Sandy Lish, Principal/Founder
As principal and founder of The Castle Group, Sandy Lish delivers results based on the tenets of creativity, drive and dogged hard work, and leads her staff to the same ideals. Sandy is responsible for the operations and strategic management of the agency’s public relations division, and has led award-winning programs for such brands as Fleet Bank, Sallie Mae, Oracle and Stacy’s Pita Chips. She also focuses on business development, agency operations, and media and presentation training, helping clients powerfully deliver complex messages to the media, financial and business communities. Recent media training clients include Genzyme, the Museum of Science and Avid.
Sandy helps clients through crises and transitions, advising them on product and company launches, and leading message development, presentation training and media training workshops. She takes an active role in working closely with clients and agency staff, ensuring the company’s unique blend of service and results is delivered to each client.
Prior to co-founding The Castle Group, Sandy was public relations VP at a leading Boston advertising agency. No stranger to the specialized needs dictated by the client-side experience, Sandy also created and implemented PR programs as in-house PR counsel for organizations including KPMG, Lesley College and the Massachusetts Bar Association.
Sandy was recently awarded the CWE “Emerging Business Star” award, in recognition of her professional and civic contributions. She has been named a Top 10 PR Specialist by Women’s Business, one of The Boston Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” business leaders, and a finalist for PR NEWS PR People Awards. Under Sandy’s leadership, The Castle Group has won numerous industry and business awards, for both client work and business acumen. Sandy shares her expertise with various media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, USA Today, BusinessWeek and the Boston Business Journal. She is a frequent public speaker, presenting to professional, academic and non-profit audiences.
Sandy is a coach and mentor to entrepreneurs as a sponsor of the Springboard: New England Women’s Venture Capital Forum. She is communications chair and board member of the March of Dimes, WGBH Corporate Board member and chair of its Arts and Culture Committee, and board member of Satellife, a nonprofit dedicated to providing medical information to developing nations. She has also been a director of the Public Relations Society of America and volunteers for the Center for Women and Enterprise and Morgan Memorial Goodwill. She was recently elected secretary of PRGN, a global network of independent public relations firms.
Sandy earned a bachelor of arts degree in journalism from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She lives in Walpole, Mass. with her husband, two children and Wheaten Terrier.
