As the director of talent and organizational effectiveness at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Sonia Vora is responsible for developing and delivering talent-focused solutions that support a high-integrity culture and global impact. In this role, Vora oversees the entire talent life-cycle from recruiting through the alumni program, as well as leadership development, organizational effectiveness, and culture.

Throughout her career, Vora has played an instrumental role in building global functions and organizations to optimize for customer experience, employee engagement, and scalable growth. She developed her career in investment banking and strategy consulting before joining Northern Trust in Human Resources. As the senior vice president of Global Talent Development, Vora launched the global operations center in Bangalore, along with associated programs like mentoring, onboarding, and functional training for 6,000 employees.  As the head of talent at Cetera Financial Group, she built the end-to-end talent management department from the ground up before returning to the business as the Head of Customer Experience for 15,000 financial advisors where she oversaw advisor training, business consulting, and change management.

She graduated with honors with a Master of Arts in creative writing from Temple University. She has an MBA—with a concentration in international business— from Georgetown University and holds a bachelor’s degree with double major in English and economics from Albion College.