Mona K. Sutphen (born November 10, 1967) was the

White House Deputy Chief of Staff The White House deputy chief of staff is officially the top aide to the White House chief of staff, who is the senior aide to the president of the United States. The deputy chief of staff usually has an office in the West Wing and is responsible ...

for Policy in the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

from 2009 to 2011. She is currently a partner and Head of Investment Strategies at The Vistria Group, a Chicago-based private equity firm founded by Marty Nesbitt. From 2013 to 2019, she was a partner in Macro Advisory Partners LLP and from 2011 to 2013 was a managing director at UBS AG, covering geopolitical risk, macro-policy trends and their impact on the global economy. She held a diplomatic position in the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

during the

Clinton Administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

Background

Sutphen is from

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

and graduated from John Marshall High School there. Her mother was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and her father

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

. She earned her B.A. in international relations in 1989 from

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

and an M.Sc. from the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. From 2001 to 2008, Sutphen was managing director of Stonebridge International, a Washington-based business strategy consulting firm that works with multinational corporations, financial institutions and other organizations on challenges worldwide. She was also Vice President of Currenex, a

United States Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carryi ...

officer in the Clinton White House (1991–2000) and member of the

(1998–2000). She then worked at the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. Sutphen is a Trustee of

and on the advisory board of the Columbia Center for Global Energy Policy. She previously was an adjunct professor at the

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

and is the co-author (with

Nina Hachigian Ambassador Nina Lucine Hachigian (ret) is the first U.S. Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy. In this role, she seeks to bring benefits to, and learn from, local leaders in the United States, and connect them to counterparts around ...

) of ''The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise''.

Other positions

* Munich Security Conference (MSC), Member of the Security Innovation Board (since 2021) * Spotify, Board Member (since 2021) * Warner Music Group / Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020) *

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

, Member * Human Rights First, Member of the Board of Directors * Putnam Mutual Funds, Member of the Board of Trustees *

International Rescue Committee The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 19 ...

(IRC), Member of the Board of Directors

Personal life

Sutphen is married to Clyde Williams, who was President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

's domestic policy advisor at his Foundation, as vice president at the Center for American Progress, and as the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...

's political director. They married in 2001 and have two children.

Works

Hachigian, Nina and Sutphen, Mona. ''The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise'', Simon & Schuster (January 8, 2008)

References

External links

The Vistria GroupHuman Rights FirstPioneer Natural ResourcesPattern EnergyColumbia Center for Energy Policy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutphen, Mona 1967 births Living people White House Deputy Chiefs of Staff African-American Jews Alumni of the London School of Economics Clinton administration personnel Jewish American government officials Mount Holyoke College alumni Obama administration personnel Politicians from Milwaukee African-American women in politics 21st-century American women