An expert in the confluence of development and communications policy, Sonia has over 25 years of diverse international experience in a career spanning both the private and not-for-profit sectors. As a policy advisor, Sonia has led numerous digital policy and development projects in several countries and with international organizations, such as the World Bank, UNDP, UN Women, and for private sector companies, from mobile operators to industry associations.
Sonia’s work has included ICT policy and regulatory advice and analysis, strategic industry planning, national ICT/broadband policy development, and the creation of new policy and regulatory frameworks to address issues around competition, cost-based pricing, spectrum management, infrastructure development and universal access strategy. Sonia is an avid advocate for gender equality in development, and has worked extensively to promote gender analysis and awareness in the ICT planning and policy process, as well as an understanding of the importance of digital inclusion for development.
As a thought leader and expert, Sonia was recognized by apolitico as as one of the World’s 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government in 2019, and is a frequent speaker at international, regional and national events, including at the World Economic Forum, Stockholm Internet Forum, Transform Africa, Mobile World Congress, Internet Governance Forums, the Latin American Telecommunications Congress, several ITU and EU-Commission events, among others. She also serves/ed as a member and expert in a number of Committees, including DFID’s Digital Access Panel for Africa, the ITU-UN Women EQUALS Partnership, The World Economic Forum’s Future of the Internet Initiative, the Broadband Commission Working Group on the Gender Digital Divide, the Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy (ACICIP) Subcommittee of the US State Department on ICT4D, the IEEE Connectivity Coalition Steering Committee, and the EU-AU Digital Economy Task Force. Sonia is an independent Board Director with KaiOS Technologies and an affiliate at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.
Sonia has worked in over 40 countries around the globe, and assumed her current role in July 2013, having previously been Director of Research & Consulting at Pyramid Research. She is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English, and holds a Masters in Public Policy from Tufts University and a BA/BS in Economics and Business Finance from the University of Massachusetts.
