Ms. Sonal Shah |
| Head of Global Development Initiatives |
| Google.org |
|
United States |
About Ms. Sonal Shah
Sonal Shah is the economic mind behind Google.org's recent efforts to address some of the world's most urgent problems. Google.org was formed early on in Google's history, and it receives funding via a commitment by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to contribute significant resources, including 1% of Google's equity and profits in some form, as well as employee time, to the project. Sonal Shah joined Google in 2007, and within a year, she was promoted to the position of Head of Global Development Initiatives at Google.org.
Over the last two years Sonal Shah has been given the opportunity to lead two of Google.org's initiatives: Growing Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and Inform and Empower. To execute these initiatives successfully, Sonal Shah works with foundations, non-profits, and other development institutions to build partnerships and programs that will work with Google engineers, product managers, and teams to develop products and ideas to improve access to information for the poor. Sonal has had the opportunity to work internationally with Google.org, designing programs and strategies for India and East Africa. Recently, Ms. Shah launched a panchayat competition in India to reward local governments that were delivering the best services. Sonal Shah's international work has also included funding original non-government organizations (NGOs) in India, Kenya, and Tanzania.
Sonal Shah is a much sought-after speaker on economic matters; she regularly appears at speaking engagements held on university campuses and at think tanks. Over the last two years, Sonal Shah has appeared at the Brookings Blum Roundtable, the Clinton Global Initiative, Harvard Business School, Boston University, and the University of Texas LBJ School. Sonal Shah studied at the University of Chicago for her undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, having been awarded a full scholarship for four years. Sonal Shah later made her way to North Carolina and Duke University, where she earned her Master's degree in Economics with a thesis discussing Key Determinants for Economic Growth in East Asian Countries.
Ms. Sonal Shah Links
