President and Chief Executive Officer

Forest T. Harper is currently the President and CEO of INROADS, Inc., the world’s leading nonprofit organization for diverse talent solutions in corporate America. Among the many services provided by INROADS is the provision of salaried corporate and government internships and corporate and community leadership development for talented and underrepresented leaders. INROADS’ corporate network is global. With partnerships with 250 Fortune 500 companies, Forest’s leadership has strengthened INROADS’ financial position by increasing its partnership network by 40% and expanding its alumni base to more than 30,000 members worldwide. INROADS’ partnering organizations include some of the most influential companies in the world. The INROADS National Board is comprised of several members from Fortune 100 companies.

Prior to joining INROADS, Forest spent 28 years as a senior business executive at Pfizer, where he was responsible for developing strategies and financial allocation plans for the company’s sales, product support, and business development functions. Forest’s leadership helped to create more than $19B in value creation in commercial performance.

During his work in human health, Forest had extensive commercial responsibility for many top-selling brands, including Viagra and Lipitor. Viagra consistently delivers more than $500M in revenue annually for Pfizer.

As the vice chair of the Morgan State University Foundation, Forest has governance for more than $50M in assets and revenue.

In addition to serving on the Board of Directors for the Morgan State University Foundation, Forest currently serves as chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Board at the Earl Graves School of Business. Forest has presiding leadership for several committee functions, including fund development.

Forest’s leadership has helped Morgan State University introduce the largest financial technology program of any historically Black college or university (HBCU) in America.

For the past 10 years, Forest’s deep governance experience in academia extends to his leadership as an Advisory Board Member for the Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business Leadership.

Forest serves on the Board of Advisors for Procter & Gamble’s Take on Race Initiative, a coalition of corporations that are committed to bridging the digital divide in impoverished communities. The coalition includes Intel and Microsoft. The advisory board develops strategies for deploying approximately $20M in digital equipment to families in need.

Additionally, Forest is a founding member of the Korn Ferry “Racism Matters – Chief Procurement Officers Center of Excellence”; serves on the Advisory Board of Directors for MetLife’s ADVANCE Racial Equity Initiative; and is a Founding Strategic Partner for The Education Farm, an initiative done in collaboration with Apple. Ed Farm is building the Propel Center, a $100M campus designed as a center of innovation and learning for historically Black colleges and universities.

The Atlanta Business League recognized Forest in 2014 as the recipient of their Men of Influence award. Forest is also distinguished as a member of the Atlanta Business Roundtable, and the Forbes Nonprofit Council.

Forest is also an active member of the Executive Leadership Council, an organization that opens channels of opportunity for the development of Black executives to positively impact business and our communities. He carries a distinction for Executive Leadership Council’s coveted Corporate Board Initiative. This initiative identifies high performing executives and prepared them for continued board impact.

Forest earned a B.A. in Social Work from Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD, and attended Executive Leadership Training at Harvard Business School in Boston, MA.

Forest began his career after serving six years in the United States Army, 82nd Airborne Division, achieving the rank of Captain.

Forest lives in Atlanta with his wife, where he enjoys spending time with his grandson, golfing and fishing.