Mona Sutphen

Chair Emeritus

Ms. Sutphen has over 20 years of experience working at the intersection of politics, policy and financial markets.  She is a Partner at The Vistria Group, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Previously, she was a Partner at Macro Advisory Partners (MAP), where she led the firm’s US practice advising clients on emerging risks and opportunities across a range of sectors including energy/environment, technology and financial services. Prior to joining MAP, Ms. Sutphen was Managing Director at UBS AG, where she developed new tools for political risk evaluation impacting capital markets.

From 2009-2011, she served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy for President Obama, where she advanced the policy and regulatory agenda on a range of issues including technology, small business, energy, education and the Affordable Care Act.  Previously, Ms. Sutphen was Managing Director at Stonebridge International, and earlier led regulatory strategy for Currenex, the first Internet-based institutional foreign exchange trading platform.  From 1991-2000 she was a career diplomat, serving on the staff of the National Security Council during the Clinton Administration and the U.S. Mission to the UN, among other posts. She also served on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board from 2013-2016.

Ms. Sutphen serves on the Boards of Spotify, Pattern Energy, Unitek Learning, and is a Trustee for Putnam Mutual Funds.  She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and also serves on the Board of the International Rescue Committee.  Ms. Sutphen also serves on the advisory boards of the Warner Music Social Justice Fund and the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and joined the Munich Security Conference Innovation Board in 2021.  She is a Trustee of Mount Holyoke College, co-author of The Next American Century (Simon & Schuster 2008) and is Executive Producer of Battleground (PBS 2020) and Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union (HBO Summer 2021). She holds BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MSc from the London School of Economics.