Sonia E. Gardner is president, managing partner and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group, a global alternative investment manager with over $12 billion in assets under management as of a year ago, specializing in distressed debt investing.
New York-based Avenue, which was founded in 1995 and has 11 offices around the world, focuses on distressed and undervalued debt and equity opportunities in the U.S., Asia and Europe. Gardner has specialized in distressed investing over the last 23 years.
She is also a co-founder of Amroc, where she was senior portfolio manager responsible for investing the partners’ capital. At the firm, she was active in the review and trading of the debt of hundreds of bankruptcies.
Prior to operating Amroc as an independent entity, Gardner was a senior managing director and general counsel of Amroc Investments, the predecessor firmassociated with the Robert Bass Group Inc. She also served as senior attorney of the bankruptcy and corporate reorganization department at Cowen & Co.
Gardner is the recipient of the 2008 industry leadership award of the 100 Women in Hedge Funds, where she is on the board of directors. She is also on the executive committee of the board of directors of the Managed Funds Association.
She is a member of the board of trustees of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
Gardner received a B.A. with honors in philosophy from Clark University in 1983 and a J.D. from the Cardozo School of Law in 1986.