2018 ATHENA Leadership Award Winner

Anita Bajaj Newton says, “As a minority female executive myself, helping female and minority executives achieve their full potential has been a top priority throughout my career.” As a graduate of Harvard Business School’s MBA program, she’s mentored female Harvard MBA graduates in strategy, leadership, and career progression. She’s mentored a total of 75 women over the years. Most recently, she created a teen advisory board to teach teens principles of innovation. As Chief Innovation Officer for CommunityAmerica, Newton leads a team that develops nationally-recognized new products for the financial services industry.

She is also co-founder of Mighty Good Solutions, inventing, developing, and patenting multiple consumer products currently sold at a number of large national retail chains. She’s also a contributing editor for magazines including Inc. and Entrepreneur. Newton co-founded the Children’s Advocacy Foundation to help low-income children in Kansas City, supporting programs like Project Vision, providing low-income children with free vision testing and new eyeglasses. She also co-founded Project Smile which provides free dental care to low-income who need dental care as a result of domestic violence. ATHENA is presented annually to honor an individual’s professional excellence, community service, and for actively assisting women in their attainment of professional excellence and leadership skills. Congratulations, Anita!