Advisory Council

Vice President, Capital Associates Program, Capital Group

Semhar Amde joined Capital Group in 2013 and is a CAP Senior Manager. In her current role, she’s responsible for CAP recruiting, learning and development, and managing Year 1 CAP associates. In her previous role as Talent Development manager, she designed, delivered, and managed leadership development programs for CG leaders of different levels, and evolved the talent review process across the organization. She began her career at GE Capital in their HR leadership development program and held various HR roles, including HR manager at GE Treasury. Semhar earned her M.A. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

Vice President, Head of DEI for Early Careers, JPMorgan Chase

Rabia oversees the DEI portfolio of programs, partners, and student engagements for early career talent. Her passion for working with young people and providing access to opportunities stems from a previous career working in Higher Education. As a first generation, minority woman she is keen on helping create pathways, opportunities and finding ways to connect with the next generation.

Head of Pipeline Development and Outreach, Imperial College Business School

Helen Carter is the Head of Pipeline Development and Outreach at Imperial College Business School in London, with responsibility for driving the development and expansion of strategic pipeline partnerships with corporates, funding bodies and Universities. Helen’s role focuses on building a robust pipeline of prospective students and fostering relationships that support the growth and diversification of the Business School’s MBA, MSc and BSc programmes.

Helen has worked in the higher education sector in the UK since 2012 and has had the immense privilege of leading on Imperial College’s Business School’s partnership with Forté since 2020, recruiting and connecting an amazing group of talented Forté Fellows to the Full-Time MBA programme.

Director, Redwoods Leadership Development Program Recruiting, DaVita

Bailey leads MBA, undergraduate and diversity recruiting for DaVita’s Redwoods Leadership Development program. She has been with DaVita 9 years and stays with the “Village” for the teammates and their passion around providing the highest quality care to a vulnerable patient population.

Global Early Career Talent Acquisition and Program Management Head, Citi

Ingrid Giordano is the Global Early Career Talent Acquisition and Program Management Head responsible for the global strategy and ongoing innovation and optimization of the early career operating model, workforce planning, processes, and technology platforms. In her role, she leads a team of early career professionals and oversees the global campus and early career attraction and selection strategy, growth of the programs, end-to-end management of analyst and associate programs. Ingrid’s team develops and manages relationships with business sponsors and steering committees to ensure the campus strategy is embedded in the overall business agenda and culture as well as measuring the effectiveness of the programs against stated success criteria. Ingrid began with Citi in the late 1990s working across multiple human resources areas as well as businesses. She has been passionate about playing an integral part in the attraction and development of early career talent. She has served on multiple steering committees, built many early engagement programs, and led several programs across products and geographies.

Prior to joining Citi, Ingrid worked at various financial services firms as a client manager and lead for learning and development. Ingrid’s contributions also include leading the submission recognizing Citi as having the #1 internship program in the Americas as well as recognition for award winning programming for the early identification program with a diversity, equity, and inclusion award. Ingrid launched the HBCU Innovation Leadership Symposium Program at Citi providing HBCU students across 20 HBCUs an opportunity to learn about opportunities in financial services. She has supported the Asian Leaders of Today initiatives including serving as a moderator and panelist for various initiatives. She serves on Citi’s Global Asian Heritage Diversity Committee. Ingrid received her Bachelor’s degree from Pace University. She was a Director-Employer on the NACE (National Association of Colleges & Employers) Board of Directors. She serves on advisory boards including being a member of the New York Jobs CEO Council, College Apprenticeship Advisory Board and JFF Ventures Corporate Innovation Council.

Senior Associate Dean, UG Program, Georgetown University

Patricia Grant is dean for the Undergraduate Program at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Grant is passionate about student success, integrating Jesuit values into the undergraduate education, and creating meaningful student experiences.

