Dean Sandall (BS’77 Construction Engineering), Ottumwa, Iowa, began his adventure at Iowa State University running track and cross-country.
During his high school years, Sandall was State Indoor Champion in the 440-yard dash in 1972 and the Iowa Federation Indoor 600 yard Champion the same year. He set a school record in the two mile run for the Bulldog cross-country squad. Sandall graduated from Ottumwa High School in 1972 and he continued his running career through college.
He was recruited by Iowa State University to run track and cross-country for the Cyclones where he lettered all four years. He competed in the Drake Relays, Kansas Relays, Texas Relays and many quarter mile ovals from coast to coast. Some of the relay teams he competed on at Iowa State held school records for nearly four decades after his graduation in 1977.
After earning his bachelor’s degree, he served one year as Ottumwa’s assistant city engineer before moving to Minneapolis, Minneosta, where he worked as a structural engineer. Later, Sandall accepted a position at a Phoenix firm to be a construction project manager, and he and his wife Amy moved to Arizona where he oversaw the building of hospitals, shopping malls and other large projects.
It was Sandall’s job to be the leader of cloisters of professional and blue-collar employees to make sure projects were completed safely, per plans, within budget constraints and timely. During his twenty years with the Phoenix firm, he said that he liked evaluating talent and hiring employees.
“I really enjoyed that part of my job so after twenty years I left to form my own company,” he said. Sandell Consulting Group is an executive firm for the commercial and construction industries.
He has been doing this job for over ten years now and he doesn’t plan to retire any time soon. However, Sandall said he feels strongly about doing something new for the next few years—maybe even a teacher or coach. He is currently a volunteer coach for a local high school team.
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