Women's Emerging Leadership Forum (WELF) 2026

Gulnur Tumbat, Ph.D.

Professor of Marketing and Lam-Larsen Community Engagement Initiative Director, Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University

Gulnur Tumbat has used her extraordinary experiences on the highest mountains in the world in her academic research and in her speaking engagements on topics such as risk taking, making decisions in dynamic contexts, managing uncertainty, and achieving ambitious goals through strategy, leadership, persistence, entrepreneurship, and passion. She has published in prestigious academic outlets such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Marketing Theory, Consumption, Markets and Culture, Journal of Consumer Behavior, Advances in Consumer Research, European Advances in Consumer Research, and Handbook of Research on Digital Media and Advertising: User Generated Content Consumption. Her favorite area of teaching is consumer behavior. In addition to being a business behavioral scientist, she is an elite endurance athlete who climbed the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each geographic continent and is the first  Turkish woman to do so. She recently (August 2025) reached the summit of K2 (again, as the  first Turkish woman). As the Director of the Lam-Larsen Community Engagement Initiative , she spearheads its highly regarded flagship event, the Women’s Emerging Leadership Forum, which empowers women and fosters a vibrant learning community for both personal and professional growth.

Megan Schoettmer

Regional President, PNC Bank, Northern California

Megan Schoettmer is regional president of PNC Bank, Northern California. In this role, she has direct oversight for business development initiatives, partnerships, and fostering strong client relationships across Northern California’s fast-paced industries including technology, healthcare, real estate, non-profit, small business and more. She also spearheads impactful philanthropic initiatives across Northern California communities.

Schoettmer brings over two decades of experience to PNC Bank. Prior to joining PNC in 2022, she served as managing director and Commercial Banking leader of middle market banking for Wells Fargo focusing on various industries including technology, commercial and industrial, and commercial real estate in Silicon Valley and the greater San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she also served in various roles with two Silicon Valley-founded banks; Bridge Bank and Silicon Valley Bank.

Schoettmer takes an active role in the community and serves on the boards of the Bay Area Host Committee Advisory Board, How Women Lead Silicon Valley Executive Board, Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose and California Bankers Association. Through these organizations she is helping to shape and provide resources for the educational foundation of Northern California’s youth and their families, the economic landscape of the region, entrepreneurs and women leaders looking to advocate for each other and take the next step in their career journey. For all her professional and community efforts, Schoettmer has been recognized as Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 40 under 40, a Silicon Valley Business Journal Women of Influence, one of San Francisco Business Times Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business and a 2025 Newsmaker 100.

She earned her Bachelor of Science in business administration from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and her Master of Business Administration from Santa Clara University.

Rehana Abbas

Chief Philanthropy Officer, San Francisco Foundation

Rehana Abbas leads fundraising strategy and donor engagement in service to the foundation's commitment to creating an equitable and thriving Bay Area. Before joining SFF, she enjoyed a career in fundraising for the arts, where she served as the Chief Philanthropy Officer at the Oakland Museum of California, leading a successful $85 million campaign, and at SFMOMA, where she was a key member of the team during the museum's $650M campaign and reopening in 2016. Rehana holds a BA from Wake Forest University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. She is the chair of the board of Children’s Council of San Francisco, and enjoys living in the Glen Park neighborhood of San Francisco with her family.

Taylor Deaton

Strategic Customer Success Manager at Birdeye

Taylor Deaton at her current role partners with Birdeye’s largest and most strategic enterprise accounts, guiding complex, multi-stakeholder SaaS and AI platform implementations from adoption to long-term growth. With over 10 years in customer success, she has built a reputation for turning high-stakes client relationships into lasting partnerships - including owning and growing her previous company's single largest customer account. Beyond her client work, Taylor has a strong track record of building community at scale, having led Women's Employee Resource Groups across multiple companies throughout her career. Taylor's commitment to leadership extends deeply into the nonprofit space. She currently serves as Board Chair of The Gratitude Network, a nonprofit supporting global social impact leaders, after joining as a founding member of its Corporate Leadership Board. She's also a Senior Advisor at SuitUp, where she spent nearly a decade on its Corporate Leadership Board before stepping into her advisory role. A Bay Area native, Taylor played volleyball in college and is a certified professional ski instructor. She has driven across the country twice, visiting 44 of 50 states along the way, and can reliably be found on a dance floor at any live music show.

