The 2026 Top Consultants: Erik Sandstrom

Erik Sandstrom is Manager and Data, Analytics, and AI leader at Clarkston Consulting, where he serves as the Data & Analytics Practice Lead and co-leads the firm's AI Transformation Initiative. In addition to his firmwide leadership role, Erik is a trusted client partner, serving as a data scientist, AI engineer, and project manager on one of Clarkston's key Data & Analytics accounts. Over the course of his career at Clarkston, Erik has rapidly progressed from a junior data scientist to a firmwide leader by consistently delivering high-quality technical work, earning client trust, and demonstrating strong judgment in complex, high-stakes situations. His hands-on experience building and deploying analytics and AI solutions informs a pragmatic approach to responsible AI, grounded in real client needs and regulatory realities.
As AI adoption accelerates, Erik has stepped forward to help guide the firm through both opportunity and risk, focusing on enabling responsible innovation that improves client service. Known for his calm, principled decision-making, Erik emphasizes accountability and governance as enablers of quality and speed, not barriers. He approaches responsible AI as both a technical and human challenge, believing that long-term client value depends on trust, critical thinking, and disciplined execution.