Board Member Spotlight

As one of the members privileged to serve on the Board of Directors of The Carrie Meek Foundation, Sandy interprets one aspect of this multi-faceted role as being responsible for advancing the legacy of Congresswoman Meek. This work is done through creating and optimizing economic opportunities for women and by eliminating barriers that routinely constrain women and other marginalized groups from participating effectively in business and entrepreneurship.

Sandy York is the founder and Chief Executive of YORK®, an inter-disciplinary legal, business and political consulting firm based in Coral Gables with client representations focused on live music entertainment, sporting and endurance events, hospitality, media and new technologies.  Sandy represents some of the industry’s most celebrated and distinguished live entertainment brands, entrepreneurs, innovators, content creators and contemporary artists. As a business lawyer, Sandy has also represented clients in private equity, start-ups, mergers and acquisitions, trademark licensing, joint venture transactions and corporate financing deals.  

As an industry specialist on insurance and risk management issues, Sandy is regularly sought out by music festival producers and by sporting, recreational and by endurance event organizers to develop and implement customized risk strategies, programs and policies. In 2020-2021, Sandy was among the industry’s foremost legal architects in developing ticketing and consumer product strategies aimed at eliminating or minimizing legal and business risks relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Sandy also regularly advocates for the interests of event organizers before governmental bodies and officials in the Miami Metropolitan Area as a government relations consultant.  

Sandy was born in the Dutch Caribbean (Aruba); and spent her formative years on the island of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Sandy attended SUNY Old Westbury in New York then moved to Miami in 1989. Sandy was the first in her family to attend and graduate from college. 

Today, Sandy also aims to advance the educational objectives of the Foundation through representation and by executing education-based programming as developed by the Foundation and through educational opportunities offered by the Foundation. 

Through her work as a legal, business and public affairs strategist, Sandy underscores to her clients, the necessity of philanthropy and community engagement as essential components of any effective business model, which view is, of course, consistent with the mission of the Carrie Meek Foundation. 

Prior to creating her own firm, Sandy was, for over 10 years general counsel and legal chief for Ultra Music Festival, Ultra Worldwide and for their collection of related products and brands. Today, she continues to provide high-level corporate, litigation and risk management support and remains a senior legal advisor and chief strategist to the brand on issues relating to new innovations, business structures, government relations, community affairs, public relations and crisis management.  Prior to joining Ultra Music Festival, Sandy was Associate Counsel in the Corporate Practice Group at Assurant, Inc., a Fortune 500 financial services company where Sandy handled general corporate, insurance and risk management matters, general contracting and commercial real estate leasing transactions. Sandy was also Associate Counsel for Estefan Enterprises Inc., a multi-media firm owned and operated by Grammy- award winners, Gloria and Emilio Estefan where she handled transactions relating to hotel, restaurant and nightclub operations and commercial real estate leases, as well as, actor releases, producer agreements and television production agreements for broadcast on Spanish-language television networks.  

Sandy is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law where she teaches a course on Music Festivals and Live Concerts at the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law LLM Program and is also a frequent panelist and guest speaker on subjects relating to women and the law.  

She is a member of the Florida Bar and she also sits on the Bar’s Leadership Academy Committee. 

Sandy earned her Juris Doctor from St. Thomas University, School of Law, an MBA from the University of Miami Herbert School of Business and a Bachelor’s Degree in Legal Studies from Barry University. During her law school career, she was an editor of the St. Thomas Law Review and also interned for The Honorable Donald J. Graham of the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida.