Rob Sands

Head of Partnerships CNN Travel

Rob Sands is Vice President, Business Development and Partnerships responsible for the creation of new global revenue streams and content products for CNN Digital Worldwide and Great Big Story.

As one of the first employees, Sands guided the expansion of Great Big Story through partnerships, syndication, licensing and other product and business development activities both domestic and international. 

Under his leadership as Vice President, Content Products, Great Big Story expanded product availability to multiple third-party platforms, including launching a regional partnership in the Nordics, distribution through social, mobile & streaming media platforms, online portals, airport networks, hotels, airline inflight entertainment systems, international social networks (including China), and more. Combined, these deals extended Great Big Story’s reach to more than 10 million consumers worldwide (60% of which are internationally-based).

Before joining Great Big Story, Sands was Principle Business Development for Amazon and helped launch hardware projects such as the Amazon Alexa voice assistant, Echo, Amazon Fire TV and Kindle Fire Tablet.

Prior to Amazon, Sands spent five years in mobile content where he served as North American sales lead for companies such as Gameloft and Airborne Entertainment. He’s also worked as a creative director for international advertising agencies such as Leo Burnett, BBDO, and Ogilvy & Mather and even founded his own company in Seattle, WA.

Sands received his undergraduate degree in Communications from the University of Colorado, Boulder and resides in Seattle, WA.