Admiral Sandy Stosz, USCG (Ret.)

Keynote Speaker For Your Next Meeting

Admiral Sandy Stosz, USCG (Ret.), is available to address audiences at select speaking engagements.  Admiral Stosz specializes in topics such as Ethical Leadership, Team Building and Mentoring, Organizational Efficiency.  She draws upon her 40 years of extensive experience and wisdom as a woman directing mostly all-male teams in front-line leadership positions to provide tools that will help leaders, particularly those at the middle level, reach their goals and succeed. Character-centered, proven leadership principles emerge from Admiral Stosz’s engaging, personal stories that teach leaders how to find, and then become, an inspiring mentor; implement effective diversity, inclusion, and equity programs; successfully lead in an ever-changing environment, and much more.

World of Experience

Admiral Sandy Stosz started out in the U.S. Coast Guard as an ensign serving on polar icebreakers, conducting national security missions from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Her forty-year career is filled with leadership lessons gleaned while breaking ice and breaking glass as the first woman to command an icebreaker on the Great Lakes and to lead a US armed forces service academy. Along the way, Sandy served for 12 years at sea, commanding two ships, and led large Coast Guard organizations during times of crisis and complexity. She finished her career as the first woman assigned as Deputy Commandant for Mission Support, directing one of the Coast Guard’s largest enterprises. She has lectured widely on leadership, and has been featured on CSPAN and other media outlets. In 2012, Newsweek’s “The Daily Beast” named Sandy to their list of 150 Women who Shake the World.

Dynamic and Insightful

As a keynote speaker for your corporation, association or institution, Admiral Stosz will  enlighten your audience in a dynamic and charismatic way.  She is a veteran communicator and will bring her unique ability to tell a story, injecting it with humor and wisdom that will hold the attention of the audience.

Best Selling Author

Admiral Stosz is the author of “Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters.” 

Leaders eager to make a difference by helping people and organizations be at their best will find Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass: Leading in Uncharted Waters their go-to resource. Today, our nation is like a ship being tossed in tumultuous seas. The winds and waves of change have divided and distanced our society, threatening to wash away the very principles upon which our nation was founded. Decency and civility have been thrown overboard in favor of outrage and intolerance. The forces of change are driving us into uncharted waters.

Leading in uncharted waters requires character-centered leadership. Now more than ever, our nation needs leaders of character—those anchored with the moral courage to stand strong and steady against the battering waves that threaten to erode our core values. Such leaders would unite people in support of a shared purpose by building the trust and respect necessary for organizations and their people to thrive.

Praise For Admiral Stosz

“Sandra Stosz is the uncommon combination of leader and trailblazer, reflected in her shining character and integrity. Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass is a must-read for those who seek to lead in both military and civilian life.”

Jeh C. Johnson
Former Secretary of Homeland Security

“In this engaging and invaluable book, Vice Admiral Stosz has delivered a prime resource for any leader’s library. Principled, pragmatic and personal, her passion for teamwork is succinctly delivered. Sharing her wisdom from decades of sea service, illuminated by enduring wisdom drawn from classic literature, she reveals how character shapes our success.”

James Mattis
General USMC & 26th Secretary of Defense

“Admiral Sandy Stosz’s captivating book, Breaking Ice and Breaking Glass, details her compelling rise as one of the first women to reach the executive ranks in the Coast Guard. Her proven principles provide a roadmap for others to follow, showing leaders how to develop and employ the character attributes and core values necessary to lead and succeed with an ever more diverse workforce.”

Carol Mutter
Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps (ret.) and first woman in the U.S. Armed Forces nominated to the grade of three-star.

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