Anita Banerji Named Senior Program Director for Media and Tech at The Leadership Conference
- The Indian American most recently served as a consultant to the nonprofit, where she focused on 2020 Census data dissemination and 2030 planning.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Leadership Conference Education Fund has appointed Anita Banerji as Senior Program Director for Media and Tech. The Leadership Conference is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 230 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States.
The Indian American most recently served as a consultant to The Leadership Conference and The Education Fund, focusing on 2020 Census data dissemination and 2030 planning, as well as leading digital equity outreach efforts for the Emergency Broadband Benefit program. She also served as Senior Advisor Consultant to the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP), working on census and redistricting projects.
Previously, as director of Forefront’s Democracy Initiative, she directed the Illinois Count Me In 2020 program, composed of a statewide, funders’ census collaborative of 22 Illinois foundations and a nonprofit coalition of more than 50 organizations from across the state.
Over two decades, she has worked for the U.S. Congress, Illinois state government, as well as the nonprofit sector. Banerji has also lobbied on the sugary, sweetened beverage campaign through the American Heart Association. Before that, she served as Legislative Director for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
She is a 2010 Illinois Women’s Institute in Leadership (IWIL) alum, a 2019 Edgar Fellows Alum, and in spring of 2021 was appointed to the State’s Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master’s degree in communications from DePaul University.