Inclusion and Belonging

Kellogg Women’s Forums

For women to achieve their career and leadership aspirations it is critical that they have a lifelong community of support, expertise, and inspiration to propel them to the highest levels of leadership in organizations. Kellogg is launching forums to catalyze women’s success by bringing together small groups of women and their allies. This opportunity is especially timely post-pandemic as women need more support than ever.

Kellogg Women’s Forums

Forums are intended to provide alumni the space to learn, grow, and connect. Kellogg has always been at the forefront of supporting and advancing women, including its own leadership with two female deans. Kellogg was a pioneer in providing thought leadership and programming to support women with the founding of the Center for Executive Women more than 20 years ago.

Furthermore, the forums are inspired by Kellogg Professor Brian Uzzi’s research. Professor Uzzi’s findings, along with Yang Yang and Nitesh V. Chawla, show that for women to attain the highest levels of leadership in organizations they need a posse – “an inner circle of close female contacts”. Kellogg's culture of community and collaboration, make forums the perfect platform for alumni to support and lift each other up.

Thus, each forum will be built on a foundation of:

  • Trust & psychological safety
  • Openness & transparency
  • Engagement & support
  • Learning & development

In addition to the forum, participants have access to:

  • Curated resources to support learning and development.
  • Exclusive faculty and speaker sessions specifically developed for forum participants.
  • Priority access to register for the Kellogg Global Women’s Summit (more information to come) & access to special forum programming at the summit.

How It Works

Forum participants are dedicated to meeting, sharing and working through professional and personal challenges, building leadership and self-awareness skills, and forming meaningful relationships with each other that will drive career and individual growth.

  • Each forum consists of 6–10 participants, led by one forum champion.
  • Forums meet four times over the course of one year for one and a half to two hours. The specific cadence, timing, and location is determined by the group to best fit participants’ schedules.
  • Forums will meet in person unless otherwise indicated. Forums cannot be hybrid.

Join a forum

Forums will take place in Chicago, San Francisco, New York City, Miami, Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, London, Asia, and Latin America. Be on the lookout in Fall 2024 for an email to indicate your interest in joining a forum in your area. 

After you submit the interest intake form, we will review the submissions and create forums based on available capacity, order of intake, and answers to the questions. Once forums are confirmed, you will receive additional information about your participation and potential forum.  There will be a kickoff meeting for all of the forums and individual forums will launch in February 2025.  

 

For questions about Women’s Forums, email kelloggwomen@kellogg.northwestern.edu 

 
"We are thrilled to unveil the Kellogg Women’s Forums – a carefully crafted experience to provide women alumni meaningful growth, learning and development by convening them as well as their allies. While each women’s leadership journey will look different all women are more apt to thrive when they are buoyed by a supportive forum community."
—Gail Berger, Clinical Professor of Management & Organizations & Deputy Director, Center for Executive Women

Commitment

Attending all forum meetings is critical for building trust and community and making the experience truly meaningful and memorable. A consistent commitment will also allow you to fully benefit from the expertise and inspiration provided by your fellow forum members. 

Participants commit to:

  • Joining their forum for one year. Attending all forum meetings (projected four forum meetings in 2025; dates and times will be determined by each forum once they are formed)
  • Confidentiality about forum discussions to ensure a trusting and open environment.
  • Uphold the foundational principles of the forums: trust & psychological safety, openness & transparency, engagement & support, learning & development.
If you are unable to commit to consistent attendance, we recommend holding off on joining a forum until your schedule allows you to participate fully and consistently.

Forum Champions

Each forum has one “champion” who coordinates meetings, guides, and encourages productive discussions, and helps create a safe and trusting environment. Champions can expect to spend approximately 2- 4 hours every other month dedicated to this role including the time facilitating the forum conversations and prep work.

Champions will also take part in a special training in the winter with Gail Berger, Clinical Professor of Management & Organizations and the Deputy Director for Center for Executive Women.

Resources for champions include:

  • Training and ongoing support from Kellogg faculty and executive coach, Gail Berger on how to best facilitate and guide the forum discussions. These skills will be transferable beyond the champion role.
  • Forum agenda topics and suggested questions for group discussion.
  • Check-in opportunities with Kellogg staff, Dr. Gail Berger, and other champions.
  • Opportunity to build community, support, share, and problem-solve with fellow champions.

Questions

For questions about Kellogg Women’s Forums, email kelloggwomen@kellogg.northwestern.edu.

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