The Directors to Watch: Racial & Ethnic Diversity Class of 2025 highlights 24 significant and diverse directors who have contributed to and will continue to expand ongoing dialogue on board best practices and corporate governance excellence.
Anita Polite-Wilson
Rehrig Pacific Company
Dr. Anita Polite-Wilson is a diversity, inclusion and belonging thought leader, sustainable workforce and culture transformation strategist, workforce psychological safety and change management practitioner, international speaker, author of seven self-published leadership books and host of the Keeping It Real with Dr. Anita podcast, where she reframes diversity conversations from difficult to different.
By sharing her expertise in organizational development and effectiveness, she provides a complementary viewpoint to help shape a board's perspective through a people-focused lens by emphasizing the importance of psychological safety that promotes a culture of belonging to navigate culture, complexity and change effectively.
Polite-Wilson is the founder and CEO of Dr. Anita Enterprises Inc., leveraging her government contractor experience and insights as a C-suite trusted advisor, executive coach and consultant.
Understand how consequential psychological safety is for boards and organizations. “All directors should read The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth by Dr. Amy C. Edmondson, who developed the Psychological Safety Index (PSI) assessment. The book explores psychological safety as the signature trait of successful organizations while examining the four aspects of the PSI, which include having open conversations, attitudes about risk and failure, a willingness to help and an intentional focus on diversity. In combination, all four aspects are critical for ensuring longevity as a learning organization.”