Level Up Lunch - Retaining Talent in 2026: What Actually Works

Join us for a Level Up Lunch featuring Dr. Feruzan Irani Williams. Dr. Williams will be presenting on “Retaining Talent in 2026: What Actually Works.” The session will focus on evidence-based strategies for improving retention, strengthening engagement, and building sustainable workforce practices—an especially timely topic as organizations prepare for the evolving labor market.

About Dr. Williams:
Feruzan Irani Williams is a Professor of Practice in Management at the Rawls College of Business Administration, Texas Tech University, where she currently serves as the Director of the Scovell Business Leadership Program and the Masters in Human Resource Management Program. Prior to her time at Texas Tech, Feruzan has chaired the department of management at North Carolina A&T State University and was a tenured associate professor at Georgia Southern University.
Feruzan teaches and researches in the areas of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management and has been published in several eminent peer-reviewed journals. Her major areas of research interest include emotional labor, stress, and leadership, with a special emphasis on the challenges faced by women in the workplace.
Feruzan is passionate about working with, and mentoring, students and student organizations and has thoroughly enjoyed her previous roles as the Faculty Advisor for Tech Society for Human Resource Management and Tech Women in Business. She is also actively involved in fostering community relationships and serves on the Board of Lubbock Society for Human Resource Management.
Feruzan holds a Ph.D. in Management and an M.S. in Human Resource Management from Auburn University, an MBA from the University of West Georgia, and a Bachelors degree in Commerce (Accounting and Management) from the University of Mumbai, India.