About Sona

Sona is an accomplished growth-oriented venture capital professional skilled in Strategic Investments, Portfolio Management, Business Development, Marketing and Team Building.

She possesses over three decades of venture investment experience. She has co-founded and managed three Illinois-based venture capital funds. Previously, she was an investment manager with Allstate Venture Capital, one of the oldest institutional venture funds with over $500 million invested. Her investment focus has been in IT/software and healthcare/biotech.

She has served on numerous boards including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Northshore University Health System (Endeavor Health), TrafficCast International, IKOS System (Mentor Graphics), Answer Systems (Broadcom), Epoch Biotech, and Vipdesk, Inc (ISOS).

She currently serves on the board of the Chicago Network and on the Investment Screening Committee of Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs United.

Prior to her career in venture capital, Sona was employed with Intel Corporation in key management positions in engineering, manufacturing, and marketing.

As an active civic leader, Sona currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University where she provides oversight for the Innovations and New Ventures Office as well as the Office of Alumni Relations. Until 2024 she served on the Columbia College Chicago’s Board of Trustees. Previously she also served on IL Governor’s Economic Recovery Commission as a committee chairman. Other civic boards included Trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Mayor’s ChicagoNext Technology Leadership Council.

She is a passionate cultural leader working to create positive social impact through music and performing arts. A co-founding investor of Randolph Entertainment and Teatro Zinzanni, the production has rapidly become one of Chicago's premiere live theater venues. Sona is also a co-creator of the masterplans for a future world-class Blues museum for the City of Chicago named the Chicago Blues Experience.

Sona was the recipient of the YWCA Leadership Award for Entrepreneurship, recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential Women in Chicago” by Crain’s Chicago Business, as a Business Leader of Color by Chicago United, and identified as among Corporate Directors to Watch by Directors & Boards Magazine. She has been a member of the Chicago Network since 1997.

Sona graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and received an M.B.A., magna cum laude, from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.