Kelly Sandin is the Assistant Director, Economic Development and Innovation Zones for Arizona State University’s Knowledge Enterprise and has been dedicated to advancing research, innovation, strategic partnerships, entrepreneurship and economic development at ASU, in Arizona, and globally for more than eleven years. She serves as a catalyst for promoting and strengthening the growing economy in the Greater Phoenix region by attracting new businesses and supporting corporate expansions. In addition, Kelly builds and strengthens partnerships across ASU, the community and industry and helps partners navigate ASU to connect with the resources they need most.
Along with partners at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC), Kelly manages the Global Growth Accelerator, which helps international companies accelerate their U.S. growth plans by providing a low-risk, expert guided, soft-landing platform to do business in the United States. To date, companies from Taiwan, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, France, and the United Kingdom have participated in the accelerator.
In addition, Kelly helped launch the Mayo Clinic and ASU MedTech Accelerator, a partnership between U.S. News & World Report’s #1 ranked hospital overall and #1 ranked university for innovation for the sixth year in a row. The MedTech Accelerator provides medical device and healthcare IT early-stage companies with personalized business development plans to collaborate with Mayo Clinic and ASU and accelerate go to market and investment opportunities.
Prior to economic development, Kelly spent nearly seven years on the ASU SkySong Operations team, where she oversaw the implementation and growth of the daily operations as well as the team responsible for supporting more than 450 meetings with 5,500 attendees each month. While in this role, she earned the Knowledge Enterprise Team Builder Award and was co-recipient of the Knowledge Enterprise Commitment Award.
Kelly is a Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) Certified Ambassador as well as a member of the University Economic Development Association (UEDA) and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and is working to obtain her Certified Economic Developer designation. Avid internationalist, Kelly earned her ASU Certificate in Advanced Global Advocacy, is a member of the Worldly Women Collective, and sits on the Board of Directors for Global Ties Arizona, which facilitates professional exchanges between businesses, individuals and government agencies from around the world.