Sarah Sandberg

“My ability to foster strong relationships between the COGA staff and board leadership, local communities, elected officials, NGOs, regulatory agencies, and industry stakeholders has been critical to positioning COGA as a respected partner in many areas of engagement.”

Career path: Before joining COGA in February 2012 as its community outreach coordinator, she was a marketing director at GoAuto Insurance in Baton Rouge, La.

Prior to that, she was the communications specialist for former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal after first being the administrative assistant in the office of the Chief of Staff and then the press secretary for the Governor’s Office of Community Programs.

Back in 2006, she had been a staff assistant to Jindal when he was in the House of Representatives. Sandberg also was a micro-credit coordinator for a research foundation in Chennai, India, creating and managing $700,000 in micro-loans in rural southeast India.

On COGA and mentoring: “I never thought I would run the operations for an entire organization so soon. I completely credit it to the types of bosses I’ve had. They’ve spanned from eclectic, enterprising entrepreneurs to brilliant change makers. I learned from them that nothing is handed to you and that if you want to get something done, go learn how to do it and find proof of concept and value before you ask your boss. I’ve been encouraged to be resourceful and tenacious, while not losing my sense of self (or humor).”