Mark Steven Sandy is an American career official with the U.S. federal government. He served as acting director of the

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...

(OMB) from January 20 to February 16, 2017. , he was the Deputy Associate Director for National Security Programs at OMB.

Early life and education

Sandy grew up in Greater Deyerle, Roanoke, Virginia, the youngest of three children. He completed high school at North Cross School in

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

, graduating with the class of 1984 as valedictorian, having served as class president and chairman of the North Cross Honor Council. The school bestowed on him with Thomas Slack Award, named after a former headmaster, and awarded for "citizenship and strength of character." At

Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...

, Sandy earned a bachelor's in politics and economics in 1987 and was president of the student government association. He went on to earn a second bachelor's in

philosophy, politics and economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

on a

Marshall Scholarship The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is considered among the most prestigious scholarsh ...

that he'd won in 1985. He then earned a

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

from the

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (''abbrev.'' SPIA; formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of c ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1991 on a

Truman Scholarship The Harry S. Truman Scholarship is a graduate fellowship in the United States for public service leadership. It is a federally funded scholarship granted to U.S. undergraduate students for demonstrated leadership potential, academic excellence ...

. After graduating, he was nominated for a Henry Luce Scholarship for a placement at the Institute for International Policy Studies in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

from 1991 to 1992.

Career

Sandy is a career official with the U.S. federal government. He has served under both Republican and Democratic administrations. By 2019 he had become a senior career official at the Office of Management and Budget, senior enough so that he served as acting director early in the Trump administration, before political appointees were hired. In testifying during the impeachment inquiry, Sandy became the first OMB official to meet with investigators after higher ranking political appointees fought subpoenas and refused to provide requested documents. Sandy was signatory on at least one "

apportionment The legal term apportionment (; Mediaeval Latin: , derived from , share), also called delimitation, is in general the distribution or allotment of proper shares, though may have different meanings in different contexts. Apportionment can refer ...

letter" that delayed the release of military aid to Ukraine in 2019. On November 16, 2019, he testified in a deposition that Trump did in fact enact an unusual freeze in aid to Ukraine.

References

Directors of the Office of Management and Budget Living people Princeton University alumni First Trump administration cabinet members Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-gov-bio-stub

Early life and education

Career

See also

References