Anita W.

Anita Ward, acknowledged by business guru and author, Jon Katzenbach as a “Real Change Leader”, is a corporate anthropologist and pioneer in the field of culture, transformation, technology, and change management. Leveraging anthropological methods, she solves problems by placing an understanding of people at the core of business decision-making. The analytical processes are people-centric whether she is determining the DNA of an organization, deciding how to implement technology governance, fundraising for charity, reviewing product design, or marketing services. Ms. Ward approaches challenges and opportunities in a holistic manner with ethnography and cultural relativism as foundations. Recognized by Fast Company as an anthropologist who "has moved from observer to leader" Ms. Ward has operated as both a consultant and an executive. She is best known for her work with informal organizations, transformations and culture change. Not satisfied with only a for-profit perspective, Ms. Ward assumed leadership roles in the fundraising initiatives for many non-profit organizations. In that capacity she has organized events, chaired galas, solicited donations, and networked philanthropists to raise millions of dollars. As an executive, she led enterprise change initiatives in financial services, retail, distribution, and manufacturing that reshaped organizations, products and services. She also served as a leader for Information Technology, Human Resources, Marketing, Sales, and Operations. As a consultant, she implemented technology solutions, developed and executed strategic plans, led mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, incubated start-ups, branded entertainers, re-engineered and improved processes, benchmarked operations, and designed sustainable organic models for culture change.