For Sandra Forero, a two-and-a-half-decade career at a single global organization is not a sign of stagnation, but rather the ultimate testament to a deeply shared and continuously evolving corporate culture. Since stepping into the role of chief operating officer (COO) at ZS in 2021, Forero has helped steer the global management consulting and technology firm through an era of rapid technological advancement and unprecedented global change. Yet her journey to the executive suite did not begin in a corporate boardroom or through a conventional lateral hire. Instead, her path is rooted in a quarter-century of institutional loyalty, hands-on leadership, and a steadfast commitment to building inclusive, high-performing teams.
That long-standing dedication has not gone unnoticed. Over the course of her remarkable career, Forero’s impact on both her clients and her internal community earned her a prestigious spot on Consulting Magazine’s coveted “Top 25 Consultants” list. But the foundation of her leadership style was forged thousands of miles away from her current professional success, shaped by early life experiences that demanded resilience, adaptability, and an unshakeable work ethic.
A Journey Rooted in Resilience and Determination
Forero still vividly remembers the daunting experience of moving to the United States from Colombia as a newly married young woman carrying the immense responsibility of providing for a family with no financial safety net and a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. The reality of her situation left no room for hesitation. Survival and eventual success required absolute discipline, meticulous time management, and a zero-tolerance approach to procrastination.
Faced with such high-stakes transitions, many individuals might have allowed the pressure to harden them emotionally. Forero, however, channeled those trials into a wellspring of empathy and capability. Those formative years taught her how to navigate ambiguity, shoulder heavy burdens without losing sight of her humanity, and connect deeply with the struggles and aspirations of others. This unique blend of operational rigor and genuine emotional intelligence would eventually become her hallmark as a leader.
Driving Transformative Global Impact
That capacity for high-level problem-solving was put to the ultimate test roughly a dozen years ago when Forero led one of the most complex client initiatives in ZS’s history. A major client was undergoing a sweeping organizational transformation, evolving into a global analytics and technology shared services organization while simultaneously implementing an entirely new cloud-based technology infrastructure.
At the time, large-scale cloud migrations and shared-services overhauls were treacherous waters for global corporations, and ZS had executed very few implementations of that magnitude. Forero embraced the challenge, recognizing it not merely as an operational hurdle, but as a defining platform for long-term growth and collaboration.
Reflecting on the experience, Forero notes that while the project came with intense moments of friction and difficulty, it ultimately created extraordinary opportunities to forge deep client relationships across multiple business functions. More importantly, it allowed ZS to drive tangible, measurable impact for the client organization. Success required bringing together a diverse array of internal subject-matter experts who had to learn to collaborate seamlessly under pressure. That collaborative crucible not only delivered a successful technological deployment for the client, but it also served as a launchpad for the careers of numerous talented professionals within ZS.
Scaling Culture Through Rapid Growth
Having spent years driving transformative projects for external clients, Forero now channels that same strategic vision inward as COO. Her primary objective is ensuring that ZS remains at the cutting edge of the global management consulting and technology landscape while staying true to its core mission.
That mission, as Forero articulates it, is rooted in a fundamental desire to improve life and how people live it. While that concept can take on many different meanings depending on the individual, for Forero, it provides absolute clarity of purpose. Her guiding philosophy is simple: focus relentlessly on delivering the best possible impact for clients and helping them untangle their toughest problems, trusting that everything else will naturally follow.
This protective stewardship extends equally to the internal ecosystem of ZS. As the firm experienced rapid expansion, Forero and several of her colleagues noticed a troubling vulnerability: the distinctive corporate culture that made ZS a special place to work was at risk of being diluted or lost in translation as the organization scaled.
Recognizing the urgent need to protect the firm’s foundational ethos, Forero proposed the creation of a dedicated worldwide team focused on defining, preserving, and broadcasting the cultural tenets that had built ZS over the decades. This initiative led to the founding of the firm’s People and Culture Team. While the core concept drew inspiration from the principles established by ZS’s founders forty years prior, Forero and her colleagues re-engineered it to actively nurture and evolve the cultural elements that set the firm apart.
A Global Community in Crisis
The true strength of that cultural foundation was put to an extraordinary test during the COVID-19 pandemic. When a devastating wave of the virus swept across India, overwhelming local medical infrastructure and creating a desperate shortage of vital supplies, ZS mobilized its global network and resources to protect its people.
Leveraging partnerships and international supply chains, the firm successfully located and delivered oxygen and ventilators to ZS team members and their families in India who were struggling to access critical care. While the relief effort in India stood out as the most significant logistical undertaking during that period, the firm’s leadership made the health and well-being of all employees worldwide an absolute priority.
Forero reflects on that period with immense pride, viewing the firm’s coordinated, compassionate response as a shining example of leadership with a big heart. Meeting a historic global crisis by providing extra support and security to its people cemented a deep sense of shared identity and mutual responsibility within the organization.
Advancing Inclusion, Belonging, and Industry Leadership
Beyond her operational and crisis-management responsibilities, Forero has been a driving force behind long-term structural equity at ZS. She served as a founding member and former chair of the ZS Inclusion and Belonging Council, a high-level governing body designed to work directly with the Shareholders’ Council—the firm’s board of directors—to cultivate an inclusive, high-performing corporate culture.
The council was born out of rigorous internal analysis and external benchmarking, initiatives spearheaded by Forero and her team to pinpoint areas where ZS needed to improve. By establishing formal recommendations and creating a direct reporting line to the board of directors, the council secured the institutional backing necessary to elevate its mission. Today, the council continues to advance policies focused on fairness, expanded opportunity, stronger representation, and a more empowered employee base, ensuring that as ZS diversifies its portfolio, its workforce accurately reflects a broad spectrum of skills and backgrounds.
Forero’s commitment to leadership and equity also extends far beyond the walls of ZS. She serves on the Global Board of Directors for the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, where she lends her expertise as secretary and treasurer, contributing to the broader professional advancement of women across the healthcare and corporate sectors.
Authenticity as a Leadership Strategy
Throughout her remarkable ascent from an MBA intern in 2001 to chief operating officer two decades later, Forero has remained anchored by a simple, uncompromising sense of self. She does not believe in manufactured executive personas or feigning infallible authority. Instead, her leadership model embraces vulnerability, the willingness to acknowledge mistakes, and the intellectual humility to admit when she does not have all the answers.
Forero views investing in others not just as a strategic imperative for business success, but as one of the most deeply satisfying aspects of her professional life. Watching colleagues grow, collaborating across diverse teams, and bringing the collective excellence of ZS to clients remains her greatest motivation. She credits ZS with consistently providing her the platform to lead authentically, noting that the freedom to simply be herself is what has made the firm her professional home for nearly a quarter of a century.
Outside of her demanding corporate responsibilities, Forero maintains that same collaborative spirit in her personal life. She often refers to her husband, Mauricio—whom she married before their fateful move from Colombia—as her best friend, and speaks proudly of her daughter and son as “Version 2.0” improvements on herself and her husband. Daily conversations with her siblings back in Colombia keep her deeply connected to her roots. Whether she is orchestrating a complex operational transformation on the global stage or nurturing her family connections, Forero continues to demonstrate that bringing the right people together is the ultimate key to lasting success.
