Position Description
The Account Manager, Partnership Development drives new revenue for Forté by identifying, developing, and advancing
new business opportunities to the top of the sales funnel across business schools, companies and advertisers. Reporting to the Senior Director, Development and Partnerships, this role turns Forté's alumni and school relationships into qualified corporate prospects and sells new school memberships, event sponsorships, and advertising. The Account Manager combines consultative selling with disciplined prospecting, relationship development, and pipeline management.
This position suits someone who enjoys outreach, likes being first to the conversation, and is motivated by a revenue goal. Success in this role means new school and sponsor revenue, a full and accurate pipeline, and a steady flow of qualified meetings for the Senior Director.
Responsibilities
Corporate Prospecting
- Research, identify and qualify corporate prospects that align with Forté's priorities and revenue goals.
- Run outbound outreach to decision-makers and book qualified discovery meetings for the Senior Director.
- Turn alumni and school partner relationships into warm introductions, and act quickly on referrals that come out of Forté programs, events and the Alumni Board.
- Map Forté alumni inside target companies and identify internal champions who can open doors.
School New Business
- Identify, qualify and close new MBA, EMBA and affiliate school memberships, including lapsed and former affiliate schools and affiliate-to-member upgrades.
- Grow undergraduate pipeline school memberships with schools that feed Forté's MBA programs.
- Sell school sponsorships for Forté Forums, pre-MBA webinars and MBALaunch, using the packages and pricing set by the programs team, to both member and non-member schools.
- Tailor proposals to each school's enrollment and recruiting goals, negotiate terms, close agreements and request invoices.
- Hand each new partner to the Benefits Manager, Schools for onboarding, with a clear record of what was promised.
Advertising Sales
- Sell advertising across Forté's channels, including newsletters, websites and events, to schools, companies and education service providers.
- Work outbound and alumni-sourced advertising leads through to signed insertion orders, and coordinate delivery with Marketing.
Forté 500 Pipeline
- Identify and nurture alumni and senior professionals as prospects for the Forté 500 philanthropic community, and pass qualified candidates to the Senior Director.
Pipeline and Revenue Management
- Maintain a disciplined, proactive pipeline in Salesforce: opportunity stages, next steps, engagement history and forecasts.
- Prepare monthly sales and productivity reports covering revenue status, forecast and prospect movement through the pipeline.
- Meet or exceed annual revenue goals for new school memberships, school event sponsorships and advertising.
- Create and update sales materials, including proposals, pitch decks and one-pagers, with Marketing.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work with the programs team on sponsorship packages and pricing, with the Benefits Manager, Schools on handoffs, and with Marketing on campaigns that support outreach.
- Represent Forté at conferences, school visits and Forté events to build relationships and generate leads.
KPIs
- Financial Performance: Meet or exceed budget goals within +/- 5%.
- New and affiliate school membership revenue
- School event sponsorship revenue (Forums, pre-MBA webinars, MBALaunch)
- Advertising revenue
- Generate New Business Pipeline
- Qualified corporate prospect meetings booked for the Senior Director
- Alumni- and school-sourced corporate leads
- Forté 500 prospects identified and passed on
- Pipeline accuracy: complete, current Salesforce records and on-time monthly reporting.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree required.
- 5+ years of experience in business development, partnership or sponsorship sales, advertising sales, account management or development.
- Proven track record managing the full sales cycle, from prospecting through closing, and meeting or exceeding revenue goals.
- Strong consultative communication skills, with the ability to engage decision-makers and tailor a value proposition to their goals.
- Working knowledge of CRM systems such as Salesforce, with a commitment to accurate documentation and pipeline management.
- Proficiency in MS Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and comfort with Zoom, Slack, Asana and online research tools.
- Ability to manage many prospects and priorities independently in a fast-paced, virtual environment, with a solutions-oriented approach.
- Professional, engaging presence and strong relationship-building skills.
- Ability to travel to conferences, meetings and events as needed (approximately 15%).
Desired Qualifications
- Experience working with business schools, higher education, or edtech, especially MBA admissions or enrollment.
- Background in membership, sponsorship or advertising sales, ideally in a mission-driven or nonprofit organization.
- Experience turning alumni or community networks into warm introductions and new business.
- Familiarity with prospecting tools such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
- Ability to use data and trends to inform outreach and revenue planning.
Salary
Salary commensurate with experience.
Benefits
- 401K retirement plan with 5% matching available after one month of employment.
- Health, Dental, Vision, STD, LTD, and Life insurance.
- Generous paid time off / holiday schedule.
- Virtual work environment – home office.
Job Environment
Employees of Forté work independently from home offices. Each employee should have the capacity within their home to set up a work environment or office. Forté provides a computer, phone, office supplies, and covers the cost of internet service for each employee.
Location
The ideal candidate will be based in a metro area in the eastern or central time zone.
About Forté
Forté is fueling the future of business. We open doors for women to reimagine what they can achieve in business—from launching first jobs to advancing to the C-suite. Our powerful alliance of talented women, influential companies, leading undergraduate and business schools, and pioneering donors empowers women to change their career trajectories, their earning power, and their lives. Through business education, role models, professional networks, and leadership training, Forté shows women how to build the credibility, skills, network, and confidence to thrive as leaders and change the status quo. More information about Forté can be found at www.fortefoundation.org.
Compensation: 75 - 85k