At Georgetown McDonough, she has revamped the undergraduate advising structure in the spirit of cura personalis to bolster the advisor-student relationship; expanded career trek opportunities through the McDonough Career Development Center; laid the groundwork for a young alumni advisory group; launched the Know Before You Go Transition Lab, aimed at successfully transitioning seniors into their alumni status; and contributed to many curricular innovations, including the Entrepreneurship Fellows Program and the First Year Seminar Program.

She also was instrumental in creating a variety of diversity and inclusion initiatives, including: Smart Start, a corporate partnership with PwC that equips underrepresented minority students with the tools for academic, personal, and professional success; and Business Undergraduates Invested in Leadership and Development (BUILD), an intensive academic and leadership development opportunity for a diverse pool of business students.

Grant has more than 25 years of experience in undergraduate, graduate, and executive education program administration. She has taught courses for undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of organizational change, case studies in higher education management, research methods, and diversity and inclusion at the University of Pennsylvania, the College of New Jersey, Temple University, and Georgetown. Additionally, she worked in the Office of Executive Education at Penn to develop and launch six master’s and doctoral programs in partnership with the Wharton School and Graduate School of Education.

Grant has presented on diversity and inclusion, student access and success, and change management at a variety of institutions and conferences including the National Undergraduate Business Symposium (NUBS), the U.S. Department of State, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, and the Association for the Study of Higher Education. She serves in a trustee and advisory capacity for Achievement Preparatory Charter School, NXTWork, and the Forte Foundation.

She holds an Ed.D. and M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania, MBA from Brown and IE Universities, and an A.B. from Cornell University.

Associate Dean of MBA Admissions, Duke – Fuqua

Shari Hubert is associate dean of admissions at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where she is responsible for overseeing enrollments for their Daytime MBA, Accelerated Daytime MBA, Weekend Executive MBA, Global Executive MBA, and six Specialty Masters’ Degree Programs. Prior to Fuqua, she was in charge of admissions for the Full-time and Evening MBA programs at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Hubert has extensive experience in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, and entered higher education after working for the Peace Corps as director of recruitment within the Office of Volunteer Recruitment and Selection. In this capacity, she was responsible for the strategy to attract and recruit over 4,000 volunteers annually and managed the operations of nine regional recruitment offices across the United States.

Prior to joining the Peace Corps, Hubert was the senior vice president of campus recruitment for Citi’s Global Bank in North America and was responsible for overseeing the recruitment of analysts and associates into the corporate and investment banks as part of Citi’s Markets and Banking Division. She also worked for GE in their corporate headquarters, where she served as manager, campus relations in corporate recruiting and staffing. In this role, she was responsible for the overall recruiting efforts and budget allocation across the southeast region of GE’s strategic university relationships. She began her career with GE in one of their divisions at the time, NBC Universal, as the director of community programs.

Hubert also ran an executive leadership and civic development program named in honor of David Rockefeller at the Partnership for New York City, a business advocacy association focused on public and private partnerships. Immediately after receiving an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2000, Hubert was a consultant for The Boston Consulting Group. Finally, she began her career in sales and marketing at Merck and Co., Inc., after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in French from Dartmouth College in 1992.

Hubert’s work is mission driven and she is passionate about serving in leadership roles that have social impact. She is a current Board Member of the Harvard Business School African-American Alumni Association, where she co-chairs the Community Engagement Taskforce and sits on the Development Committee. She is also an Alumni Interviewer for the Dartmouth College Alumni Ambassador Program and an Advisory Council Member for the Forte Foundation. Previously Hubert served as a Board Member of Pyxera Global (Nominating and Finance Committees) and the Harvard Business School Club of Washington DC (Member Engagement Committee).

Assistant Dean of Admissions & Student Engagement, Rochester – Simon

Rebekah Lewin is Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions and Programs at the University of Rochester, Simon Business School. She has more than 25 years of experience in higher education and currently oversees Admissions, Financial Aid, Student Engagement, Program Management, Career Management and the Office of Equity and Inclusion that support over 1000 students across the full-time, part-time and executive MBA and MS programs.

