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Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole is the 14th president of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, North Carolina. Dr. Cole made history in 1987 by becoming the first African American woman to serve as president of Spelman College. In May 2004, she became the first African American to serve as Chair of the Board of United Way of America. Dr. Cole has volunteered her leadership to the United Way movement on a community and national level. She served as board chair for the United Way in Metropolitan Atlanta from 1996-1997 as the organization moved its focus toward community impact results. She founded the African-American initiative in Atlanta in 2003, which is named in her honor as the Johnnetta B. Cole Leadership Giving Society. She is also one of three founding members of the United Way Women’s Initiative there. She is currently ex-officio of the national United Way Women’s Leadership Council, an honorary chair of the United Way of Greensboro's African American Leadership Giving Initiative and continues to serve as a member of the women’s leadership initiative in the greater Greensboro community. In 2001, she was honored with the United Way of America Alexis de Tocqueville Award for Community Service. She was the first woman elected to the Coca-Cola Enterprises board and has served on the boards of Home Depot and the Atlanta Falcons. Dr. Cole currently serves on the board of the Carter Center, the National Visionary Leadership Project, the United Way of Greater Greensboro, and Merck & Co., Inc. Dr. Cole’s career as a college and university professor and administrator spans over three decades. She is President emerita of Spelman College and Professor emerita of Emory University from which she retired as Presidential Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Women’s Studies and African American Studies. Dr. Cole began her college studies at Fisk University and completed her undergraduate degree at Oberlin College. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology from Northwestern University. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, The Links, Inc. and the National Council of Negro Women. In addition to 50 honorary degrees, Dr. Cole has received numerous awards, including the Diversity Best Practices and Business Women’s Network’s Diversity Leadership Award, the TransAfrica Forum Global Public Service Award, the Dorothy I. Height Dreammaker Award, the Radcliffe Medal, the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, and The Joseph Prize for Human Rights presented by the Anti-Defamation League. | 