Nitin Khanna, an Indian-American entrepreneur and CEO, is being appreciated for his charitable endeavors supporting a cross section of needs in home State of Oregon. His charitable involvement includes helping multiple kids charities, assisting female entrepreneurs, supporting social justice in the cannabis sector, and ensuring first responders and their families have the support structure they needs.
Over the last several years, Nitin and his team has been providing 25% of the budget for the charity Our Giving Table. Through their program, Feeding Kids in My Backyard, this charity provides 10,000 meals to over 1700 kids each in foster care and less privileged homes each month. Nitin’s support extends beyond providing budget to this charity and its amazing CEO Lydia Massad; he and his employees at Social CBD also support this endeavor through providing employee time, working space, and helping increase donations by social media support.
In addition to this, Nitin Khanna is founding investor and advsior to The Initiative, an accelerator program, business bootcamp, and funding resource that is designed to offer support for female-founded cannabis businesses. Beyond the support provided to the Initiative, over the past ten years, Nitin has been a mentor to over two dozen startups in Oregon.
While founding Cura, one of the largest cannabis companies in the world, Nitin was struck by the incredible social injustice prevalent in the industry. While so many were making incredible amounts of money off cannabis, there remained millions of people of color incarcerated over low level non-violent marijuana crimes. To right these wrongs Nitin helped start the Possible Plan which was initially an endeavor just of Cura’s but is now its own 503© charity. Under Nitin’s leadership Cura provided the legal and logistical support to the Possible Plan as well as donating the first $500,000 towards its budget.
Previously Nitin was also one the Board of the Classic Wines Auction, a charity initiative that raises more than $3MM each year for six different children’s charities; even though he is not on the Board any longer this is an organization he continues to support.
Whenever he can, Nitin has initiated or supported the causes dearest to him; children, entrepreneurship, and social justice reform. He has been blessed to have been fortunate to have the resources to help through his own entrepreneurial efforts. Khanna started his entrepreneurial journey by founding his firm Saber Software that he sold to EDS for $460MM in 2007, then starting his investment bank MergerTech, then founding Cura Cannabis Solutions (sold to Curaleaf in the largest deal in cannabis history), and currently serving as the founder & Executive Chairman of Sentia Wellness, a 21st century wellness company with its roots in CBD. Nitin lives in Portland, OR with his wife Laura and four children.