On Tuesday, September 23rd, 2026, Lee Hall opened its doors for its first in-person Forum, better known as Professional Leadership Development, for the 2026-2027 academic year.
This time, the professional speaker was Latoya Counts, a 2003 School of Business and Industry alumna and founder of the Forward Stack Professional Development app, who announced the app’s and SBI’s newest partnership.
The application launched in June of 2026 in the Apple App Store. Described on the company’s website, Forward Stack’s purpose is to teach and prepare scholars on how to use the proper tools to thrive in today’s job market.
“They know what they have to do to graduate, and I am always challenging students to understand what the difference is between what you learned and what you know how to do,” Counts said.
Forward Stack helps students bypass that slump through exercises like internship preparation, leadership development, employee onboarding, and more.
“Forward Stack came about because it really gives students the opportunity to actually go through real-world situations and have the opportunity to go through scenarios and understand their gaps before an employer understands their gaps”, she added.
“This allows them real-time guidance and really from someone who’s been through the program, seen what things can be improved, and is really just helping students with real-time, real-world information,” expressed Ira W. Bates, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Business and Industry.
After sitting through the presentation, Rattlers are showing enthusiasm towards the application and its benefits.
“I believe this is a great opportunity for SBI students,” says Daija Coleman, Senior Business Administration Scholar. “We needed a platform that allowed us to practice our interviews before going into the real thing, and Forward Stack does that and more.”
The collaboration becomes the company’s second partnership with a historically black college and university, following Hampton University.
