More Women Leading
Strong Vision. Strong Leadership.
The individuals listed below are independent, voting members of the Forté Board of Directors.
Forté is proud to have a dynamic team of knowledgeable, highly experienced and successful business people who provide invaluable direction and advice. From distinguished board members to energetic partners, volunteers and staff, they help us honor our mission: to launch women into fulfilling, significant careers through access to business education, opportunities, and a community of successful women.
SECRETARY
Beverley Babcock
Senior Vice President Finance & Administration and Controller (Retired)
Imperial Oil Limited
Imperial Oil Limited
Beverley Babcock is the retired CFO of Imperial Oil Limited. Beverley previously served as the Assistant Controller of ExxonMobil and its Vice President of Corporate Financial Services. Over her 31-year career with Imperial and ExxonMobil, she has built expertise in organizational leadership, strategy and corporate governance. In 2019, Beverley joined the board of Olin corporation where she is now the chair of the Audit Committee and serves on the Executive Committee and the Directors and Corporate Governance Committee.
Beverley holds a bachelor's degree from Queen's University and Masters of Business Administration degree from McMaster University, both in Canada. She is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada. In 2014, Beverley received a Breakthrough Woman award from the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce.
Term: 2021-2024
Alexis Capra
Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources
Fanatics Collectibles
Fanatics Collectibles
Alexis Capra brings over 20 years of global Human Resources experience across diverse industries, including media, entertainment, audio, live events and sports. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated exceptional leadership, developing strategies and hiring plans that drive growth in fast-paced, evolving environments.
Currently, as the Senior Vice President of Global Human Resources at Fanatics Collectibles, Alexis oversees HR strategy in collaboration with business leaders focusing on scaling the organization to relentlessly enhance the fan and collector experience.
One of Alexis' most notable strengths is her ability to effectively problem solve complex issues in a collaborative, honest, direct, and kind manner, and aligns talent with business strategy to achieve exceptional outcomes and a positive workplace culture.
Alexis has successfully led transformative international expansions into new markets, and many mergers and acquisitions, consistently building high-performing and highly engaged diverse and multi-cultural global teams.
Before joining Fanatics, Alexis held leadership roles in all areas of Human Resources at renowned organizations such as NBCUniversal, Audible (an Amazon Company), Dick Clark Productions, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, TV and film studios, iHeartMedia and BuzzFeed. Her work has spanned key markets around the globe with assignments based in New York, Los Angeles and Europe.
During her time at NBCUniversal, Alexis led the hiring process for the London and Sochi Olympic Games, managing visas, pay rates, and work guidelines—a role that earned her a Sports Emmy Award.
As a sought-after and trusted thought leader, Alexis serves on the Board of Directors for the Forté Foundation, inspiring women to reach their full potential in business.
VICE CHAIR
Melanie Carucci
Senior Vice President of Regional Banking for Enterprise Account Management
Fidelity National Information Services, Inc (FIS)
Fidelity National Information Services, Inc (FIS)
Melanie Carucci is the Senior Vice President of Regional Banking for Enterprise Account Management at Fidelity National Information Services, Inc (FIS). In this role she is responsible for client revenue across regional and community banks as well as credit unions within the United States. Prior to joining FIS, Melanie was Global Head of Sales Strategy for the Benchmarks and Index business at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).
With more than 20 years in financial technology and capital markets, Melanie has extensive experience in sales leadership, executive relationship management, go-to-market strategy, and revenue synergy realization through roles in sales, strategy, and product management at the London Stock Exchange Group, Refinitiv, Thomson Reuters and Thomson Financial.
Melanie is committed to women’s advancement in the Financial Services sector and serves on the Board of the Forté Foundation, an organization that launches women into fulfilling business careers through access to education, opportunities and community. She has also served on the board of the Women’s Bond Club, a leading non-profit organization dedicated to advancing women in financial services and shaping the future of the industry.
Melanie earned a BS in Computer Information Systems, with a minor in Business Administration, from Clemson University. She also received her MBA from NYU Stern School of Business, with specializations in Finance, Strategy and Global Business.
Term: 2023-2026
Kris Cotrone
Senior Human Resources Executive
(Retired)
General Mills
(Retired)
General Mills
Results-driven human resources business executive with 30 years of experience and proven track record of success in Fortune 200 leadership, higher education administration, and management consulting. Experience in portfolio shaping and large-scale transformations.
Kris retired from General Mills (GMI) in 2023 after 16+ years of providing HR leadership across the organization. She is known for influencing and driving change and establishing strong, trusted relationships at the most senior levels of an organization. She leads with an authentic and inclusive style, creating a culture of belonging, and developing engaged and high-performing teams and organizations.
