Press Release
Business Schools Giving Women a Leg up the
Corporate Ladder
HEC-PARIS Partners with Leading Business Schools to Host the
Forté Forum to present:
“The MBA Value Proposition” TO WOMEN
First Forté Forum in Paris on October 6th as part of 10-City Tour of Europe and
U.S.
As a member of the Forte Foundation, HEC-Paris is partnering with leading
international business schools to host the upcoming Forte Forum aimed at
educating corporate women on opportunities for career advancement through
graduate business education. For the first time in Forte's history, the Forté
Forum will be held in France on Thursday, October 6th , and will offer the
opportunity to professional women to explore the value of an MBA in a
structured and supportive setting. The event, which is free of charge, will take
place at 5:30 pm on Thursday, October 6th at the Intercontinental Hotel, 9
rue Scribe 75009 Paris.
Participants at the Forte Forum will have the opportunity to attend a panel
discussion with MBA Dean Valérie Gauthier as well as MBA alumna, Monique
Verrier of Novartis. The event will also offer the opportunity to interact with
admissions officers and numerous HEC MBA participants who constitute the
MBA Network of Women (NOW) student association. The HEC Women's
Network aims to ensure a supportive environment for all incoming women
participants, whose numbers have doubled under the leadership of MBA Dean
Valérie Gauthier.
In its pioneer year with the Forte Foundation, the HEC MBA Program awarded
a merit scholarship to HEC MBA participant, attorney Ebele Okobi-Harris, also
former Senior Associate and European representative of Catalyst, the leading
research and advisory organization that works to build inclusive environments
and expand opportunities for women at work. HEC anticipates making two
similar awards annually to outstanding women in its MBA class.
Called to action by a landmark research study, Women and the MBA: Gateway
to Opportunity, looking at why women are under-represented in leading
business schools compared with medical or law schools, the Forté Foundation
was founded in 2001 to address this inequity and its impact on the business
landscape. To register for the October 6th Forum or obtain more information,
see www.Fortéfoundation.org
Forté Member companies are: Capital Group Companies; Citigroup; Credit Suisse First
Boston; Dell, Inc.; Deutsche Bank; Eli Lilly; Ernst & Young; Fidelity; Goldman Sachs; IBM;
JPMorgan Chase; Kraft Foods, Inc.; McKinsey & Company; MetLife, Moody’s Corporation
and Morgan Stanley.
Forté Member business schools are: F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson
College; Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University; Columbia
Business School; Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at University of
Virginia; The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University; Goizueta Business School at
Emory University; Harvard Business School; HEC-Paris; INSEAD; The Johnson School of
Management at Cornell University; The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern
University; Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, Kenan-Flager Business School
at the University of North Carolina; London Business School; Marshall School of Business at
University of Southern California; McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas;
Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stern School of
Business at New York University; Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University;
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College; University of Chicago Graduate School of
Business; Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan; The Wharton School at
University of Pennsylvania, and Yale School of Management.
Forté Member non-profits are: The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)
and The Committee of 200.
Press Contact, HEC School of Management
Catherine Rousseau
 +33 1 39 67 94 23
 +33 1 39 67 94 46
e-mail : rousseau@hec.fr
www.hec.edu