Rob Sand was born and raised in the small town of Decorah, Iowa. He started his first job, catching chickens, at age 14, and worked through high school. His interest in public service started there, where he led a successful effort to unite business owners, skateboarders, and government officials in building a public skatepark in Decorah.

In college, Rob continued to bring different viewpoints together on a number of issues. Although an active Democrat, he developed and gained University approval for a class on conservative thought, in order to foster discussion of all political perspectives and policies. Rob also led an effort that brought the chief plaintiff and lawyers from both sides of Kelo v. New London to campus to discuss the controversial Supreme Court case. Professor John Tomasi credits Rob’s leadership as the impetus for the Political Theory Project at Brown, a research center that fosters non-ideological problem solving and brings divergent viewpoints together for public debate.

During college, Rob worked as a model for Prada, Fendi, and other designers, appearing in magazines such as Italian Vogue, Details, and British GQ. He quit modeling, however, in order to focus on his study of Iowa farmers’ views on conservation, for which he was awarded the prestigious Royce Fellowship. He also won the Philo Sherman Bennett Prize for best political science honors thesis, planned spring break service trips, tutored elementary students, and was named a Truman Scholar for his leadership, scholarship, and dedication to public service. He was admitted to Harvard Law School, but chose instead to attend the University of Iowa College of Law.

There, Rob became the first Iowa Law student ever to serve as a President of the Iowa Student Bar Association and as an Editor-in-Chief of a law journal. He led service trips to New Orleans (where he volunteered for two months before law school) and organized efforts for flood relief in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after the 2008 floods. The University of Iowa awarded him the Hancher-Finkbine Medallion, its highest honor, in 2010.

He currently serves as an Assistant Attorney General in the Iowa Attorney General’s office, prosecuting white collar crime.