Retired Maj. Gen. Thomas Sands is an attorney and senior advisor with the Washington, D.C.-based firm Dawson & Associates. Sands is a civil engineer who spent more than 30 years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His 11 years of command experience include heading the New Orleans District, the North Atlantic Division and the Lower Mississippi Valley Division/Mississippi River Commission where he was responsible for all federal water resources activities in the Lower Mississippi River Valley.