Brittany Merrill Underwood
Brittany Merrill Underwood is the CEO of Akola, a non-profit social business designed to empower women in disadvantaged communities through training, employment and holistic care. In 2017, Brittany was named among the World’s Top 10 CEOs in Inc Magazine and listed as one of Town and Country Magazine’s 50 Modern Swans. She was named the ‘Best Person in the World” by Yahoo in 2014 and was honored by clothing manufacturer Levi as one of 50 women around the globe who have changed the political, cultural, and spiritual shape of the future. She was awarded the Emerging Leader Award from SMU in 2013, the Young Leader Award from the Dallas Women’s Foundation in 2014, and was awarded a silver medal from the Business & Interfaith Peace Award given by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation in Rio. In 2014, she joined the mentoring class for the Laura Bush Women’s Initiative and began teaching a course on Social Innovation at Southern Methodist University as an adjunct professor.
