Meet Our Team

Jessica serves as the Recruitment and Admissions Officer for our three MBA Programs. In this role, her primary focus is on recruitment and yield events, on and off campus, domestic and international.

Jessica graduated from UCI Paul Merage School of Business in 2020, earning a BA in Business Administration. After working in the mortgage industry after graduation, she returned to the Merage School in 2022 in the role of MBA Admissions Coordinator. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Jessica was a student assistant for the FEMBA & EMBA program office.

Jessica was born and raised in Southern California. She loves reading, visiting national parks, secondhand shopping, and iced coffee!

Melanie Coburn is a seasoned admissions, recruiting and marketing professional with expertise in recruiting business professionals into an MBA program. She has over 20 years of progressive management experience in higher education and has worked in many diverse work environments, including four different institutions across the country. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in Literature and Rhetoric as well as a master of arts degree in English from Binghamton University in New York and an MBA from University of Baltimore in Maryland. Most recently, she is the Sr. Director of Recruitment & Admissions for all MBA and Specialty Masters Programs at University of California, Irvine’s Merage School of Business.

Sofia earned her BA in Criminology, Law & Society from UC Irvine. She has been with the Merage School for over 16 years, 12 of those years supporting the Part-Time and Executive MBA programs. Throughout her career at the Merage School, Sofia has been a key contributor to the program’s development and rankings. For the last 4 years Sofia has been responsible for the organization and delivery of the Full-Time MBA program from Orientation to Commencement.  She partners with Asani Myers, FTMBA assistant director, in advising over 150 graduate students in their academic and co-curricular planning.

Stephanie Leonard oversees Program Services for the MBA for Executives Program, the Full-Time MBA Program, as well as the Fully Employed MBA Program. She is responsible for the organization, delivery, and management of the EMBA and FEMBA Program Service Offices, leading students from orientation, through graduation. Stephanie has been with UCI for over 10 years, previously serving as the Director of Student Affairs for the Program in Public Health, where she oversaw 1500+ students in the undergraduate, MPH and PhD programs. In this role she oversaw everything from admissions, to program services, to alumni and corporate engagement.

Prior to joining UCI, Stephanie worked at Bow River Capital, a private equity company located in Denver, as a Financial Analyst and as a Customer Service Manager for Chase Bank. Stephanie earned an MBA from the University of Denver, and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Taylor Martini serves as the Senior Director of Program Services for the Full-Time MBA, Flex MBA, and Executive MBA Programs. He is responsible for the operations and academic services for MBA programs, focusing on strategic goals related to student experience and staff satisfaction.

Before moving into his current role, Taylor was the Executive Director of the Full-Time MBA Program for three years. He oversaw total operations of the Full-Time MBA Program including financial and strategic management, academic programming and supervision of the admissions and program services teams. Taylor supported the recruitment and admissions function of the program office for four years before transitioning into program leadership.

Taylor joined the Merage School in June 2015, soon after graduating from our Full-Time MBA Program. During his time in the program, Taylor secured multiple HR-focused internships which included stints at Tilly’s and PacSun. Prior to his MBA studies, Taylor spent three years as a loan officer in the mortgage industry.

Taylor was born and raised in Southern California and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Chapman University.

Jennifer Risner is the MBA Programs Director for the Full-Time MBA Program. As a Merage MBA herself, Jennifer enjoys assisting potential students with the next step in their business career, an MBA. Her expertise lies in providing a personal and responsive enrollment experience for admission candidates from diverse professional backgrounds.  

To the Merage School, Jennifer brings over 10 years of experience in admission. She has overseen strategic planning, process improvement and new program implementation, as well as the daily operation of all aspects of enrollment. Jennifer has implemented program improvements that resulted in increased enrollment through strategic communications, engagement of current students and alumni in admission processes, improving operational efficiencies and redeveloping admission committee procedures to include appropriate decision makers according to established best practices.  

Outside of education, Jennifer’s background includes over 10 years with The Walt Disney Company, working in aspects of management from guest relations to park operations. Together, her education and corporate knowledge provide her with the tools to assist executives along the journey of selecting Merage for their MBA.

Jennifer is a forever Anteater, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Classical Civilizations from UCI followed one year later by another BA in Classics, then later an MBA from the Merage School. All were earned with honors, a standard to which Jennifer holds herself each and every day as she serves the Merage community.

Lisa Shulman is the Manager of MBA and Specialty Masters Programs, Strategic Initiatives. She manages all aspects of building graduate school pipelines, community initiatives, and supports current affinity groups with the focus of supporting our increasingly globally diverse graduate student population. She also works in creating partnerships with the Merage School and UCI community to ensure we have spaces for our diverse graduate student population.

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn

Burt Alvaro Slusher is the Assistant Dean of MBA and Specialty Masters Programs at UC Irvine’s Merage School of Business Specialty Masters Programs: Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAc), Master of Finance (MFin), Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA), and Master of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MIE). In his role, Burt manages the development and implementation of annual recruiting goals and provides strategic oversight for the admissions process in consultation with the Assistant Dean of Specialty Masters Programs and Academic Directors.

Amber Tadokoro is the Recruiting and Marketing Coordinator for EMBA, Flex MBA, and Full-Time MBA programs. Amber joined UCI Merage School in November 2019. She works closely with the EMBA/Flex admissions teams to coordinate and execute the marketing initiatives, streamlines recruiting efforts, organizes admissions events and manages various projects. Amber is the ‘Rock’ of the office and she will be the first person that people will see when they walk into the EMBA/Flex office. She uses high-touch engagement with prospective and current students.

Amber is also an Anteater and earned her BA in Sociology from UCI. Amber has over 13 years of experience in banking and technology companies, with her most recent positions held at Quest Software and Dell as Data Analyst, Marketing Operations Analyst, and Social Media Marketing Specialist. As a Korean American, Amber is bilingual and fluent in English and Korean.

Outside of work, Amber is passionate about helping women in need by helping them to get back to the workforce or to schools and taking donations for professional clothing. But what she values the most is her family. To Amber, being a wife and a mother of two daughters are the most significant and paramount roles that she has ever had. She finds these roles as the most rewarding and gratifying.