Sonia Cairns, Moss Cairns
Principal

Sonia is Co-founder and Principal of Moss Cairns, a Minneapolis-based public affairs and business consulting firm that helps corporations, public policy groups, foundations, educational institutions, and public private partnerships design programs and projects that are launching pads for concrete actions. For nearly 20 years, Sonia has directed and facilitated a broad range of high-impact projects and meetings that help organizations position themselves as outstanding leaders on business, community, and public policy themes.

Sonia has nearly 25 years of experience leading projects that bridge the gap between business and society. Recent projects include Building Talent for Minnesota’s New Economy; Twin Cities Project on Media and the Public; the Metropolitan Council’s Regional Growth Options Forums and its Urban Economic Summit; Rethinking Work in America; Vital Forests, Vital Communities, Building Minnesota’s Healthcare Workforce Through Diversity, and the major meetings of the firm’s clients.

Other Professional Experience
Prior to founding Moss Cairns, Sonia founded and led Marecek & Cairns, a Twin Cities based public affairs consulting firm, and was a Manager of Corporate Public Affairs for Honeywell Inc., developing successful national and local initiatives that positioned the company on national security, community and economic development, and workforce issues.

Community Activities

• Sonia currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Refugee Committee which works for the survival, health, well being and self-sufficiency for refugees and displaced people throughout the world.
  
  
• She is a member of the Board of Trustees at Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis, which oversees its fiduciary matters and serves on the Building Committee that is managing a $4 million addition.
  
  
• She serves on the Board of Directors of the Plymouth Church Neighborhood Foundation which provides affordable housing in Minneapolis to those in need.
  
  
• She is Co-chair of Finance for Lisa Goodman’s Minneapolis City Council race.
  
  
• Sonia was a founder member of Work and Family Research Council for The Conference Board, a non-profit organization that creates and disseminates knowledge about management and the marketplace to help businesses strengthen their performance and better serve society.

Speaking Engagements, Publications, and Awards
Sonia speaks at local and national conferences on a broad range of topics related to corporate involvement in the community. She has published a number of reports of clients’ public private initiatives, and was recently honored by her former employer, Honeywell Inc., as a longtime volunteer of the American Refugee Committee.

Education
Sonia received her undergraduate degree in Sociology at the University of Minnesota. She holds a master's degree in Design and Urban Development policy from the University of Minnesota. While there, she worked at the University's Center for Urban and Regional Affairs and wrote her Master's thesis on "Historic Housing Restoration and Its Effect on Population Change."

Contact Information
Phone: (612) 819-0678
Fax: (612) 377-4807
Email: scairns@mosscairns.com