Sonu Varghese

Ph.D.
Vice President, Global Macro Strategist

Sonu has over 15 years of experience in the Asset Management industry. Before joining Carson, he was a Partner and Director of Research at Convex Capital Management where he co-managed portfolios, advised clients and led the research effort, including creating a proprietary leading economic index for 30 countries and systematizing investment processes. Prior to that Sonu worked independently with hedge fund managers and high-net worth individuals to develop quantitative investment models for trading equities, options, ETFs and closed-end funds.

Sonu started his career in finance during the final year of his Ph.D. at Purdue University, when he got an opportunity to do options modeling work. He finished his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2006, with his dissertation focused on simulating blood flow in diseased arteries. However, he decided to pursue finance as he enjoyed the mathematical modeling aspect of it, and the challenges thrown up by human behavior in markets. Prior to his Ph.D., Sonu received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue and Bachelors in Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (Trichy) in India.

Sonu and his wife love to travel and are looking forward to doing a lot more of it as their twins grow up. They also enjoy listening to an eclectic selection of music as a family and being outdoors in the city (Chicago weather permitting). At home, you may find him hanging out with the family with a guitar in his hands, cooking or if the kids are asleep, watching TV or reading. He is also passionate about teaching Math – including statistics, probability and personal finance – at the community college in Chicago downtown.