In celebration of its 70th anniversary, Financial Women of San Francisco (FWSF) today announced the inaugural recipients of its Bridge Awards, honoring leaders who have achieved extraordinary professional success while creating opportunities for others to follow.

The Bridge Awards will be presented during FWSF’s 70th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, October 22, at The Green Room in San Francisco. The event’s theme — From Climbing Ladders to Building Bridges — reflects FWSF’s history of not only helping women climb the corporate ladder into leadership roles, but also building community and connections along the way. For example, FWSF helps connect students with mentors, emerging professionals with executives, and accomplished leaders with recent graduates. The organization has also invested more than $3.5 million in scholarships to support future financial leaders.

The five Bridge Award recipients exemplify that devotion to giving back and building toward a better future. “As we celebrate 70 years of achievements, we can’t help but look forward to the next 70 years,” said FWSF’s 2026 President Karen Crowley. “What are the next glass ceilings to be shattered and how can we honor the women (and men!) working to help the next generation of financial women? That’s a central part of our work this year, and a key part of how we selected our Bridge Award recipients.”

The 2026 inaugural Bridge Award recipients are:

Julie Castro Abrams is the Founder and CEO of How Women Lead, a network of 27,000 top women executives who are driving change at the top. Together, they drove CA’s famous board diversity legislation as part of an overall strategy to drive women’s board representation. Her organization trains and places women on hundreds of corporate boards. She also built the country’s largest venture fund, How Women Invest, focused exclusively on women founders.

Elena Gomez is President and Chief Financial Officer of Toast Inc., where she oversaw the company’s 2021 IPO. She’s held leadership roles at multiple Fortune 500 companies, including Zendesk, Salesforce, Visa, and Charles Schwab. She serves on the board of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Ladies Who Launch, and the Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco.

Rosie Rios is the chair of the nonpartisan Congressional Commission America250 and served as 43rd Treasurer of the U.S., where she oversaw the U.S. Mint and led efforts to place a portrait of a woman on U.S. currency for the first time in over a century. Currently, she is CEO of Red River Associates, an investment management consulting firm, while concurrently running EMPOWERMENT 2026, an initiative she founded to facilitate the physical recognition of historical American women in classrooms and public spaces. She was recognized as one of USA Today’s Women of the Century.

Jessica Ross is the CFO of GitLab and a two-time FWSF scholarship recipient and a previous Member of the Year. She credits her mentors and sponsors for investing in her 25-year career in financial leadership (before GitLab, she was CFO at FrontDoor and has held executive leadership positions at Salesforce, Stitch Fix, Kaiser Permanente, and more). According to Ross: “One of the greatest responsibilities of leadership is creating opportunities for others.”

Dan Zhang is the CFO at AI productivity unicorn ClickUp. She is a leading voice at the intersection of AI and finance, having worked at People.ai, AppDynamics, and more. She was named a Top 25 Software CFO of 2024 by Top CFOS and pays it forward by serving as a strategic advisor to early-stage startups and guest lecturing at San Jose State University. She also serves as a Maxwell School Advisory Board member at Syracuse University, where she founded the International Emergency Fund to support students in need.

The evening will honor the first five recipients of the Bridge Awards and raise critical support for FWSF scholarships and programs that expand opportunities for women in finance.

ABOUT FINANCIAL WOMEN OF SAN FRANCISCO

Founded in 1956, Financial Women of San Francisco (FWSF) is celebrating 70 years of helping to advance women in finance and financial services throughout the Bay Area. Members hold positions of influence within the financial services sector and work in senior financial roles across companies, government agencies, and the nonprofit sector. FWSF membership spans CEOs, CFOs, corporate treasurers, CPAs, attorneys, commercial and private bankers, investment advisors, fund managers, securities analysts, administrators, financial planners, consultants, recruiters, and marketers. Find out more by visiting FinancialWomenSF.org.

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