This year marked the 10th annual Women in Digital Breakfast at Adobe Summit 2026, co-hosted by Perficient and Adobe. What started in 2017 as a simple gathering has grown into something bigger: a global space for real conversations about leadership, AI, and career growth. The event has spanned virtual pivots, international expansion, and even moments of adversity without losing momentum.
And this year’s panel continued that tradition. The event featured leaders driving real change across industries and brought together a mix of strategic vision and frontline experience that was grounded in the message that progress doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when people decide to move together.
Guests at the event heard from:
- Marissa Rexer, General Manager of CX and Agentic Solutions at Adobe
- Tauni Crefeld, Head of Customer Success at Perficient
- Sam Teibel, AVP of Digital Products and Platforms at Enterprise Mobility
- Noelle Taylor, Director of Operations and Portfolio Management at Ford
- Magy Kramer, Senior Director of Ecommerce and Digital Marketing at Caterpillar
Guiding the discussion was Lynn Brading, Global Alliance Director at Perficient, who helped shape this event into a decade-long platform for connection, mentorship, and momentum.
They spoke about how they cut through AI hype, reshaped what career growth looks like, and how to confront the invisible barriers that still shape who gets ahead.
Watch the Recorded Discussion
You can watch the full panel discussion here or read on to learn more about this year’s panel discussion.
AI Isn’t the Story. How You Use It Is.
Unsurprisingly, AI was a big part of the discussion.
Marissa Rexer shared how Adobe is embedding AI into its sales workflows, not as a headline feature, but as a quiet accelerator. Think less manual updates, more time for meaningful work.
At Caterpillar, Magy Kramer described launching an AI assistant that pulls together fragmented systems. The real challenge wasn’t the tech. It was the change management and getting teams to rethink how work gets done.
Across the board, the takeaway was simple: AI isn’t magic. It’s leverage. When used well, it removes friction. It creates space for things, like leadership, creativity, and decision-making, that actually move a business forward.
Stop Waiting. Start Getting Sponsored.
Another interesting topic that was discussed was the idea of mentorship versus sponsorship.
Tauni Crefeld said, “Mentors are coaches. They will give you advice. We all need mentors. I’ve had some great mentors in my career, but sponsors are people that have power. They are people who are in positions of authority, and they can help move you into a better role.”
And that distinction matters. Career-defining moments don’t always come from good advice. They come from someone opening a door.
During this part of the discussion, Sam Teibel shared her story about a career pivot that looked like a step backward at the time. But it wasn’t. It accelerated everything that came after. She said, “I had a sponsor when I first started my family, who made a suggestion for a role that I wasn’t even thinking about. And that role that I took has accelerated me into my current career. But at that time, that role was a step back, a significant step back from what I thought I was on the path of achieving. So, the sponsor really urged me to take a look at that and I did. I took a step back in my career for about two years and it was the best decision I’ve made since then.”
The pattern showed up again and again:
- Growth rarely looks linear
- The right sponsor can change your trajectory
- And waiting to be “ready” is usually a losing strategy
The Bias Problem Nobody Assigns
One of the most resonant themes during the discussion was about gender bias and how to handle it in the workplace.
Women often get the work that “just needs to get done.” Notes. Coordination. Follow-ups. It’s efficient. It’s reliable. It’s also limiting.
As Tauni put it, the more you do it, the more you’re seen as the person who does it. And that perception compounds over time, impacting visibility, influence, and promotion paths.
The fix isn’t complicated. It’s just hard:
- Share the work
- Say no (or at least “not always”)
- And be explicit about the role you want to play
Because if you don’t define it, someone else will.
Movement Beats Perfection
Noelle Taylor captured another hard truth about how most leaders don’t have all the answers. Yet, they move anyway.
She said, “Every day we are forced with keeping things moving, right? … What I am there to do is help make sure we are moving one way or the other. We have to move based on the best of the information we have together. Otherwise, we’ll just be paralyzed … And oftentimes the risk of not doing anything at all is worse than making the choice and taking a step forward, getting learnings and, and pivoting from there.”
In a world of constant change, especially with AI, waiting for certainty is a liability. Progress comes from making informed decisions, learning fast, and adjusting.
Or put more bluntly, the risk of doing nothing is often greater than getting it wrong.
The Leadership Shift That Actually Matters
Across every story shared, one leadership pattern stood out: The best leaders aren’t climbing faster. They’re building better.
That means:
- Developing successors
- Advocating for others
- Creating environments where teams, not individuals, win
It’s less about personal advancement and more about collective momentum.
And ironically, that’s what drives individual growth.
Progress Starts With the First Move
The throughline from this year’s Women in Digital Breakfast is simple: progress tends to come from the people willing to go first. The ones who lean into AI to make space for leadership, who advocate for sponsorship over waiting on mentorship, and who call out bias even when it shows up in subtle, structural ways. It’s not always easy or comfortable, but it’s how real change happens.
We feel privileged to continue bringing women together to learn and lift each other up, and we hope to see you at the next Women in Digital event.
