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Jennifer Fortner, Special Olympics Board of Directors

Jennifer Fortner

Board of Directors

Ms. Jennifer (Jenny) Fortner is the Founder and CEO of “Pay It 4Ward,” a philanthropic consulting firm, which helps families, foundations, and corporations create custom strategies and further enhance their abilities for giving back to the community.  Fees generated from these consulting services are then distributed out to non-profits to pay it forward to create a double bottom-line for social good.
 
Ms. Fortner recently retired from Goldman Sachs as their Director of Impact and Engagement for the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund (GSPF). Prior to this role, she served as an investment advisor there for more than 20 years, advising high net worth families, entrepreneurs, and foundations.  Ms. Fortner is passionate about seeing the gifts in others and creating inclusive opportunities where those gifts have the chance to be developed and used to their fullest potential.  She co-founded and is former co-head of the Goldman Sachs (GS) Chicago Women’s Network and the GS Chicago Diversity Network.  She also co-founded the WRAP Program (Women Reaching Accelerated Potential) and is past board chair of the GS Client Engagement Team.  Ms. Fortner is a past recipient of the Highest Leaf Award for leadership from the Women’s Venture Fund.
 
Ms. Fortner's goal is to use all that she has learned working on Wall Street over the past two decades to pay it forward through philanthropy, advocacy, board service, and volunteerism.
 
In the community, Ms. Fortner serves as an executive board member and finance committee chair of Special Olympics International.  She also served on the executive committee and is the past board chair of Special Olympics Illinois.  Jenny served as co-chair of the Special Olympics 50th Anniversary, raising $10 million and convening 10,000 people at Soldier Field in Chicago for the first-ever Global Day of Inclusion.  She won the “Volunteer of the Year Award” for Special Olympics Illinois in 2018.  Ms. Fortner also serves on the Misericordia Foundation Board whose mission is to provide a continuum of care and support to those living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.   Ms. Fortner is also extremely passionate about raising awareness and advocating for those living with ALS and other neuromuscular diseases. She has recently joined the boards of  I AM ALS, The Cures Collective, and Hop On A Cure.  She was a caretaker during her mom’s 2 ½ year battle with the disease and will not rest until a cure is found!
 
Ms. Fortner believes in providing inclusive and quality education for all.  She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for DePaul University, and she is an investment committee member and board member of the Big Shoulders Fund, serving inner-city Catholic Schools in Chicago.  She is a past member of the Visiting Committee for the University of Chicago and a past fellow (2016) of Leadership Greater Chicago.  She won the  “Alumna of the Year Award” in 2015 for implementing a pilot program teaching financial literacy at her alma mater, Mother McAuley High School, where she was inducted into their Hall of Honor.  

Ms. Fortner earned a BA in Psychology with Phi Beta Kappa honors from The University of Chicago in 1998, where she was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame for competing on the women’s varsity basketball team. She is a co-director of a travel basketball organization, Windy City Elite, serving 4th-8th grade girls in the South Suburbs of Chicago, where she currently lives with her husband and three teenage children.

Board of Directors

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