Maggie Shepard

SVP, Global Enterprise and Corporate Affairs Communications & Events, Visa

Maggie is a Marketing, Branding, Communications & HR leader with 30 years of experience helping world class companies build impactful advertising, marketing, communications and engagement programs. She started her career at advertising agencies, before moving to Visa about 20 years ago. She started in Marketing where she held a range of roles, the most recent one being Chief of Staff to our previous CMO. Following this role she was tapped to lead Global Employee Communications and Employer Brand efforts at Visa. After that six-year stint she joined the People team, with responsibility for driving Visa’s employee experience strategy and key cultural initiatives and overseeing operations for People & Corporate Affairs. She is currently part of the Communications team leading our Global Enterprise, People, Corporate Affairs Communications and Events.

Erica Jeffries

Director of Impact & Engagement, Gratitude Network

Erica is a social impact advocate and budding entrepreneur with a passion for youth advocacy, education and equitable access/experiences for all. Currently, Erica serves as the Director of Impact & Engagement for Gratitude Network. In her current role she oversees the development, execution and management of strategic partnerships and stakeholder engagement to directly support the Fellows and alumni of the organization. Erica brings a plethora of skills and expertise to the table encompassing program management, management and oversight of organizational operations, strategic growth and scaling, and social entrepreneurship. Prior to her current position, she has worked in many different nonprofit spaces, making an impact with organizations like The Los Angeles Job Corps, Green Dot Public Schools, Ruffalo Noel Levitz, The Financial Clinic and most recently, SuitUp Incorporated.

Erica is a College of Wooster and Pepperdine University alum, where she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology & Black Studies, and a Master of Arts in Social Entrepreneurship & Change, respectively. She has also served as an Americorps member with City Year, been an Education Pioneer Fellow, a Steelcase Innovation Fellow, a GenenTech x MENTOR Virtual Mentoring Leadership Founding Cohort Member, and piloted her own youth empowerment program in South Africa. In her free time, Erica also enjoys learning about superheroes, creating mocktail drinks, writing fictional novels, enjoying the arts and traveling the world with her husband and 16 year old son when they aren’t in their home base of Detroit, MI.

Katie Moazed

Senior Director at Visa and Chief of Staff for the Cross-Border Business

Prior to joining the Cross-Border team, she led cross-functional programs for Visa's North America organization spanning Corporate Affairs, Workplace Experience, Sponsorships, Events, Sales Operations, and Human Resources. Over her nine years at Visa, her work has included leading high-profile employee and client experiences, developing executive content, and driving initiatives that help teams work more effectively and make faster decisions. She began her Visa career on the Global and North America Executive Communications teams, advising senior executives and developing communications for some of Visa's most visible business priorities and events.

Amila Tiric (MBA, '07)

Senior Director, Co-brand Partnerships and Performance, Visa

Alumna Amila Tiric (MBA, '07) is an accomplished Senior Director within Co-brand Partnerships for North America, where Amila oversees strategic relationships with leading travel partners, including Alaska Airlines, Disney, Marriott, and Hyatt. With nearly 15 years working at Visa, Amila has developed a robust expertise in co-brand, cards, loyalty, and financial services. Amila’s career at Visa began in the Merchant Sales Enablement team, followed by a transition to the co-brand segment in 2014. Prior to joining Visa, Amila led the financial services function at a full-service agency in San Francisco, further broadening Amila’s industry perspective.

A dedicated mentor, Amila is committed to supporting the professional growth of colleagues and is deeply passionate about advancing Diversity & Inclusion initiatives within the organization. Her academic credentials include two master’s degrees in business from institutions in Sweden and the United States, reflecting her global outlook and commitment to continuous learning. Fluent in five languages, Amila brings a multicultural approach to leadership and collaboration. Outside of work, Amila is an avid participant in pilates, embracing a balanced and active lifestyle. 

Nara Jeong

Associate Professor of Management, Lam Family College of Business, San Francisco State University

Nara‘s research and teaching focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, social entrepreneurship, and the role of CEO values in organizational decision-making. Her work explores how leaders and organizations navigate complex strategic, ethical, and societal challenges and how executive values shape corporate decisions and stakeholder relationships. Dr. Jeong teaches strategic management and business and society, emphasizing the application of management frameworks to real-world business challenges and responsible decision-making. Beyond her research and teaching, Dr. Jeong is actively involved in student engagement and professional development. She serves as Faculty Director of the college’s mentorship program, connecting students with industry professionals to support career development and professional growth. She also organizes and leads student pitch competitions, providing students with opportunities to develop and present innovative business ideas and engage with professionals from the business community.