Sutphen, Mona

Mona Sutphen is a New York-based Partner of Macro Advisory Partners. She joined the firm from UBS AG, where she was Managing Director based in its New York offices. At UBS she covered geopolitical risk and macro policy trends.

From 2009 to 2011, Mona served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy under President Barack Obama. She was a US Foreign Service Officer from 1991-2000, serving on the National Security Council at the White House, as part of the US Mission to the United Nations; in the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo, for the State Department; and at the US Embassy in Bangkok.

From 2001 to 2008, Mona was Managing Director at Stonebridge International, a Washington-based global strategy consulting firm that advises multinational corporations and financial institutions.

Mona holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MSc from the London School of Economics.

She serves on the Boards of the International Rescue Committee, Human Rights First, Pioneer Natural Resources and DI Holdings. She is a Trustee of Mount Holyoke College and formerly served as a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and, in 2008, co-authored The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise.

Mona K. Sutphen (born November 10, 1967) served as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. She is currently a Senior Advisor at The Vistria Group, a Chicago-based private equity firm founded by Marty Nesbitt. From 2013 to 2019, she was a partner at Macro Advisory Partners LLP and from 2011-2013 was Managing Director at UBS AG, covering geopolitical risk, macro-policy trends and their impact on the global economy. She has also previously held positions as an American diplomat and served on the National Security Council during the Clinton Administration. She is the co-author of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise.

Mona Sutphen is Senior Advisor, The Vistria Group LLC, a Chicago-based private equity firm, and has been a Partner at Macro Advisory Partners LLP, a consulting firm providing strategic advice in the areas of financial markets, geopolitics and government policy, and previously spent three years at UBSAG, a global financial institution, as Managing Director, covering geopolitical risk and macro-policy trends. From 2009 through 2011, she served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy for President Obama, working on a range of domestic and international policy and regulatory matters. Prior to that position, she was Managing Director at Stonebridge International, an international consulting firm, and from 1991 through 2000 was a career diplomat, serving on the staff of the National Security Council, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and postings in Asia and Europe. Sutphen was also a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board during President Obama’s administration.

Sutphen is a member of the Advisory Board of the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. CGEP conducts research and convenes policy experts and industry leaders on a range of energy-relevant matters, including climate change and renewable technologies. She also currently serves on the Boards of Drilling Info Holdings LLC, a privately held provider of information and analytic tools for energy companies, the International Rescue Committee and Human Rights First. Sutphen is a Trustee of Mount Holyoke College. She is co-author of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive As Other Powers Rise, and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Holyoke College and a Master of Science from the London School of Economics.

Mona K. Sutphen ’89 served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for policy for President Barack Obama from 2009 until February 2011. In that capacity, she advised the president on a range of issues, including regulatory matters, economic policy, and strategic plans.

Sutphen also served as a foreign policy advisor on the 2008 presidential campaign and in the Obama-Biden transition. Sutphen majored in international relations at Mount Holyoke College; during her senior year, she worked as a research assistant to Anthony Lake, a professor of international relations who later served as President Bill Clinton’s first national security advisor. After graduation, Sutphen earned a master’s degree from the London School of Economics.

From 1991 to 2000, Sutphen was a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, serving in the Clinton administration on the staff of the National Security Council, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo, and at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. In 2001, she became managing director at Stonebridge International, a global strategy consulting firm. Sutphen also worked as vice president at Currenex, the first Internet-based trading platform for the institutional foreign exchange market.

Sutphen is a managing director at UBS, the Swiss global financial services firm. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and coauthor of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise (Simon & Schuster, 2008). This fall, she was named to President Obama’s Advisory Intelligence Board, an independent part of the Executive Office that provides advice on the effectiveness of the intelligence community.

Mona Sutphen has over 20 years’ experience advising multinational corporate, philanthropic, and institutional investors on the intersection of geopolitics, policy, and markets. She is a senior advisor 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, trade, sanctions, national security and fiscal policy matters, and related regulation. 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, telecom, trade, small business, and housing/GSE reform. 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 Ms. Sutphen 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 and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ms. Sutphen is an Independent Director for Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD) and Pattern Energy (NASDAQ: PEGI), and serves on the Boards of the International Rescue Committee and Human Rights First, as well as on the advisory board of the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Ms. Sutphen is a Trustee of Mount Holyoke College, and co-author of The Next American Century. She holds BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MSc from the London School of Economics.