Carla Sands

Carla Sands (née Herd; born October 13, 1960)[1] is an American socialite, former actress,[2] and chiropractor who served as the United States Ambassador to Denmark from 2017 to 2021.[3][4] Sands was previously an economic advisor to Trump.[5] 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]

Carla Sands
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
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1990; died 2015)​
Children1
EducationIndiana University of Pennsylvania
Elizabethtown College
Life University (DC)

She married business executive Fred Sands in 1990. Following his death in 2015, she succeeded him as chair and CEO of Vintage Capital Group.

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. She studied fine art at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and chemistry at Elizabethtown College.[9] She later attended Life Chiropractic College, now Life University, and earned a doctor of chiropractic degree.[10][6][11]

Career

Sands had a brief career in acting in the 1980s,[3] appearing in several episodes of the television series The Bold and the Beautiful in 1987[12][13] and appeared 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.[14]

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 succeeded him as the chair and CEO of Vintage Capital Group, which has around $150 million in assets, and of Vintage Real Estate.[11][15]

Political involvement

She is also a Republican fundraiser and donor; she supported the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump.[6][16][17][18] 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][19] Sands was previously an economic advisor to Trump; she was one of eight woman that Trump added to his economic advisory council after facing criticism for initially naming an all-male slate.[5][19][7]

Sands was also a California delegate for the 33rd congressional district to the 2016 Republican National Convention.[6][20]

After the 2020 presidential election, Sands repeatedly and falsely claimed on Twitter that she was "disenfranchised" because her absentee ballot in Pennsylvania was "not counted". The New York Times noted that running a search on Pennsylvania's election website with Sands' information showed that her ballot had in fact been received and counted in Cumberland County.[21]

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.[22] She was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 2, 2017, on a voice vote.[23][24] 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. Sloan had been invited by the head of the Council, Lars Struwe, to give the keynote address at the conference.[25] 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.[25][26]

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.[27] 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."[28] 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.[25]

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.[5][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][29][30]

Personal life

Sands has one child, a daughter named Alexandra.[31]

References
  1. "U.S. Ambassador to Denmark: Who Is Carla Sands?". October 16, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  2. 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"
  3. "Trump picks new US ambassador to Denmark". The Local. September 8, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  4. "PN1112 — Carla Sands — Department of State". Congress.gov. U.S. Congress. September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  5. "U.S. Republican presidential candidate Trump's economic team". Reuters. August 11, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  6. "Ambassador Carla Sands". U.S. Embassy in Denmark. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  7. 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. "U.S. Ambassador to Denmark: Who Is Carla Sands?" allgov.com; accessed 2019.09.03.
  10. Rose-Smith, Imogen (September 6, 2016). "The Rise of Carla Sands". Institutional Investor. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  11. Rose-Smith, Imogen (September 6, 2016). "From Socialite to Donald Trump Adviser: The Rise of Carla Sands". Institutional Investor. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  12. "Carla Sands Actress". IMDb. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  13. "More Heat for Feinstein". Politico. September 8, 2017. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  14. "Biography". IMDb. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  15. "Vintage Capital Group, LLC". California Secretary of State. December 9, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  16. 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.
  17. Marinucci, Carla (August 12, 2016). "Olympic Medalists tax bill". Politico. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  18. 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.
  19. "After Criticism, Trump Adds Women To His Economic Advisory Team". NPR. August 11, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  20. "Delegates" (PDF). Cloudfront. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  21. 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.
  22. Faturechi, Robert. "Sessions Turned to Convicted Fundraiser for Advice on U.S. Attorneys". ProPublica. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  23. "New U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Confirmed by Senate". Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  24. "PN1012 — Carla Sands — Department of State". congress.gov. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  25. 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.
  26. "The Danish Atlantic Council candels NATO conference". December 8, 2019.
  27. "A Danish Think Tank Says The US Ambassador Banned A Trump Critic From An Event". December 7, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  28. "NATO seminar canceled as US objects to anti-Trump speaker". December 8, 2019.
  29. "18/19 Blue Ribbon Board of Directors". The Music Center. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  30. "Fiscal year 2014" (PDF). The Music Center. June 30, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
  31. "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
2017–2021		 Succeeded by
Stuart Dwyer
Chargé d’Affaires
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