Half Moon Bay, Calif., Nov. 24, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Athena Alliance, the global, digital community platform for the top women executives around the globe, today announced its transition from a non-profit to a commercial entity, positioning the organization of more than 1,000 of the most notable women in business for massive scale into 2021 and beyond. The transition is official on December 31, 2020.
“Athena began almost five years ago with a mission to fast-track a woman’s path to the boardroom. Today, we’ve evolved into a global community platform and a support network for women who want to achieve all levels of senior executive success, whether rising into the C-Suite, into the boardroom or simply becoming a more powerful leader,” said Coco Brown, CEO and founder of Athena. “Though we’ve evolved, our belief that women can collectively advance together – through learning, connections, mentorship, community – remains the same. Moving to a commercial structure will allow us to take the incredible foundation we’ve built and scale it globally.”
Early investment from notable business leaders and tech influencers
As Athena prepared for its transition, it attracted support from recognized innovators and leaders, securing early seed investment from tech notables such as Alison Davis (Managing Partner at Fifth Era and board director at Collibra, Fiserv and Silicon Valley Bank), Julie Cullivan (CIO at ForeScout, board director at Axon and founding Athena Alliance member) and Suja Chandrasekaran (Chief Digital and Information Officer at CommonSpirit Health and board director at American Eagle and Blume Global Technologies).
“As an early investor and advisor to Athena, I’ve experienced its evolution from a small non-profit to a humming subscription platform, attracting some of the world’s most extraordinary leaders, entrepreneurs and investors to its community,” said Davis. “It’s within Athena that women discover each other and discover opportunity; that deals happen; that the inside scoop is shared. Athena has taken the concept of 'community' and digitized it and scaled it in a unique and powerful way.”
“Athena’s platform, with its human-centered, algorithm-enabled approach, reflects the future of talent matching,” said Chandrasekaran. “Athena provides advocacy for women in a digital, scalable way. The investments Athena makes in developing women to C-levels and board roles prepare women for purposeful careers."
Along with the transition, Athena welcomes two new board directors for its commercial board, Liz Tinkham (former senior managing director of Accenture and current board director at Particle) and Rhonda Mims (executive at Centene Corporation and board director at Kymera International).
Together, Tinkham and Mims will bring a member-centric perspective to Athena’s oversight. Mims has extensive experience in corporate responsibility, corporate affairs and diversity and inclusion – pillars of Athena’s community and roadmap forward. Tinkham’s expertise in digital transformation and navigating complex business challenges will be pivotal to Athena’s continued expansion on a global scale. Collectively, Tinkham, Mims and Brown will leverage a variety of public and private board and executive experience across varied industries and business sizes to steward Athena’s stakeholder experience and future growth.
“Athena’s passion and commitment for creating community at scale is something I respect and admire,” said Mims. “I look forward to contributing my expertise more directly to its growth.”
“I’ve been a member of Athena for many years. The quality of the community, Coco’s leadership and the transformation I’ve seen in the platform greatly excite me,” said Tinkham. “I’ll be supporting Athena in its digital evolution and its next big leap in growth.”
The platform approach to advancing women’s careers and interests
Athena delivers executive learning, community and access to opportunities, such as board seats and CxO roles, in a membership subscription platform. Members can join at either Self Service, where they explore Athena on their own, or at Concierge Service, with the support of a personal concierge to serve as their guide and go-to contact for curated networking connections. All of Athena’s learning starts in a live format, online, two-to-three times a week. After the live session is over, members can continue to access the content in the Learning Library and discuss the content in the community space.
Athena members may layer on professional services for intimate, one-on-one support for board searches and career challenges. Athena’s coaches are some of the industry’s most recognized and sought-after board search and board selection experts, as well as experts in the areas of executive presence, public speaking, career transformation and more.
A powerful ecosystem of board influencers, investors, corporations and board talent
Athena delivers its members access to each other – but also to the world outside of Athena, in the form of direct connections to powerful influencers, private equity and venture capital investment firms, corporate partners and experienced board directors. Athena members may request “Key Connections” to each other for mentoring and just-in-time support such as preparing for board interviews. But Athena also acts as its members’ agent, ensuring they are within the right circles of influence, allowing them to rise faster and farther in their careers.
Athena also partners with investment firms, CEOs and boards to help them recruit board directors and diversify their boards. Additionally, Athena provides executive development for senior corporate leadership teams from companies such as Microsoft, Intuit, USPS, Autodesk and more.
About Athena Alliance
Athena is a community platform that brings together women leaders, investors, CEOs, board directors and corporations in one global, digital ecosystem. Women join Athena for executive coaching, board opportunities, exclusive events, one-on-one mentorship and more. Athena also guides CEOs, venture firms and corporations to evolve their approach to senior leadership development, to strengthen their boards and to access the world’s top female leaders. www.AthenaAlliance.com
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