Chief Operating Officer

Sean Sands is an accomplished operations leader and writer with extensive experience across public, private, and nonprofit sectors. As Chief Operating Officer of the Faith & Politics Institute, he leads operations, programs, financial management, human resources, and strategic planning. 

Prior to FPI, Sean served as chief of staff at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, where he led operations, finance, communications, and programs. Previously, he spent 12 years as chief of staff of the quasi-public Washington Convention and Sports Authority, the agency that oversees the District of Columbia’s most iconic meetings, sports, and entertainment venues. In that role, he directed strategic planning, legislative oversight, governance operations, and executive communications, and served as the agency’s procurement officer. 

Earlier in his career, Sean was an award-winning journalist with The Washington Post Co. and held strategic communications and corporate social responsibility roles in the technology sector during its rapid expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s. 

Sean earned an MBA in enterprise leadership from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. He also holds a BA in communications and journalism from the University of Maryland University College, and a certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from the ILR School at Cornell University. A native of South Carolina, Sean lives in Washington, DC, with his husband and their rescue dog.