Adanta Ahanonu is a nonprofit executive leader with expertise in program management at the intersection of workforce development and higher education, passionate about creating pathways for underrepresented young adults to access the careers they deserve. Currently, Adanta serves as the Chief Program Officer at COOP Careers, a national nonprofit focused on overcoming underemployment for recent first-generation and low-income college graduates through digital skills and peer connections. Prior to joining COOP, Adanta spent over six years at the national workforce development nonprofit, Year Up, and before then she worked in the private sector.

Adanta serves on the Board of Rivet School, an education nonprofit that supports first-generation and non-traditional students earn an accredited, job-relevant college degree. Additionally, she is a member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women’s Oakland-Bay Area chapter and a member of the women’s network Chief.

Adanta is a proud alumna of the Surge Institute Fellowship and the University of Massachusetts Boston’s Emerging Leaders Program, and earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Boston University and her master’s degree in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.