Sonal Desai, Ph.D., is a portfolio manager and director of research for the Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group's international bond department. She is responsible for shaping the research agenda of the international bond department and providing macroeconomic analysis to the fixed income team. This includes facilitating broader research efforts leveraging the fixed income group's local resources across several emerging markets. Dr. Desai acts as a key resource for the firm's Fixed Income Policy Committee, which provides policy views on sectors, markets and currencies.Dr. Desai has over 16 years of experience in the financial sector. She joined Franklin Templeton in 2009 from Thames River Capital in London, where she was responsible for shaping the top-down global view on macroeconomic and market developments. Dr. Desai started her career as an assistant professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, and then worked for over six years at the International Monetary Fund, in Washington DC. She was involved in the negotiation and monitoring of IMF programs in several emerging market countries and in the assessment of the overall design and effectiveness of IMF adjustment programs. Following this, she joined the private financial sector and worked for about five years as director and senior economist for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London.Dr. Desai holds a Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University and earned a B.A. with honors from Delhi University in New Delhi.