Obama appointed NRI Sonal Shah as member of the advisory board

Chicago, Nov. 06, 2008
Ranbir Singh

President-elect Barack Obama has appointed NRI Sonal Shah, 40, as his adviser of a team of 12-member advisory board
and 13 senior staff. She will be a part of a panel comprising individuals, with significant private and public sector experience who will offer her expertise in their respective fields to Obama's transition team

Obama's first step is picking names that will run the US administration with him.

Sonal Shah, an eminent economist who heads Google's philanthropic armworks for their Global Development team, where she is working on defining their global development strategy. Before joining to Google.org, she was Vice President at Goldman, Sachs and Co. and developed and implemented the firm’s environmental strategy.

As the former Associate Director for Economic and National Security Policy at the Center for American Progress, Sonal worked on trade, outsourcing and post conflict reconstruction issues.

Prior to joining the Center, she was the Director of Programs and Operations at the Center for Global Development managing the daily operations and serving as a strategic adviser to the president. She also developed and managed policy and advocacy programs for the Center.

She had master's in economics from Duke University

Before that she worked for eight years at the Department of Treasury on various economic issues and regions of the world. She was the Director of the office covering sub Saharan Africa, worked in Bosnia and Kosovo after the war, and served as the senior adviser to the Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary at the Department of Treasury during the Asian financial crisis

Co-founder of Indicorps:

Indicorps is a non-partisan, non-religious, non-profit organization that encourages NRIs (non-resident Indians) around the world to actively participate in India's progress. Indicorps' programs are designed to build principled leadership, empower visionaries, inspire collective action, and unite India towards a common vision for the nation by productively engaging Indians around the world with the development of the country that defines their identity. Other co-founders of Indicorps are Sonal’s sister Roopal and brother Anand.

For her great work for community, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had awarded Shahs Pride of Gujarat award(Guajarat Garima Award) in Vishwa Gujarati Parivaar Mohatsav 2004, Ahmedabad in presence of Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Sonal’s brother Anand Shah had received an award on behalf of his siblings Sonal and Roopal Shah.

In 2006, Megha Bahree wrote:

• Sonal Shah, master's in economics from Duke University start a volunteer mission back in India

India Abroad named her the 'Person of the Year 2003"

His fater from North Gujarat’s Sabarkantha district’s Gabat village, immigrated to New York in 1970. Sonal along with her sister, Roopal and mother joined him in 1972. Roopal is a prosecutor for the U.S. government in San Diego, California.

Sonal Shah, 40, an eminent economist who heads Google's philanthropic armworks, was appointed as member of the advisory board by
Barack Obama