Rebekah is a long-standing member of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Board of Trustees, recently serving as Vice Chair of the Board and currently serving on the Executive Committee and as chair of the Orientation Program committee.

She is a graduate of the University of Rochester, Simon Business School MBA program and holds a BS in Business Administration from Roberts Wesleyan University.

Director of MBA Admissions, Emory Goizueta

Libby serves as Senior Director of Graduate Admissions at Emory University’s, Goizueta Business School. She leads the MBA Team in recruiting, evaluating and enrolling candidates for Goizueta’s MBA programs: the Full-time Two-Year and One-Year, Evening Part-time and Executive MBA Programs.

Libby has been on the Graduate Admissions team since 2000. She is a member of the Advisory Council for the Forté Foundation, a nonprofit organization that partners with Business Schools and companies to increase the number of women in business leadership positions. She also works closely with The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, an organization whose mission is to promote diversity in education and business.

Prior to Emory University, she worked at a small liberal arts college in the Chicago area in admissions and student affairs. Libby received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Tennessee (where she is a big UT sports fan) and her Master’s degree in Higher Education from Indiana University.

Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Director of the Executive Leadership Honors Program, Howard University School of Business

Dr. Kanika (Magee) Jones is the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Director of the Executive Leadership Honors Program at the Howard University School of Business, Washington, DC. She oversees student services in the School of Business, including the 21CAP personal and professional development program for incoming students, study exchange programs, recruitment and admissions, and the Honors program. Dr. Jones a member of the faculty of the Management Department, leading two courses including one course she developed for undergraduate students: Leadership, Power & Spirituality in Management. This course explores dimensions of leadership and personal belief alongside organizational culture, diversity management, and company identity. She is the former Associate Dean of the Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel at Howard University and continues to coordinate campus interfaith education and programming. Dr. Jones has a Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Divinity from Howard University, a Master of Business Administration from Georgetown University and she has completed post-graduate studies in Organizational Behavior at The George Washington University and in Old Testament Literature at the Baltimore Hebrew University. In 2012, Dr. Jones earned a Ph.D. in Spirituality at the Catholic University of America.

A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Dr. Jones has provided independent consulting services to universities and non-profits throughout the nation, securing over $40 million for faith-based and community programs. She is the former Director of Youth Leadership Development for the Children’s Defense Fund national office through which she launched service and advocacy initiatives on university campuses across the country. Dr. Jones has also led youth conferences annually attracting over 1,000 youth from across the nation, cross-country college tours, grief initiatives for children and youth and entrepreneurship initiatives through her work in the AME Church.

Dr. Jones’ efforts have been recognized through her acceptance into the Cambridge Professional Listing of Non-Profit Professionals and Leadership Greater Washington class of 2008. She was a decade long Board Member for the National Association of College and University Chaplains, is currently on the Board of the Micro-Enterprise Council of Maryland and is the Director for Community Builders Ltd. Dr. Jones is a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and the NAACP.

Senior Vice President, Recruiting Solutions & Outreach Director, PNC Financial Services Group

Krystal Mills is Senior Vice President, Recruiting Solutions & Outreach Director for PNC Financial Services Group. In this role, Krystal is Responsible for implementing innovative talent acquisition strategies that drive talent objectives specific to our Partner Up high school hiring, college recruitment, university relationship management, HBCU outreach efforts, talent event management & outreach, recruitment marketing and internal passive talent recruitment. Leading a team of over 50 employees committed to supporting organizational talent outcomes through creative and effective recruitment marketing solutions and a differentiated talent engagement programming.

Prior to joining PNC in February 2012, Krystal held several roles within the Wells Fargo organization, accumulating over 20 years of Human Resource and financial industry experience.

