Optimized Payments, a leader in payments analytics and cost optimization, has announced the return of the Women in Payments Honorary Luncheon for its second year. The event will take place on Sunday, September 27, 2026, at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee, before the MAG Payments Conference begins. An annual fixture on the payments industry calendar, the MAG Payments Conference draws payments professionals from across the sector, and the luncheon is timed to bring that community together ahead of the main program.

The Women in Payments Honorary Luncheon recognizes outstanding women across the payments and finance industry through seven award categories spanning innovation, leadership, legacy, rising talent, and community impact. The 2026 event builds on the success of last year's inaugural luncheon, which brought together more than 100 payments professionals and honored eight recipients from across the industry. The awards are part of a broader push across payments and fintech to raise the visibility of women in an industry where leadership roles have historically been male-dominated.

This year's event will feature Dr. Gail Burgos, Chief Executive Officer of PayTech Women, as keynote speaker. PayTech Women is a professional community dedicated to advancing women across the payments and paytech industry. Dr. Burgos brings more than 25 years of leadership in financial services, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and is widely recognized as one of the most prominent voices advancing women in the fintech and payments space.

The 2026 luncheon will include a cocktail reception, a keynote address, and an awards ceremony recognizing women across the seven categories. Nominations for all seven award categories are open to the public, and attendance at the event is by application.

Organizers emphasized the community-focused character of the gathering in announcing this year's program.

"When we launched Women in Payments last year, we wanted to create something that felt different from a traditional industry event – something centered on recognition, celebration and community," said Ashleigh Nails, Director of Marketing at Optimized Payments. "The response to the inaugural event exceeded our expectations, and we're excited to build on that momentum this year with Dr. Burgos, our sponsors and the broader payments community."

"The goal of Women in Payments is simple: to recognize the women who are making a meaningful impact on our industry and give their accomplishments the visibility they deserve," said Anand Goel, CEO and Founder of Optimized Payments. "The response to our first event showed us how much the payments community values this kind of recognition. We are proud to bring it back for a second year, and grateful to everyone helping us make it possible."

The sponsor lineup reflects the breadth of the payments ecosystem, spanning data connectivity, global payment processing, credit data, payment infrastructure, fraud prevention, subscription commerce, and buy-now-pay-later services. The 2026 Women in Payments Honorary Luncheon is sponsored by Plaid, Adyen, Equifax, Basis Theory, Airwallex, Gr4vy, Riskified, Sticky.io, and Zip.