Driving Change in the Workplace: Sona Menon Reflects on Her Inspiring Career Journey, Vision for DEI, and How She Gives Back
“I have always believed that facing challenges along the path of life can serve as defining moments in making a person who they are. For me, this has certainly been the case.” Today’s woman dreamer, Sona Menon, is an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer at Cambridge Associates, with a passion for empowering women and driving DEI initiatives in the workplace. In this inspiring and topical interview, Sona shares her journey as woman in finance, and the key influential experiences that made her the woman she is today. She also shares her dedication to giving back through her work with Akshaya Patra. She states, “Educating these children, and in particular, the girls will have a deep impact not only in India, but globally as this will strengthen and broaden the future talent pool for the world. I am very excited about being a part of supporting this effort” Enjoy her story!
Tell us your story. You are the Outsourced Chief Investment Officer at Cambridge Associates, with over 25 years of experience and an alum of HBS. Tell us more about your journey. What were some key moments or lessons in your career that made you the woman you are today?
I have always believed that facing challenges along the path of life can serve as defining moments in making a person who they are. For me, this has certainly been the case. When I arrived in the US at age 8 as an immigrant, the transition proved to be challenging in many ways, socially, emotionally, academically, but it also helped me learn to adapt and be more resilient. I attended college at Cornell University, where I studied Government and International Relations. My first job out of college was at JP Morgan, in an incredible rotational program across different parts of the bank including sales, trading, and research. It was a fantastic opportunity to learn and develop a broad set of financial skills, but particularly rigorous for someone who had a liberal arts education. I can recall having to work “extra” hard to keep up with my peers with finance degrees and more quantitative backgrounds, but once again having to rise to the challenge helped me become better and more resilient.
After four years on wall street, I left to get an MBA at the Harvard Business School. This was another life changing experience during which time I met some of the brightest, most interesting people from all over the world, and made some life-long friendships. After my MBA, I was fortunate to find a job that combined my interests and skillset in investments with my desire to do something with impact. In 2001, I joined Cambridge Associates, a global investment advisory firm that built institutional portfolios for endowments, foundations, hospitals, and a variety of large institutions. I was deeply drawn by the opportunity to have a career in building successful investment portfolios that would further enable these institutions to realize their charitable missions. What I loved about the job was that I could use my investment acumen to have a positive impact on society by supporting the charitable missions of my clients. 21 years later, I am still at this firm. I now serve as an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer for several institutions including endowments, pension plans, and healthcare institutions. I am a Partner of the firm and the Head of our Pension Practice in North America. As one of the leaders in my firm, I believe its my responsibility to help pave the way for other female leaders and people of color in the investment space.
2. You are passionate about DEI in the workplace. Tell us more about this. What are some of the key initiatives/ideas you would like to see in the workplace in the next five years for DEI, particularly for women?
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is indeed a very important topic for me, especially in the workplace. After all, in the world of investing, there continues to be a scarcity of female leaders and people of color. While this is gradually changing in numbers, I would still like to see more women of color in leadership roles and/or positions where they see an equal opportunity for career advancement.
How can I help drive this change? I have joined my company’s Global DEI Council where I have had the ability to influence the development of new policies and behaviors that enhance the firm’s diversity through broadening the funnel of talent that we bring into the firm. I have also helped develop policies that will help improve the career advancement of diverse employees and impact their sense of belonging at the firm. This has been an incredibly fulfilling experience for me. And I will say that the proof is very much in the numbers. There is sufficient data available to demonstrate that increasing diversity, and in particular, gender diversity, will improve financial outcomes for companies. So, its not just the right thing to do but it’s the smart thing to do for a successful company.
And more informally, I continue to love mentoring younger women and support them in their professional and personal growth so that they can elevate their careers.
3. You are part of Akshaya Patra as well and are dedicated to giving back and philanthropy. What is your favorite part of Akshaya Patra? What excites you about the cause and giving back?
Akshaya Patra is a wonderful organization which I was drawn to the minute I visited one of their kitchens in India with my children. Not only is it the largest free school lunch program in the world serving over 1.8 million nutritious meals daily to school children throughout India, but I was in awe of the sheer size and efficiency of this logistics effort when I visited the kitchen. It is not often that you see an effort like this so well executed. I am inspired by Akshaya Patra’s commitment to not only feed children who don’t have access to nutritious meals, but also their ability to draw them towards education. Educating these children, and in particular, the girls will have a deep impact not only in India but globally as this will strengthen and broaden the future talent pool for the world. I am very excited about being a part of supporting this effort, and even more excited that my children are Youth Ambassadors, and are learning early in their life the importance of giving back to one’s community.
4. You are certainly a busy woman! How do you unwind at the end of the day? How do you find a work life balance?
Work life balance is incredibly important to enable me to do my job well and to help me re-energize and relax. As a mother of two teenage boys, life has a way of getting particularly hectic. Only in recent years did I become very intentional about creating a strong work-life balance.
A life coach once gave me this great advice: when its very hard to take away the busy and stressful parts of life, try instead to layer in the things that bring you pleasure and peace. So, I have learned to do that in various ways, whether it means making time for a daily cup of morning tea with my husband before the day begins, to going for long walks with friends, to travel. Perhaps my most favorite hobby is travel. No matter how busy life gets for my family, we have made an intentional decision to travel the world, little by little. We have been fortunate to take trips even during the depths of covid to Tanzania, exploring the national parks of the US, and other amazing places to explore and remind ourselves just how big the world is. Travel is also an important way for my kids to see and learn about the world through different experiences. That’s why we have also done several service trips over the years, individually and as a family.
Thank you Sona for sharing your inspiring story with us. We are excited to have you in our global women’s network!
Bio: Sona Menon is the Head of the North American Pension Practice. Based in Boston, she serves as an Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) for a diverse group of pension clients. Sona has been with Cambridge Associates since 2001 and brings 25 years of investment industry experience to her clients. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School