Sonal Desai, Ph.D.

Sonal Desai, Ph.D. is the executive vice president and chief investment officer for Franklin Templeton Fixed Income. Dr. Desai is responsible for overseeing Franklin Templeton's Multi-Sector, Global (including Developed and Emerging Markets), Corporate Credit, Securitized Products, Municipal Bonds, Stable Value, Local Asset Management and Short Term Liquid Markets Fixed Income teams. The platform has over $215 billion in assets under management globally. In her role, Dr. Desai has driven the platform's integration of top-down macroeconomic views, bottom-up fundamental research, and rigorous portfolio construction processes. She is responsible for setting the macroeconomic direction for the Franklin Templeton Fixed Income group and is also a portfolio manager for several strategies.

Dr. Desai is a member of Franklin Resources' Executive Committee, a small group of the company's top leaders responsible for shaping the firm's overall strategy and thematic investment direction. She also serves on the firm's Management and Investment Committees.

Dr. Desai started her career in academia, serving as an assistant professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh. She then worked at the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C. before joining the private financial sector as a director and senior economist at an investment bank and subsequently a hedge fund. Dr. Desai joined Franklin Templeton Fixed Income in 2009 and assumed her current role in 2018.

Dr. Desai holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Delhi University and a Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University. She has been named to Barron's annual list of the 100 Most Influential Women in US Finance every year since it was introduced in 2020, was selected by Forbes to its 2024 "50 Over 50" list, and was honored as one of Pensions & Investments (P&I) 2024 Most Influential Women in Institutional Investing.