UBIDS

About the Director/CEO – UBIDS Consultancy Services
Sandy Harrigan-Underhill

Let me take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am Sandy Harrigan-Underhill. A proud mother of 4 children; 3 girls and 1son, and a grandmother of 2 beautiful girls. Who am I? I am a visionary and someone whose commitment to excellence has hailed many accomplishments in my professional career. My career began in the field of Hospitality, having earned my first degree from New York Institute of Technology in Hotel & Restaurant Management. This qualification afforded me the opportunity to serve as Assistant Food and Beverage Manager at the newly established Admiralty Hotel in the early 90s, and later as Assistant Manager at Pusser’s Outpost Restaurant, both establishments located in my hometown, the British Virgin Islands.

I later recognized that I had an added passion for Education and began my teaching career in 1994 at the BVI High School, now the Elmore Stoutt High School, where I taught Food and Nutrition until 1997 when I decided to further my studies at Florida A & M University where I earned my Bachelor’s in Business Education in May 2000. I returned to the BVI where I taught Business Education courses at the Elmore Stoutt High School and at the H.L. Stoutt Community college as an Adjunct Lecturer from 2001 to 2005. My commitment to lifelong learning took me out of the classroom and to the U.K. where I earned a Graduate Diploma in Law from the University of Central England in Birmingham in 2006. I later returned to the U.S. where I continued my teaching career from 2007 t0 2014 at Henderson Middle School in Dekalb County School System located in Atlanta, Georgia. During my time in Atlanta I earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership and Administration from Grand Canyon University. In 2012, I was selected as 1 of 20 participants from a pool of over 300 applicants to be trained in Dekalb County’s first cohort of Aspiring Leaders in Education. This training would be the first of 2 rigorous Leadership Licensure preparation programs that would prepare me for my next role as High School Principal of Elmore Stoutt High School where I served from September 2014 to February 2019. In 2016, I completed my Leadership Certification in the “Exceeded Expectations” classification and was licensed in Educational Leadership by the National College of Educational Leadership in the Virgin Islands. I am currently at the end of my second year of Doctoral studies in Organizational Leadership at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

My most marked accomplishment in my capacity as principal was realized after hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 when the school’s infrastructure suffered devastating losses. Our campus of over 8 acres was totally destroyed and my leadership skills were put to the test. I was able to successfully lead the charge in relocating over 1200 students and 200 staff to a temporary facility where we employed a shift system, under the direction and guidance of the Ministry of Education. This endeavor would prove a success as we were able to adequately accommodate our students and ensure their education was uninterrupted. The school, with limited resources and a compromised Instructional Program led the BVI to achieving for the first time in history first place in National Examinations (CSEC) among hundreds of secondary schools in the Caribbean for both years (2018 and 2019) that we spent in our temporary location. I was named Principal of the Year in 2016, 2017 and again in 2018 during the Virgin Islands Recognition of Outstanding Educators annual awards ceremony.

My academic and professional journey is quite diverse. But believe it or not it doesn’t end here. I started UBIDS (Underhill’s Business Image Development Services) in 2019 as a Business Image Consulting Firm. The objective of this endeavor is to streamline and simplify all your business needs when you are too busy to sweat the small stuff. UBIDS provides administrative services such as document preparation, prepares your taxes, social security and NHI forms. UBIDS also offers Professional Development and Training to companies as well as Change Management Consulting. My most recent contract was with One Mart where I served as Change Management Consultant leading the company in its expansion endeavor.

While I spent about 25 years in the field of Education, my marked accomplishments have been demonstrated and highlighted in Organizational Leadership, with skills and experience in data collection and analysis, human capital performance and development, policy development and implementation, process and systems improvements, building community relations, communication, change management consulting and research. I served for five years on the H. and Lavity Stoutt College Board and two years on the BVI Nurse’s Council.

I am a very self-motivated leader who possesses a strong work ethic and is known for demonstrating integrity in all interactions and decisions related to my duties. My academic qualifications coupled with my professional record demonstrates my commitment to lifelong learning and its application in building capacity through my Consulting Services endeavor. It is my sincere hope that you will place your trust in me to deliver strategy, talent, and results.