Sonal Shah served as Director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation in the White House from 2009 to 2011, where she coordinated governmental efforts to aid innovative nonprofit groups and social entrepreneurs to address pressing social problems. She was named an American Assembly Next Generation Fellow in 2009. Previously, Shah managed and implemented two of Google.org's global development initiatives and served on President Obama's Transition Board. Currently, she is an Institute of Politics fellow at Harvard University.