Forté Team

Elissa Sangster

CEO

Elissa Sangster serves as CEO of Forté and brings to the role extensive knowledge of issues affecting women's abilities to seek, prepare for and attain business leadership positions, drawn from her prior experience as Assistant Dean and Director of the MBA Program at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. There she oversaw all activities related to the full-time McCombs MBA program including marketing, admissions, student services, and alumni relations. Before McCombs, Elissa was Assistant Director of the MBA Program at Texas A&M University’s Mays School of Business.

Elissa currently serves as Treasurer and Board Member for the Thirty Percent Coalition. She also sits on the Women’s Initiative Council of the CFP Board (Certified Financial Planning Board). She is past Chair of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Annual Industry Conference and formerly served as chair of MBA Student Services Professionals (MBA SSP). Elissa sits on the board of Forté as an ex-officio member. She enjoys reading, running, cooking, and Aggie football. She lives in San Antonio with her husband, Jeremy, and their daughter, Anna Leigh. Elissa received her MBA and her B.A. in English from Texas A&M University.

Daniel Garza

Vice President, Development

Daniel is the Vice President of Development, leading a team responsible for all aspects of Forté’s fundraising initiatives, including securing and managing academic and corporate partnerships, expanding donor identification, cultivation, and stewardship, and managing Forté’s technology platforms. He brings almost 10 years of work in the technology industry, including working for Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, and almost 20 years of experience in higher education. He has extensive experience in management education as he served as the Assistant Dean for the full-time MBA program at the University of Texas at Austin and Executive Director for the undergraduate business program at the University of Denver, where in both roles he oversaw recruitment marketing, admissions, academic advising, student affairs, and career services.

Most recently, Daniel has been focused on continuing and professional education, where he has led multiple teams at UT Austin and UT System across a portfolio of academic courses, master's degrees, and training programs.

Amy Orlov

Vice President, Programs

Amy is the Vice President of Programs at Forté, a role in which she exercises her passion for inspiring people by introducing them to new ideas and deep networks. Amy is constantly finding new ways to leverage and extend Forté's current, extensive programming to provide additional impact on women in college, pre-MBA, MBA, and professional audiences.

Prior to Forté, Amy was the Director of Professional Education and Training at the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), managing a portfolio of onsite and online conferences, symposia and training events. Prior to that, Amy was the Director of the MBA Program Office and Student Services at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Throughout her career, Amy has also worked as an educational consultant, providing clients with program design and delivery, assessment and strategy input, and workshop facilitation and leadership program development. Amy holds a Master of Education from the University of Maryland, and a Master of Government and a B.A. in Communications from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Philadelphia with her human, canine, and feline daughters.