Donald Trump's presidential campaign. She also gave $100,000 to President Donald Trump's inaugural committee.[1][8][14][15] Sands was the 2016 California Delegate for the 33rd Congressional District to the 2016 Republican National Convention.[8][16]

U.S. Ambassador to Denmark
Sands in a meeting with Lisa Murkowski, discussing ties between Alaska and Greenland in 2020.

Sands was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark on November 2, 2017.[17][18] She formally assumed the office on December 15, 2017. In December 2019, she caused controversy by vetoing 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. On December 1, Sloan had received a formal invitation to give the keynote address at the conference from the head of the Council, Lars Struwe.[19] Later, Sands objected to Sloan speaking reportedly because she had seen him criticizing Donald Trump on Twitter during the NATO meeting of December 3-4, 2019. As a result of Sands' intervention, the Danish Atlantic Council disinvited Sloan on December 7 and the next day cancelled the conference entirely.[20] Struwe wrote to Sloan that "knowing that you do criticise the President of the United States, we believe that Freedom of Speech is paramount in every democracy, and we do not see a conflict between the Freedom of Speech and participating as a Speaker at an international conference."[21] The U.S. Embassy account on Twitter said 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.”[22] The Embassy offered no proof of that allegation, however, and Struwe denied that such a process had even existed. When all the other speakers for the conference were being selected, Struwe said the U.S. Embassy had played no role in choosing them or in confirming whether they would attend the conference.[19] The decision to disinvite Sloan was made on the morning of December 7, 2019; Sloan mentioned on Twitter that he was leaving soon to speak at the Copenhagen conference, which the Danish Atlantic Council retweeted, and then three hours later Sloan announced again on Twitter that he had just been disinvited.[23] Sloan responded affirmatively when other scholars tweeted that Carla Sands would not have known anything about his scholarship and must have received "guidance" from Washington to veto his inclusion.

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.[8] She was also named by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to be on the board of the California Cultural and Historical Endowment.[4][8] 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.[8][24][25]

She is also a GOP fundraiser and donor and supported the campaign of Donald Trump.[8][26][27][28]

Personal life

Sands has one child, a daughter named Alexandra.[29]

References
  1. "U.S. Ambassador to Denmark: Who Is Carla Sands?". October 16, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  2. "Trump picks new US ambassador to Denmark". The Local. September 8, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  3. "PN1112 — Carla Sands — Department of State". U.S. Congress. September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  4. "U.S. Republican presidential candidate Trump's economic team". Reuters. August 11, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  5. Herd Clinic, "Meet Our Doctors"; accessed 2019.09.03.
  6. "U.S. Ambassador to Denmark: Who Is Carla Sands?" allgov.com; accessed 2019.09.03.
  7. Rose-Smith, Imogen (September 6, 2016). "The Rise of Carla Sands". Institutional Investor. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  8. "Ambassador Carla Sands". U.S. Embassy in Denmark. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  9. Rose-Smith, Imogen (September 6, 2016). "From Socialite to Donald Trump Adviser: The Rise of Carla Sands". Institutional Investor. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  10. "Carla Sands Actress". IMDb. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  11. "More Heat for Feinstein". Politico. September 8, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  12. "Biography". IMDb. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  13. "Vintage Capital Group, LLC". California Secretary of State. December 9, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  14. Gibson, Kate (August 11, 2016). "Meet the 8 women Trump just added to his all-male economic council". CBS News. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  15. "After Criticism, Trump Adds Women To His Economic Advisory Team". NPR. August 11, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  16. "Delegates" (PDF). Cloudfront. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  17. "New U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Confirmed by Senate". Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  18. "PN1012 — Carla Sands — Department of State". congress.gov. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  19. "A NATO expert criticized Trump on Twitter. So a U.S. ambassador barred him from speaking at a conference". December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  20. "The Danish Atlantic Council candels NATO conference". December 8, 2019.
  21. "A Danish Think Tank Says The US Ambassador Banned A Trump Critic From An Event". December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  22. "NATO seminar canceled as US objects to anti-Trump speaker". December 8, 2019.
  23. "Sloan Twitter". December 7, 2019.
  24. "18/19 Blue Ribbon Board of Directors". The Music Center. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  25. "Fiscal year 2014" (PDF). The Music Center. June 30, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  26. Martin, Jonathan (January 13, 2016). "Ted Cruz Starts to Crack G.O.P. Establishment's Wall of Opposition". The New York Times. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  27. Marinucci, Carla (August 12, 2016). "Olympic Medalists tax bill". Politico. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  28. 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.
  29. "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.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Rufus Gifford		 United States Ambassador to Denmark
2017–present		 Incumbent
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