Five Fowler Alumnae Recognized as San Diego Business Journals Business Women of the Year

The San Diego Business Journal (SDBJ) recently named their Business Women of the Year winners and finalists for 2021. Five of the women recognized hold degrees from the Fowler College of Business at San Diego State University. They are:

Jennifer Barnes, the founder and CEO of Optima Office was named as a winner in the Medium Company category. She also serves as a mentor for Fowler’s Lavin Entrepreneurship Center, has participated as a judge in several SDSU student competitions, and is the treasurer for the San Diego chapter of Tech Coast Angels. Barnes earned her Executive MBA from SDSU in 2008.

Annalisa Barrett, named as a finalist by the SDBJ, earned her degree in finance from SDSU (summa cum laude) in 1994. She is currently a senior advisor at the KPMG Board Leadership Center where she advises companies on corporate governance issues and provides expertise on board composition and governance practices.

Laurie Fisher is the founder and CEO of LMA Marketing and Advertising which she established in 2004. Fisher, who graduated with a degree in marketing from SDSU in 1988, was named as a finalist by the SDBJ. She was also named one of SDBJ’s Women of Influence: 50 over 50 earlier in 2021.

Heather Hernandez, a finalist for the San Diego Business Journal’s, Business Women of the Year Award,, is a director at CBIZ MHM, LLC, a national provider of accounting tax and advisory services. A 2001 graduate of the Charles W. Lamden School of Accountancy at SDSU’s Fowler College of Business, Hernandez is also a CPA and a shareholder in the audit services group of MHM.

Zeynep Ilgaz, who earned her MBA from the Fowler College of Business in 2000, was recognized as a finalist by the publication. Ilgaz co-founded Confirm BioSciences in 2008 and had previously been honored by the SDBJ in 2016 as the Most Admired CEO in the “Small Privately Held Business” category. Ilgaz has served the Fowler College of Business as a lecturer, mentor and a judge for various student competitions, and she is also an advisory board member for the SDSU Mission Valley Innovation District. She and her husband, Serhat Pala (’99, MBA), recently pledged $100,000 to Fowler’s Lavin Entrepreneurship Center to provide new resources to aspiring SDSU student entrepreneurs.