Kris served as HR Vice President for GMI’s $11.6B North America Retail (NAR) segment, as well as the GMI Supply Chain where she helped position these organizations and their leadership teams to deliver strong business results. Key focus areas included organization transformations, senior leader succession planning, leadership team coaching and development, and employee engagement and learning.
Kris helped lead NAR’s successful operating model design and activation that resulted in increased decision-making speed and agility, improved business team accountability and connectedness, and exceptional growth and profitability. This also improved NAR's ability to embed new commercial capabilities and respond to future challenges and opportunities. As HRVP for GMI Corporate functions, Kris held a key leadership role on GMI’s enterprise COVID-19 taskforce, helping formulate company strategy and direct development of site readiness plans, protocols for manufacturing and office sites, and employee communication and support.
Prior to joining GMI, Kris worked at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, jointly overseeing the Office of Admissions and Career Development. During this time, Kris served as an Executive Board Member of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management and was a founding member of the Forté Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing women in business. She began her career in consulting and was a manager with Deloitte in its Manufacturing practice. Since retiring, Kris has accepted a role as an external Senior Advisor to McKinsey where she partners with teams in the Consumer People & Organizational Performance practice. Kris served on the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities from 2018-2023.
Ellen Glazerman
Executive Director
Ernst & Young Foundation
Ernst & Young Foundation
Ellen Glazerman, MBA is the Executive Director of the Ernst & Young Foundation, and Director of University Relations, Americas for EY. She also supports a variety of initiatives within the firm’s Office of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility. Formerly the Americas Director of Campus Recruiting for EY, she joined Ernst & Young LLP in May of 1993 as the Director of the Ernst & Young Foundation. In 1996, Ellen assumed responsibility for the firm's campus recruiting efforts. As the Americas Director of Campus Recruiting, her responsibilities included providing strategic direction, focus, and infrastructure support for campus recruiters firmwide until spring, 2001. She reprised this role on an interim basis between 2014 and 2015. Ellen took responsibility for beginning the analysis of corporate giving throughout the U.S. firm until the firm formed its CR initiatives in 2003.
Ellen is a member of CAQ Talent Steering Committee, the CAQ CPA Licensure Accessibility and Affordability committee (CPALA&A), the AICPA Internship Committee, the AACSB Accounting Policy Committee, the Leventhal School of Accounting Board of Advisors, and the BYU School of Accounting Board of Advisors. She was a Commissioner for the profession’s Pathways in Accounting initiatives. Ellen was a past-Chair and member of the Board of Directors for the Graduate Management Admission Council, and a past-Chair of the Forté Foundation Board of Directors, a not-for- profit dedicated to “inspiring women business leaders.” She is also a past Board member of AACSB, the AAA Executive Committee, the Ross School at the University of Michigan, the APLG (twice), the AICPA Education committee, the Center for the Public Trust, Wesleyan University’s President’s Council, Gina Gibney Dance Company, T-Zone (Tyra Banks’ charity is support of women and girls), Beta Alpha Psi, AACSB, and the North Carolina Chapel Hill Accountancy Program. She is the proud recipient of the AAA, Lifetime Service Award. She speaks frequently and has written on fundraising and corporate philanthropy. Prior to joining EY, Ellen spent nine years as a development officer, raising private money for several universities.
Term: 2021-2024
Roxanne Hori
Founder
Next Act Partners
Next Act Partners
Roxanne Hori is an internationally recognized careers professional with 30+ years of experience at the Kellogg School and NYU Stern. She has a proven track record of working with individuals and teams to help them achieve career and personal success. Roxanne is the Founder of Next Act Partners a consulting and coaching business designed to help organizations and individuals reach their goals. She has spoken at numerous conferences, is a former BusinessWeek blogger and recognized as a thought leader in the MBA careers space. Through her work in higher education, she has had exposure to a broad range of industries and career paths.
Her prior experience leading Talent Acquisition at a major Chicago bank combined with her higher education experience gives her a unique ability to understand the various pieces of the hiring equation. She is a member of the Forté Board and Past Board Chair. She is also a member of the Reaching Out MBA Advisory Council. Roxanne has a BA in African American Studies from Western Illinois University, has been inducted into the NACE Academy of Fellows and an avid Chicago Black Hawks fan. She is a champion for developing the next generation of women and people of color leaders. Term: 2021-2024
Nicole Irvin
Managing Director
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs
Nicole Irvin is a Managing Director in the Global Technology, Media and Telecom Group in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs, where she leads equity execution for many of the firm's direct listings and IPOs. She joined Goldman Sachs as a Vice President in 2017 and was named Managing Director in 2019. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Nicole was a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where she helped late-stage companies on their path to the public markets. Before that, she was an investment banker in Morgan Stanley’s West Coast Investment Banking Division. Her experience includes the IPOs of Appian, Arista Networks, Barracuda Networks, Box, FitBit, GoDaddy, Lending Club, MobileIron, Slack, Splunk, Stitchfix, Veeva Systems, Vertex, Workday and Zoom. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Nicole worked as a management consultant for Accenture in their Global Customer Relationship Management practice. Her work at Accenture included New York City’s greenfield 3-1-1 call center project. Nicole earned an AB in Molecular Biology from Princeton University in 1999 and an MBA from Columbia Business School in 2008.
