Sonali serves as CSU vice president, general counsel and board secretary, joining CSU in 1996 as a lecturer at CSU|LAW and moved in-house in 1997. She served as board secretary from 2000-2011 and became general counsel in 2004. She was reappointed board secretary in 2020 and is a CSU|Law Leader-in-Residence. She was an associate at Arter and Hadden prior to coming to CSU. Sonali holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University, a master’s degree from Harvard University, and a juris doctorate degree from Georgetown University Law Center. She received The Norman S. Minor Bar Association’s 2013 Trailblazer Award; 2014 Women of Color Foundation’s Professional Woman of the Year award; and named a 2015 YWCA Woman of Achievement.  In June 2020, Sonali received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of College and University Attorneys, and named among Crain’s Cleveland Business’ 2021 Notable General Counsels. Sonali is active on several community and education-related boards, including The United Way of Greater Cleveland, serving as its Public Policy and Advocacy Chair, and member of the UWGC Philanthropic Fund; the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation Board; Trustee emerita of the Cleveland Institute of Music; and the Cuyahoga Community College Board of Visitors.