Aradhna Dhanda President and CEO Leadership Pittsburgh Inc.

Aradhna is the President and CEO of Leadership Pittsburgh Inc (LPI), a premier resource for leadership development in southwestern Pennsylvania. LPI seeks to strengthen regional leadership by connecting current and emerging leaders with the people and issues shaping our community’s future. During its 25-year history, Leadership Pittsburgh Inc. has produced over 1,400 informed and engaged leaders and linked them with opportunities to help serve the region.

Prior to joining LPI in December 2004, Aradhna served as the Program Officer of The Forbes Funds, a supporting organization of The Pittsburgh Foundation. There, she led the grant-making and sector-leadership activities of the Funds with a focus on enhancing the management capacity of human service and community development organizations.

Aradhna was the Executive Director of The Children’s Festival Chorus (CFC) of Pittsburgh from 2000-2003. Known as the “children’s chorus of choice” for the Pittsburgh Opera and the Pittsburgh Symphony, CFC draws the best choral talent from over 80 area schools and maintains its own concert schedule.

Before moving to Pittsburgh in 1999, Aradhna led an arts organization in Princeton, New Jersey, and taught as an adjunct professor of management and psychology at both Rider University and College of New Jersey.

Deeply committed to community building, Aradhna is actively engaged with the academic, public policy, corporate, and nonprofit sectors. She serves on the Board of Visit Pittsburgh (formerly the Greater Pittsburgh Conventions and Visitors Bureau) and the Women and Girls Foundation of Western Pennsylvania. Her other community commitments include the Advisory Board of The Forbes Funds, the Advisory Board of the Western Pennsylvania Forum for School Superintendents, The Advisory Board for University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work, Editorial Advisory Board of Pop-City Media, The Community Advisory Board of Fifth Third Bank, Winchester Thurston School Advisory Board, and The Advisory Committee of UPMC’s Center for Inclusion. She served as a member of the Pittsburgh 250 Commission as well as The Chancellor’s Committee on City-County Effectiveness and Efficiency. Aradhna is a proud graduate of Leadership Pittsburgh XVIII and a member of the International Womens Forum. She was recognized as one of our region’s top “40 under 40” in 2002, honored as a “Fast tracker” by the Pittsburgh Business Times in 2005, and received the top 25 Women in Business Award from the Pittsburgh Business Times in 2009.

She has been featured in various publications and is a frequent guest speaker on leadership and regional issues.

Born and raised in India, Aradhna holds an MBA from Rutgers University and an MA in Psychology from Bhopal University. She is the proud mother of two boys, Kash and Brij, and lives in Wexford.