Term: 2022-2025
Douglas Johnson
Founder & CEO
Valor Partners
Valor Partners
Doug is the founder and CEO of Valor Partners, an executive search firm focused on sales and marketing leadership in the software and technology sector. Prior to founding Valor, Doug spent six years with the largest search firm in world, Management Recruiters International (MRI) where he was a five-time Top 10 Account Executive and a two-time National Account Executive of the Year.
Doug earned his undergrad degree from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and his Master’s degree in psychology from John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California.
Term: 2021-2024
Peter Johnson
Assistant Dean, Full-time MBA Program & Admissions
Haas School of Business
University of California, Berkeley
Haas School of Business
University of California, Berkeley
Peter Johnson has spent 35 years in higher education, holding a variety of positions in professional and graduate school admissions, undergraduate admissions, international education, and student services. After various roles in undergraduate, graduate, and international admissions, he led Full-time MBA admissions at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business for over a decade. In 2010, he transitioned to Central European University in Budapest, Hungary to serve as Vice President for Student Services, and in 2016, returned to the Haas School as Assistant Dean for the Full-time MBA program, with responsibility for academic affairs, student experience, and admissions for the Full-time MBA Program. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), a global, mission-driven association of leading graduate business schools.
Peter earned an MA in International Relations from Golden Gate University and a BA in Modern Languages from Pacific University.
Term: 2020-2023
Lauriann Kloppenburg
Chief Investment Officer - Equities (Retired)
Loomis Sayles & Company
Loomis Sayles & Company
Lauriann had a 30+ year career at Loomis Sayles. During her tenure of the firm, she worked as an equity analyst, Director of Equity Research and Director of Large Cap Equities before becoming the firm’s first Equity Group Chief Investment Officer. In this role she was responsible for the Group’s strategic direction and investment policy. She was also member of the firm’s Board of Directors for thirteen years before retiring in 2013.
Today, in addition to serving on the Forte’s board, Lauriann is a member of the Board of Directors for the Adams Funds. The company manages two of the country’s oldest closed-end funds, both of which are traded on the NYSE. She also serves on the investment committee for the 1911 family office, the investment committee for the UVM Health Network Home, Health and Hospice organization. In addition, she serves as the Executive in Residence for the Stiller School of Business at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.
Term: 2022-2025
TREASURER
Jeannette Martin
Managing Director
Deloitte Consulting LLP
Deloitte Consulting LLP
Jeannette is a Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting, focused in Investment Management. She has a nearly 15-year tenure at Deloitte providing strategic and advisory services to senior management in Financial Services, both in the US and UK. Her client work centers on advising and leading major transformational engagements from strategy to implementation. Her experience spans due diligence and integration strategy (in a M&A context) to operating model development, cost reduction program design and implementation. Within Operations and Technology, she has also led the development of new operating models, IT platform and change portfolio assessments, and MI strategy and data governance.
At Deloitte, a primary focus is on Talent and she is currently leading a new Diversity and Inclusion pilot program to introduce a new candidate pool into consulting. Her passion on identity, development and mentoring first emerged through her doctoral and postdoctoral research, where she conducted studies on social perception and the role of identity on developmental and performance outcomes. Jeannette has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with Honors from Brown University and a doctorate in Social and Organizational Psychology from New York University.
Term: 2022-2025
BOARD CHAIR
Caitlin McLaughlin
Chief People Officer
Lafayette Square
Lafayette Square
Caitlin McLaughlin is the Chief People Officer at Lafayette Square. Prior to joining Lafayette Caitlin served as Executive Vice President and Talent Strategy Executive for the PNC Financial Services Group with overall responsibility for PNC's enterprise talent strategy.
Previously, Caitlin served as Managing Director focused on global campus recruiting and program management at Citigroup and held a number of roles within the organization and its predecessor companies, Salomon Smith Barney and Salomon Brothers.
Caitlin is a member of the executive committee of Vibrant Pittsburgh, The Forté Foundation and Carlow University. She is also a member of the board of directors of Partner4Work. She chairs the Talent Attraction and Retention Committee for the Allegheny Conference for Community Development. She holds a B.A. in Political Communications from the University of Pittsburgh.
