Mr. Sands is a sustainability executive with 40 years of experience across industries and geographies, having lived and/or worked internationally in 65 countries.

He is the Emeritus Chair of ARISE, the United Nations’ public-private partnership for resiliency, where he was contributing author to the Fourth National Climate Assessment Report: Climate Change Impacts, Risks and Adaptation in the United States (Fall, 2017). He is a frequently invited speaker to global climate and environmental conferences.

In his last full-time role prior to consulting with Green Diamond, Mr. Sands was Senior Vice President, Global Practice Director for CH2M’s Private Sector business, providing leadership for comprehensive engineering, environmental, and climate adaptation services to major industrial corporations.

Prior to CH2M, Mr. Sands ran the Global Practice for Climate Adaptation and was Managing Director for Europe, Middle East, and Africa for AECOM’s leading environmental business, establishing its global knowledge and technical network.

While with AECOM, Mr. Sands served as Board member and Vice Chair for the United Nations’ Private Sector Advisory Group for International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction, helping grow UNISDR Private Sector membership to 100 companies in 42 countries and co-developing the first Disaster Resilience Scorecard based on the UN’s Ten Essentials for Disaster Risk Reduction – an innovative tool to assess preparedness of communities to respond and recover from natural disasters. The Scorecard received international acclaim including the 2015 Notre Dame Climate Adaptation Index Prize. He is also author to more than 50 technical publications.

Prior to his roles with CH2M and AECOM, Mr. Sands held senior management positions with other leading global organizations, such as ABB Ltd, ERM, and McKesson. Additionally, Mr. Sands served as the elected Mayor of the Village of Deer Park, IL.

He earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Central Michigan University, an M.S. in Environmental Science of the University of Michigan, and an M.B.A. from California State University Easy Bay.