Main Stage or Livestream
Tickets Free
Advance Registration Required
Please note: This is a full capacity event. There will not be socially distanced seating for this event.
The cost of tickets has been generously underwritten by sponsors of the Blauvelt Speaker Series.
A Conversation with Captain Sandy
Captain Sandy shares her remarkable story of overcoming addiction and cancer to become a world-renowned superyacht captain and lead on the popular Bravo reality show Below Deck Mediterranean. With her story of strength, resilience, and resolve that led her to the top of a male-dominated field, Captain Sandy inspires audiences to overcome all obstacles and not let fear get in the way. Her survivorship story, blended with her Below Deck leadership escapades, makes for a wildly entertaining keynote experience.
About Captain Sandy
Captain Sandra Yawn (“Captain Sandy”) is a leader, hero, and businesswoman whose exceptional leadership style has helped her to break through every obstacle in her path – from the glass ceilings and near-fatal accidents on land to pirates and fires at sea!
As a renowned superyacht captain with over 30 years of international maritime experience, Yawn’s integrity and courage have earned her an outstanding reputation as an elite class of captain. Her unflappable leadership in the face of danger earned her recognition from the International Superyacht Society, who honored her with the prestigious Distinguished Crew Award for the bravery she exhibited in the midst of a catastrophic fire and pirate threat that occurred in 2006 off the coast of Yemen.
Tapping into her signature affinity for adventure, Yawn charted a brand new course in 2015 when she became a series lead on Bravo’s hit series Below Deck Mediterranean. Now in her fifth season with the show, Yawn is a powerful female role model and leader and one of the network’s most universally beloved personalities.
With a story of overcoming her own personal struggles, including being a cancer survivor, Yawn shares with audiences how to be resilient and persevere in the face of adversity, along with her exceptional leadership principles of believing in your people, not giving up and it being ok to fail—that help build a world-class crew you can trust and believe in.
The Blauvelt Speaker Series is funded in part by the generosity of the late Bradford Thomas & Eleanor G. Blauvelt and The Wintrode Family Foundation. This year’s 2022 additional sponsors include DRG Architects, Arlene & Frank Dupignac, Jr., the late Helen M. Earles, Ph.D., Judi and Stephan Leone, New Jersey Natural Gas, and Novins, York, Jacobus & Dooley.