Krystal completed her Human Resources Management certificate at Kennesaw State University in May 2014. In June 2014, she sat for the HRCI exam and successfully received her Professional in Human Resources (PHR) designation. The Professional in Human Resources (PHR®️) certification demonstrates mastery of the technical and operational aspects of HR practices and U.S. laws and regulations. The professionally relevant credential is for the HR professional who focuses on program implementation, has a tactical/logistical orientation, is accountable to another HR professional within the organization and has responsibilities that focus on the HR department rather than the whole organization. Krystal attended Morris Brown College in Atlanta, GA studying International Business from 2000 to 2004.

Human Resources – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging
BOSE

Guy Pacitti brings more than 25 years of experience in advising senior executives on key organizational topics, including workplace culture, executive leadership development, and workforce planning. He currently serves as the Global Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging (DEI&B) at Bose Corporation, where he is responsible for the design, development, and execution of the company’s strategic DEI&B initiatives. In addition to his DEI&B role, Guy leads Bose’s global Social Impact function, which supports nonprofit organizations dedicated to inspiring underrepresented youth to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Prior to his role at Bose, Guy was the Global Leader of Inclusion & Diversity at Pegasystems and served as Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at IBM, where he spearheaded the global strategy for DEI educational offerings and career accelerator programs for diverse talent.

Author

Lindsey Pollak is a New York Times bestselling author, international speaker and leading expert on the multigenerational workplace. She is the author of four career and workplace advice books, including The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace. Her speaking audiences and consulting clients have included more than 300 top corporations, law firms and universities, and her insights have appeared in such media outlets as The TODAY Show, The Wall Street Journal and CNBC. Lindsey is a graduate of Yale University.

Prior to Emory University, she worked at a small liberal arts college in the Chicago area in admissions and student affairs. Libby received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Tennessee (where she is a big UT sports fan) and her Master’s degree in Higher Education from Indiana University.

Early Career and Diversity Program Manager, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Stacie is a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in university recruiting and early career talent development within the realm of large, multinational corporate organizations. Her journey through this dynamic field has been marked by a relentless pursuit of excellence and a commitment to fostering inclusive and diverse workplaces.

Having embarked on her professional voyage with renowned institutions such as UBS, Barclays, PIMCO, and Activision Blizzard, Stacie has honed her expertise in navigating the intricate layers of high-volume, highly structured university recruiting and programs. Her career trajectory reads like a textbook example of steady growth, characterized by increasing leadership roles, responsibilities, and a diverse array of industry experiences.

Stacie has spearheaded university recruiting initiatives across various continents, including the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe, and Asia. Her purview extends across multiple educational levels, encompassing undergraduates, master’s students, MBA candidates, Ph.D. scholars, and their international counterparts. Moreover, she has delved into diverse industries ranging from gaming and entertainment to asset management, sales and trading, research, and investment banking. Her expertise spans an impressive array of functions, including finance, technology, marketing, sales, operations, art, analytics, data science, legal and compliance, leadership, and human resources.

Throughout her career, Stacie has been a fervent advocate for diversity and inclusion, championing inclusive sourcing strategies and working through systemic barriers to entry into the corporate world. Her passion for cultivating underrepresented early career talent has been evident in her proactive approach to program design and implementation.

Beyond her day-to-day responsibilities, Stacie has been active within the academic and corporate community. She has been an advocate of Forté since its early days, and served on their Corporate Advisory Council from 2014 to 2021. Additionally, she contributed to the Wharton MBA Career Services Employer Advisory Board during the same period and was a member of the Career Services Alumni Advisory Board for the UCSD Rady School of Business from 2011 to 2013.

Stacie’s return to the Forté Advisory Council underscores her enduring commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion through a lens of equity and representation. Armed with her wealth of experience and unwavering dedication, she continues to seek out innovative and effective strategies to optimize early career program outcomes, ensuring that they are inclusive and accessible to individuals from all backgrounds.

