FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Austin, TX, June 19, 2014) – Today Forté Foundation, a consortium of major corporations, business schools and non-profit organizations that directs talented women towards leadership roles in business, will announce six new business school members at Forté’s annual sponsor meeting in Los Angeles.
Effective July 1, 2014, the newest academic institutions to join the Forté community are: Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business, George Washington University School of Business, Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, Rice University Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, University of Maryland Smith School of Business, and Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management.
Due to the strategic and deliberate nature of Forté’s sponsor selection process, 2014 is the first year Forté invited U.S.-based business schools to apply since 2011. In 2013, Forté achieved its goal of growing the number of European and Canadian business school sponsors by four. With the six new schools that have become sponsors this year, Forté now has 48 member schools in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
“We are thrilled to expand our already-outstanding group of institutional sponsors with these six unique and exemplary business schools. Our value proposition has always been clear to MBA programs committed to women’s advancement, and we evaluate prospective sponsors based on numerous criteria in a competitive application process,” said Elissa Ellis Sangster, executive director of Forté Foundation. “We were proud to see how much activity and support for women exists on all of our
applicants’ campuses. Each of the accepted schools offers a diverse perspective that aligns with our mission-focused goal to attract and advance women in business careers -- which is a must for both our school and business sponsors.”
Sponsor schools are selected based on their ability to expand Forté’s reach and impact with key segments of pre-MBA women, provide connections to prospective sponsor companies, and enhance Forté’s ability to reach and impact undergraduate women. Sponsor schools must add diversity to Forté Foundation in some way, so the non-profit also considers school location, size, undergraduate pipeline and programs, and a proven commitment to female leadership.
Called to action by a landmark research study, Women and the MBA: Gateway to Opportunity, looking at why women are underrepresented in leading business schools compared with medical or law schools, Forté Foundation was founded in 2001 to address this inequity and its impact on the business landscape. Forté enables its corporate and business school sponsors to effectively reach, recruit and
retain top female talent. Forté’s agenda to reach college-aged women, MBA candidates, and MBA
alumnae builds on its founding commitment to increase the number of women in the early business pipeline, and creates partnerships with academic and advocacy groups, as well as its own sponsors, to attract and retain women in business careers.
FORTE SPONSORS
Forté Sponsor Companies: A.T. Kearney; AT&T; Bain & Company; Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Barclays; Capital Group; Capital One; Chevron; Citi; Citizens Financial Group; Cognizant; Credit Suisse; Cummins; Danaher; DaVita; Deloitte; Deutsche Bank; Dimensional Fund Advisors; Eli Lilly and Company; EY; ExxonMobil; Fidelity Investments; Goldman Sachs; Hines; IBM; Liberty Mutual; New York Life; PIMCO; The PNC Financial Services Group; Prudential; Unilever
Forté Nonprofit Sponsor: Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)
Forté Business School Sponsors: Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business; Babson College (F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business); Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper School of Business); Columbia Business School; Cornell University (Johnson School of Management); Dartmouth College (Tuck School of Business); Duke University (The Fuqua School of Business); Emory University (Goizueta Business School); Georgetown University (McDonough School of Business); George Washington University School of Business; Harvard Business School; HEC-Paris; IE Business School; IESE Business School; INSEAD; Indiana University - Bloomington (Kelley School of Business); London Business School; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan); Michigan State University (Broad College of Business); Mills College (Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business); Northwestern University (Kellogg School of Management); Ohio State University Fisher College of Business; Queen’s School of Business; Rice University Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business; Simmons School of Management; Southern Methodist University (Cox School of Business); New York University (Stern School of Business); University of California - Berkeley (Haas School of Business); University of California - Los Angeles (Anderson School of Management); University of Chicago (Booth School of Business); University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (College of Business); University of Maryland Smith School of Business; University of Michigan (Ross School of Business); University of Minnesota - Twin Cities (Carlson School of Management); University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler Business School); University of Notre Dame (Mendoza College of Business); University of Oxford (Saïd Business School); University of Pennsylvania (The Wharton School); University of Rochester (Simon School of Business); University of Southern California (Marshall School of Business); University of Texas at Austin (McCombs School of Business); University of Toronto (Rotman School of Management); University of Virginia (Darden School of Business); Wake Forest University (Schools of Business); Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management; Washington University in St. Louis (Olin Business School); Yale School of Management;
York University (Schulich School of Business)
ABOUT FORTÉ Forté is a nonprofit organization with the goal of achieving gender parity at all levels of business. Forté works closely with business schools, corporations, and universities to ensure women have access to opportunities at every stage in their careers. Forté offers a wide variety of resources, including MBA prep, professional development, leadership education, and a diverse community of successful women. For more information, visit fortefoundation.org. Media contacts: Michele Vana, BCW Global, michele.vana@bcw-global.com; Katie Stanfield, Forté Foundation, katies@fortefoundation.org Download the PDF
