When Sandra Forero stepped into the role of chief operating officer at ZS in 2021, her appointment marked a significant milestone for both the executive and the global management consulting and technology firm. Yet, her ascent to the C-suite is perhaps most remarkable for a modern corporate rarity: she reached the top without ever leaving the company where her professional career began. Forero’s journey with ZS spans more than two decades, originating in 2001 when she joined the organization as an intern while pursuing her Master of Business Administration. Her enduring loyalty to the firm is both a reflection of a deeply ingrained corporate culture and a testament to the hands-on culture-building she has championed over twenty-five years—a dedication that previously earned her recognition on Consulting Magazine’s prestigious list of the "Top 25 Consultants."
Forero’s path to the upper echelons of corporate leadership began thousands of miles away from her current sphere of influence. She still retains vivid memories of relocating to the United States from Colombia as a newly married immigrant with virtually no financial resources and a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter to care for. Faced with daunting circumstances, there were no viable alternatives or shortcuts. Survival and progress demanded an uncompromising work ethic, rigorous personal discipline, and meticulous time management, leaving zero margin for procrastination or delayed execution. Rather than allowing these early hardships to harden her emotionally or foster a cynical outlook on professional life, those formidable early experiences ultimately forged her into a remarkably capable, resilient, and deeply empathetic leader.
That foundational resilience has been tested and proven repeatedly throughout her tenure at ZS. Roughly a dozen years ago, Forero guided a client through an exceptionally complex and massive corporate transformation—an evolution that converted the client’s operations into a global analytics and technology shared services organization while simultaneously deploying an entirely new cloud-based technology infrastructure. Serving as the lead project manager for ZS, Forero recalls feeling fortunate to participate in an operational shift of such magnitude.
Reflecting on the grueling initiative, Forero notes that while the undertaking was exceptionally difficult and filled with inevitable friction points, it ultimately served as a vital platform for her to forge robust, cross-functional client relationships and, more importantly, drive transformative business impact for the organization. Notably, the initiative represented one of the earliest global implementations of its kind executed by ZS. It also provided a unique opportunity to collaborate closely with a diverse array of internal subject-matter experts who had to synchronize their specialized skills to ensure program success. The entire demanding venture not only delivered tangible results for the client but also helped accelerate the career trajectories of numerous talented professionals within ZS.
Now serving as chief operating officer, Forero applies those same hard-won lessons to spearhead major transformative initiatives from within ZS itself. Her overarching focus remains centered on continuously evolving the global management consulting and technology firm to ensure it consistently operates at the cutting edge of the industry. Articulating her overarching professional philosophy, Forero emphasizes a desire to improve life and the human experience in meaningful ways. She acknowledges that this objective carries different definitions for different individuals, but for her, it provides absolute clarity of purpose within the workplace. Her primary commitment remains delivering optimal impact for clients and helping them navigate and solve their most intractable business problems, confident in the belief that if client-centric dedication is maintained as the primary concern, all other operational successes will naturally follow.
This protective and nurturing passion extends equally to the internal community at ZS. As the firm experienced rapid expansion and scaling, Forero and several of her colleagues recognized a growing vulnerability: the unique cultural ethos that made ZS a exceptional place to work was at risk of becoming diluted or failing to be properly translated and evangelized at the accelerated pace of growth. In response to this challenge, Forero proposed the creation of a dedicated global team tasked with explicitly defining, preserving, and broadcasting the fundamental cultural tenets that had propelled ZS to its current stature. This proposal materialized as the firm’s People and Culture Team. Drawing on a foundational concept originally established by the founders of ZS four decades prior, Forero and her colleagues successfully re-created and modernized the initiative, directing its focus toward nurturing and evolving the core cultural elements that define the organization’s identity.
The strength and efficacy of this shared organizational culture were vividly demonstrated during the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic. When a devastating surge overwhelmed healthcare infrastructure in India, creating severe shortages of essential medical supplies, ZS leveraged its extensive global partner network and organizational resources to actively locate and dispatch oxygen supplies and ventilators to ZS team members and their families facing desperate circumstances in the region.
While the relief effort in India stood out as perhaps the most significant logistical undertaking, the organization successfully prioritized the health and wellbeing of ZS employees across the globe. Expressing immense pride in her role within the leadership team, Forero notes the profound satisfaction of responding to an unprecedented global crisis with compassion and decisiveness, providing critical support during a uniquely difficult chapter for the workforce.
In addition to her operational and cultural contributions, Forero played a pivotal role in advancing diversity and equity within the firm as a founding member and former chair of the ZS Inclusion and Belonging Council. This specialized governing body operates in direct coordination with the Shareholders’ Council—functioning as the board of directors for ZS—to cultivate an inclusive, high-performing environment for all employees. The council designs and advances forward-thinking policies and initiatives specifically engineered to foster institutional fairness, expand professional opportunities, strengthen representation across all levels of the enterprise, and build a more deeply engaged and empowered workforce.
To establish the council on a rigorous foundation, Forero’s initial team conducted comprehensive external benchmarking alongside thorough internal data analysis to pinpoint exact areas where ZS could improve its equity practices. They subsequently developed a strategic set of actionable recommendations and ensured that the newly minted council possessed the institutional authority to elevate its mission by reporting directly to the firm’s Shareholders’ Council.
The impact of that initiative endures today, with the council continuing its mandate to ensure that as ZS broadens the scope of its consulting work, the internal organization accurately reflects the diverse spectrum of skills, backgrounds, and experiences required in a modern enterprise. Forero’s commitment to professional leadership and equity extends well beyond the corporate boundaries of ZS. She currently serves on the Global Board of Directors for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, where her colleagues have entrusted her with the responsibilities of secretary and treasurer.
Forero’s professional trajectory illustrates a consistent personal pattern: whenever she encounters an operational or cultural need within her sphere of influence, she steps forward to address it. As she frequently explains, this proactive approach is simply an authentic reflection of who she is and how she operates.
Embracing personal authenticity as a leadership pillar, Forero openly acknowledges her own mistakes, maintains a willingness to show vulnerability, and rejects the notion that a leader must pretend to have all the answers. Instead, she focuses heavily on investing in others, noting that building strong, cohesive teams not only drives sustainable business success but also provides immense personal satisfaction as colleagues witness each other grow professionally. Collaboration remains a cornerstone of her philosophy, as she believes that delivering the best of ZS to clients is exclusively achievable through unified teamwork. Forero credits ZS with consistently providing the professional latitude required to embrace these values while remaining entirely authentic to herself, noting that this supportive environment is precisely what makes the organization exceptional.
Outside of the corporate arena, the foundations that began with a young couple migrating from Colombia have blossomed into a deeply rooted family partnership spanning decades. Forero speaks of her husband, Mauricio, as her closest companion and best friend, while proudly referring to their daughter and son as "Version 2.0"—improved iterations of herself and her husband. Maintaining close family ties, she engages in daily conversations with her siblings back in Colombia, who remain a constant source of pride and joy. Whether orchestrating complex global initiatives in the C-suite or nurturing her personal relationships at home, Forero consistently demonstrates a rare ability to bring the right people together to build something meaningful, both on and off the clock.
