Sandra Maaike Jayne Verschoor (born 25 April 1959) is an Australian businesswoman who was the Lord Mayor of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

from 12 November 2018 until November 2022. Prior to this, she was Deputy Lord Mayor and a General Manager at the City of Adelaide.

Early life and education

Verschoor is the second daughter of Dutch immigrants to Australia and grew up in

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

. She has a Master of Arts, an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

and a PhD in Business Administration from Kennedy Western University.

Career

Verschoor worked in broadcasting and marketing in the early 1990s, and became marketing manager of the Adelaide Festival of the Arts in 1995 and Marketing & Development Director 1996-1999. As the Associate Director of Arts Projects Australia 2001 - 2006 she worked on

WOMADelaide WOMADelaide is an annual four-day festival of Music, Arts and Dance, which was first held in 1992 in Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia. One of many WOMAD festivals held around the world, it is a four-day event that presents a diverse selec ...

and helped establish the

Adelaide Film Festival The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, formerly ADLFF) is film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented biennially in March from 2003, since 2013 AFF has been held in October ...

. She was CEO of the Adelaide Fringe from 2006 to 2010. In 2011, she became the executive producer of the Festival of Ideas. In 2012, Verschoor worked as general manager for the Adelaide City Council for three years before being elected to council at a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in 2015. She took up the role of Executive Producer of the

Windmill Theatre The Windmill Theatre in Great Windmill Street, London, was a variety and revue theatre best known for its nude '' tableaux vivants'', which began in 1932 and lasted until its reversion to a cinema in 1964. Many prominent British comedians o ...

in 2015 and CEO of the Adelaide Festival in 2016. From June 2017 to November 2018, she served as Deputy Lord Mayor for 18 months. After Martin Haese decided not to run in the 2018 election, he endorsed Verschoor. Verschoor was elected Lord Mayor in November 2018, defeating lawyer Mark Hamilton and bookshop owner Kate Treloar. She served for four years, before being defeated in the November 2022 election by former politician and lord mayor

Jane Lomax-Smith Jane Diane Lomax-Smith, AM (born 19 June 1950, in the United Kingdom) is an Australian politician and histopathologist who has been the Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide since 14 November 2022. She was previously in local government for nine ...

Personal life

Verschoor is married and has two daughters and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verschoor, Sandy Living people Mayors and Lord Mayors of Adelaide South Australian local councillors Women mayors of places in South Australia Australian Institute of Business alumni 1959 births Women local councillors in Australia Deputy mayors of places in Australia