APAICS president & CEO Madalene Xuan-Trang Mielke interviews public policy and philanthropy pioneer Sonal Shah, about her career and insights for the next generation.

Sonal Shah Bio
Sonal Shah serves as Interim Executive Vice President, Worldwide Network
Advancement. She leads the U.S. and International Network teams to work with local United
Ways to help deliver the greatest impact for UWW's communities. She serves on the UWW
Executive Leadership Team.
Ms. Shah is a global leader on social impact and innovation. She has started and led social
impact efforts in academia, government, and the private and philanthropy sectors for more
than twenty-five years. Most recently she founded and led The Asian American Foundation,
raising over $1billion, the largest philanthropic effort serving the Asian American community.
Before TAAF, she started and led Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact
and Innovation for over seven years, training students on social impact and leading research
on different models of social innovation. In the Obama Administration, Ms. Shah served as
Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Social Innovation at the White
House, leading the efforts across government to introduce social innovation, including
financial innovation, impact metrics, and the role of technology. In the private sector, she led
the Global Development Initiatives at Google focused on impact investing and technology for
social impact. At Goldman Sachs, Shah developed and implemented the firm’s environmental
strategy.
Ms. Shah also has significant experience working internationally as an economist at the
Department of Treasury, setting up the central bank in Bosnia, working for post-conflict
reconstruction in Kosovo, and implementing poverty reduction strategies in Africa. She also
served as the chief of operations for the Center for Global Development.
Ms. Shah serves on the boards of Oxfam America, the UBS Optimus Foundation, The Century
Foundation, and the National Democratic Institute. She also serves as an adviser to Pinterest
and Apollo Global Management. She is a research professor at Georgetown University. In
2019-20, she served as the National Policy Director for Mayor Pete Buttigieg's Presidential Campaign.