Term: 2021-2024
Sara E. O’Reilly
Chief Executive Officer
HMB Legal Counsel
HMB Legal Counsel
Sara is HMB’s Chief Executive Officer. She has worked with and within the c-suite of billion-dollar businesses to drive profitable growth, attract and enthuse talent and better serve clients. Her career spans multiple executive roles within public, private and family-owned businesses.
With over two decades of domestic and international experience in multiple industries, Sara excels at the ideation and execution of innovative business strategy that delivers positive impact. Previously, Sara served as the first COO in Alvarez & Marsal’s business consulting and transformation practice. She held successive roles at Deloitte Consulting U.K. and U.S., spending the majority of her time in client service working on complex mergers and acquisitions largely within the financial services and utilities industries. While at Deloitte, she also helped lead National Inclusion for Consulting where she was responsible for talent strategy and execution in an organization of 20K+ employees. While at Alvarez & Marsal, Sara helped establish their first Diversity & Inclusion initiative.
Sara holds her Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her MBA from Lancaster University, UK with a specialization in international strategic alliances.
Term: 2021-2024
Joshua Stewart
Senior Vice President
Head of Talent Acquisition
The PNC Financial Services Group Inc.
Head of Talent Acquisition
The PNC Financial Services Group Inc.
Joshua Stewart is the Senior Vice President and Head of Talent Acquisition. A PNC employee for 19 years, Joshua maintains oversight of talent acquisition, sourcing, and employment marketing, early career internships/development programs and accessibility.
Previously the Director of Talent Solutions & Outreach, Joshua also maintained oversight of PNC’s K-12 recruitment strategies including the 2018 launch of the PartnerUP program. PartnerUp is a PNC-led, multi-employer collaborative that develops and recruits career-bound high school seniors from underserved school districts.
Prior to his current role, Joshua was a senior manager on both the Leadership and Executive Development team, the corporate Diversity and Inclusion team and held various roles within PNC Bank’s Consumer Lending business. As a former project manager for Consumer Lending, Joshua managed key initiatives including the integrations of Mercantile Bank, Sterling Bank and National City bank as well as other key product/service implementations.
An ardent advocate for Diversity Equity and Inclusion, Joshua served as the founding President of PNC Proud the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) Employee Business Resource Group at PNC Bank. Josh is a co-author of the Forté Foundation’s Men As Allies tool kit training program, leads PNC’s Men As Allies program and provides coaching to organizations facilitating the program around the globe. Josh is a member of the board of directors at the Consortium for Public Education, a member of the board of directors at the Forté Foundation and a member of the Employer Advisory Board at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf.
Joshua earned a B.A. in Communications from the University of Pittsburgh School of Arts and Sciences and holds a certificate in Diversity Management from Cornell University.
Term: 2022-2025
Barbara Soria
Senior Vice President
Human Resources
Capital Group
Human Resources
Capital Group
Barbara Soria is Senior Vice President, Human Resources at the Capital Group, one of the largest global asset management firms with $2.6 trillion assets under management. In this role, Barb leads the Talent and People agenda for Europe and Asia as well as for Technology and Data globally. She also sits on several governance, operating and oversight committees across the organization. Barb has over 20 years of experience partnering with senior leadership to develop strategies and programs that accelerate cultures of inclusion, agility, and innovation.
Barb received a Global Executive MBA from IE Business School (Madrid), a Master of Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, and Bachelors of Arts and Sciences from Purdue University. In her non-profit work, Barb also serves on the advisory board of Women4Change, equipping individuals to engage in our democracy to achieve better outcomes for women and children through policy, legislation and elected office, and Malembe Rise, an organization that empowers young people in the Democratic Republic of Congo through education and a hands-on experiential curriculum to serve their communities with passion and purpose.
Term: 2024-2027
Nogie Udevbulu
Managing Director
Head of Investment Research - EII
BlackRock
Head of Investment Research - EII
BlackRock
Nogie is the Head of ETF and Index Investment Research where she leads a team that delivers world-class index data and thought leadership to BlackRock’s portfolio management teams globally. Prior to joining BlackRock, Nogie was Global Head of Data & Innovation Markets Strategy at Bank of America where she oversaw the quantitative, index and markets strategies within the Global Banking and Markets division. Nogie and her team provided thought leadership on global markets to index providers, industry expertise to asset management firms and produced products and solutions that combined equity index and ETF knowledge with trade execution flow intelligence. Nogie earned a BBA from Baruch College (City University of New York) and an MBA from the Darden School of Business at University of Virginia. Nogie currently resides in Long Island, New York.
Term: 2022-2025