Sandra Overend, MLA

Biography: Sandra Overend was raised in the heart of Mid-Ulster, having been born close to Stewartstown in East Tyrone and now lives with her husband of thirteen years and three children near Bellaghy in South Londonderry. She shares the same commitment and enthusiasm for the future of Ulster Unionism as her father, retired Assembly Member, Billy Armstrong MLA, whose office she managed from 1998 until her election to the Assembly in 2011. Sandra now sits on the Assembly & Executive Review Committee and the Committee for the Department for Education and Learning and is party spokesperson for children and young people.

She has been a Party Officer in the Ulster Unionist Party since 2008, with responsibility for Women’s Development. She launched the Dame Dehra Parker (a women’s Development) Programme in 2009, to encourage more women to become elected representatives and has been very active in helping women to play a bigger role in political activism in the Ulster Unionist Party. Active within her local Mid-Ulster Constituency Association for many years, Sandra held the position of Secretary until January 2009. She remains Secretary to the South Londonderry Divisional Association.

Educated at Cookstown High School, and qualified from the University of Ulster at both Magee College, Londonderry and Jordanstown with a Diploma of Higher Education in Accounting and a BA (Hons) in Business Studies with a Diploma in Industrial Studies. Recently she achieved an SAC Diploma in Public Relations. Sandra belongs to Ballyscullion Church of Ireland, and is a member of the Select Vestry. She is Chairperson of Bellaghy Primary School Parents’ Association. In her leisure time she enjoys cycling, swimming, walking and calligraphy writing.