Assistant Dean of Career Management, Cornell SC Johnson of Business

Cynthia Saunders-Cheatham is the Associate Dean of Student Services for the Cornell University SC Johnson College of Business. In this role, Cynthia has oversight and management responsibility for student services, career management, and admissions with our undergraduate, master’s, residential MBA, executive MBA, and alumni programs across the College.

Prior to her current role, Cynthia served as the Assistant Dean of Career Services. From 2014 to 2018, Cynthia served as the Executive Director of Career Management at the Johnson School and joined Johnson as Brand Advisor and Marketing Career Advisor in 2008. Before Johnson, Cynthia spent 15 years marketing consumer packaged goods and business-to-business brands. She worked as Director of Marketing at Valvoline (Eagle One Car Appearance Products) and directed a 20-person marketing team at Carrier, a division of United Technologies Corporation. She honed her brand management skills at Sara Lee Apparel marketing underwear and socks under the Hanes, Champion, and Just My Size brands. Cynthia received her BSBA and MBA degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler.

Cynthia is a board member and alumna of The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, a nonprofit alliance of top-tier business schools and corporate partners dedicated to increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in business education and corporate leadership. She does a lot of community volunteer work as a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated and The Links, Incorporated.

Assistant Dean, MBA Career Management and Corporate Partnerships, UC Berkeley – Haas

Abby Scott has led the MBA Career Management Group at Berkeley Haas for eighteen years, and she has met with thousands of MBA students and alumni to help them achieve their career goals. Additionally, Abby has worked in other groups at Haas including Emerging Initiatives, Executive Education, and Corporate Relations. Abby was a recipient of the UC Berkeley campus-wide Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff award for her work in career management. Before Berkeley Haas, she spent several years in the technology industry, where she held marketing, product management, and business development positions. Abby holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

Director, MBA PM Admissions, USC Marshall

Kellee received her BS in Marketing from Miami University (Oxford, OH), and her MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business. Prior to earning her MBA, she has worked in supply chain operations management for consumer packaged goods companies Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and Quaker Oats. After earning her MBA, she worked in supply chain consulting for 4 years before joining USC Marshall in the MBA Admissions department.

At Marshall, Kellee has taken a variety of leadership roles with industry recruiting partners throughout her tenure. She was a Board of Trustee Member and Committee Chair with The Consortium for over 10 years and is currently on the School Advisory Board for the Forte Foundation. In addition, she was selected as Faculty-in-Residence for the 2018 Admissions Institute for New Professionals, a GMAC Development Program.

Director, University Recruiting
Gartner

Lori Sullivan is a dynamic leader in early career recruiting with over 17 years of expertise in building and executing global talent strategies. As Director of University Recruiting at Gartner, she spearheads a high-performing team of recruiting delivery leaders and early career recruiters, driving the company’s ability to attract and develop top-tier talent worldwide. Partnering closely with Gartner’s senior leadership, Lori ensures the organization’s future pipeline aligns seamlessly with evolving business needs.

Her passion for the college recruitment space is rooted in her own early career experience working in higher education directly after graduation, where she gained an appreciation for the power of education and its role in building and shaping future leaders.

Lori is also a dedicated champion for advancing opportunities for women, actively supporting initiatives through the Forte partnership. Her commitment to empowering women in the workforce highlights her dedication to fostering inclusion within the industry.

Lori holds a Master’s degree in Higher Education and resides in Louisville, KY.

Vice President – Americas, GMAC

Sabrina White is the vice president of school and industry engagement for the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). As a member of the senior leadership team, she drives value to business schools and their staff through GMAC membership, conferences and convening, strategic alliances, GME advocacy and industry research. White has also been at the forefront of GMAC’s efforts to champion diversity in graduate management education, having built programs, developed industry partnerships and produced research to aid more women and other underrepresented populations pursue graduate business degrees. Having worked in higher education for more than 30 years, she held administrative roles in business schools at the University of Maryland and Bowling Green State University prior to joining GMAC. White earned a B.S. in Accounting from Clemson University, an MBA from Bowling Green State University, and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education.