S. Mona Sinha ’93BUS
Chairwoman
Women Moving Millions
S. Mona Sinha is an advocate for expanding the rights of women and girls. She has parlayed a career in finance (Morgan Stanley), marketing (Unilever), and restructuring (Elizabeth Arden / Unilever) to work at the intersection of social change and women’s leadership. Mona works with organizations to develop capacities to uplift women and girls across different sectors.
She is cofounder of Raising Change, which coaches mission-driven organizations to raise resources for social change. She is currently the board chair of Women Moving Millions, a community of women who fund big and bold to create gender equality. She also serves on the boards of the ERA Coalition (working to ratify the constitutional amendment on Equal Rights), Breakthrough (shifts culture norms to end violence against women), Direct Impact Africa (empowers women to be leaders in the lower Zambezi), and CHIP (Center for High Impact Philanthropy at UPenn).
She is on the advisory boards of Apne Aap International (works to end sex trafficking), the Museum of Natural History (sponsors science education for inner city girls), Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center Social for Enterprise (building awareness of social justice in future business leaders), Women Creating Change at Columbia University (ensuring that curriculum reflects all diverse voices), and Columbia Global Mental Health program (promoting mental health as integral to overall healthcare around the world). She is a trustee emerita of Smith College, her alma mater. She has also served on the founding board of Impact Investment Exchange in Singapore and the All Souls school in New York city. Mona is an active financial investor in women-led businesses. She has a BA in economics and art history (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Smith College and an MBA in finance and marketing (Beta Gamma Sigma) from Columbia University.
She is a published contributor to What I Told my Daughter Lessons from Leaders on Raising the Next Generation of Empowered Women edited by Nina Tassler and Cynthia Middleton. In April 2019, Breakthrough honored Mona with a Lifetime Inspiration award. Smith College honored Mona with the 2018 Exemplary Leadership in Development award. In 2017, Mona was awarded The Last Girl Champion award by Gloria Steinem on behalf of Apne Aap. In 2015, she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which is presented annually to US citizens whose accomplishments in their field and service to the world are cause for celebration.
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