A gifted strategist, Anitra Manning, Ed.D., uniquely utilizes her personal and professional experiences to uplift others. With enthusiasm and profound experience, she leads others in the discovery of breakthrough strategies that will expand their capacity, reach, and impact.
Her commitment to developing leaders comes from vast personal experience as she has designed and delivered leadership strategy conferences for national and regionally-based nonprofit and corporate CEOs, college students, and faith-based leaders. Anitra’s distinctive career includes nonprofit consulting, organizational and leadership development, collegiate-level teaching, and program management roles.
Committed to empowering others, she has worked diligently with social sector organizations and Fortune 500 companies to refine their leadership development capabilities. With recent service to a regional community-based nonprofit in redefining their corporate giving strategies, she previously served the largest private women’s college in the U.S. Southeast, Meredith College, as the Founding Director of the Institute for Women’s Leadership. In the Institute’s inaugural year, Anitra managed and launched the Meredith College Women’s Leadership Summit; attracting 600 attendees. The 2-day event strengthened the College’s external network and celebrated over 80 new partnerships forged between the Institute and corporations throughout the U.S. Southeast. Her superb leadership style has garnered opportunities to direct regional leadership networking events, conferences, teleseminars, and executive education programs for leading women. This opportunity also led to Anitra’s work with Bayer CropScience as she designed and provided consultative services leading to the launch of the organization’s Women’s Leadership Initiative. The initiative serves the developmental needs of over 400 women in its Research Triangle Park and Kansas City locations.
Anitra’s career has also enabled service to the national headquarters of Girl Scouts of the USA as a Leadership Development Specialist; a post that enabled her to plan and manage the organization’s Invitational Leadership Conference, the Board Chair-CEO Leadership Institute, the COO Strategic Change Seminar, and subsequent webinars. Signature efforts included the development of a partnership between the national organization and the Leader to Leader Institute (the Peter Drucker Foundation). Moreover, she developed and delivered training workshops on conflict resolution, team building, managerial and leadership competencies, generational differences, nonprofit board effectiveness and new leader assimilation. She also managed executive leadership, peer networking, and coaching programs that served over 200 leaders of nonprofit organizations. With her work yielding the redevelopment of the Girl Scout’s corporate university’s leadership development portfolio, her work continues to serve the over 4,000 executives, professional staff, and adult volunteers connected with the leadership development mission of Girl Scouts of the USA.
As part of her professional platform, Anitra has developed an exceptionally captivating speaking style. Her lectures are inspirational, instructive, and compelling. With a personal message that invites audiences to lead powerfully, she speaks to organizations, ministries, and corporate gatherings on topics related to strategy, leadership, personal revival, and relationship-building.
Anitra earned a Doctor of Education in Administrative and Policy Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie-Mellon University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Hampton University. She proudly serves the ongoing development of women and girls as a member of the United Way of the Greater Triangle’s Women’s Leadership Council.
A native New Yorker, Anitra lives in Raleigh, North Carolina where her love for running and power walking is supported by the city’s plentiful walking/running trails and running groups. Her spirited, yet grounded personality is supported by her love and zest for travel, adventure, and her family and dear friends.
