For the past 10 years, Computer Weekly has been showcasing women in IT, initially publishing a list of the top 25 most influential women in UK tech in 2012.
Since its first incarnation, the list has grown, and now celebrates 50 of the UK’s most influential women in UK tech every year.
In 2017, Computer Weekly started publishing the longlist when the number of nominations exceeded 160.
This number has grown year-on-year from 360 in 2019 to more than 430 in 2020 and over 500 women this year, each of whom has made a significant contribution to the technology sector.
Each year, we aim to ensure the nominations for the 50 Most Influential Women in UK Technology are as diverse and inclusive as possible, regardless of age, disability, race, religion or sexual orientation, including trans women and those who identify as non-binary.
Once the longlist of nominations is closed, a panel of judges chooses a shortlist of 50 women, which will soon be published to allow readers to vote for who they think should receive the accolade of Most Influential Woman in UK Technology 2021.
Readers’ votes are counted alongside the judges’ to reach the final decision, but first we want to congratulate all of those who are being considered.
The 2021 Most Influential Women in UK Technology longlist (in alphabetical order):
- Abadesi Osunsade, founder and CEO, Hustle Crew; VP global community and belonging, Brandwatch
- Abbie Morris, CEO and co-founder, Compare Ethics
- Abi Mohamed, programme lead, Tech Nation; co-founder/tech lead, Community Growth Ventures
- Abigail Rappaport, global director, enterprise operations, Workplace by Facebook
- Adah Parris, storyteller, director and producer of L&D experiences, The House of Griots
- Adelina Chalmers, The Geek Whisperer – adviser for CTOs, tech leaders and engineers
- Adizah Tejani, partnerships and product innovation, HSBC
- Agnes Gradzewicz, co-founder and CMO, Smarty Software
- Alex Depledge, founder and CEO, Resi
- Alex Willard, CEO, Pivigo
- Alexa Greaves, CEO, AAG IT Services
- Alexa Marenghi, senior program manager – global talent acquisition, Microsoft; founder, Codess
- Alexandra Deschamps Sonsino, consultant, Designswarm; founder, The Good Night Lamp
- Alexandra Gillon-Livesey, head of strategic partnerships, CIB chief data and analytics office, JP Morgan
- Alexandra Margarint, software developer, Flairbox
- Alice Bentinck, co-founder, Entrepreneur First
- Alina Timofeeva, senior manager, advanced analytics and cloud, KPMG UK (moving to associate partner, Oliver Wyman)
- Alison Davis, CIO, Natural History Museum
- Alison Ettridge, CEO, Talent Intuition
- Alison Pritchard, deputy national statistician and director general data capability, ONS
- Alison Vincent, fellow, Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET); BCS fellow
- Amanda Brock, CEO, Open UK
- Amandine Flachs, CEO and co-founder, WildMeta
- Amelia Bampton , regional director, Codurance
- Amina Aweis, software engineer and web accessibility advocate, Silktide
- Ana Perez, senior director consulting, Oracle; chair, Oracle Women in Leadership
- Andrea Palmer, business change and digital transformation manager, BCS fellow, chair of BCS Women
- Angela Morrison, experienced CIO; non-executive director, HM Land Registry; COO, Cancer Research UK
- Angela Yu, A&E doctor; founder and managing director, London App Brewery
- Ania Kubow, software engineer and course creator, FreeCodeCamp.org; co-founder, Whistle + Bango
- Anna Barsby, CIO and managing partner, Tessiant
- Anna Brailsford, CEO, Code First Girls
- Anna Holland-Smith, co-founder, Recode; lead, engineer development and growth, Automattic
- Anne Boden, CEO, Starling Bank
- Anne Currie, tech ethics (contract), Container Solutions; CEO and co-founder, WorkingProgram
- Anne Marie Neatham, commercial director for the office of the CTO, Ocado Technology
- Anne Rose, managing associate, Mishcon de Reya
- Anne Stokes, CEO, Streamwire Group
- Annika Small, co-founder, CAST (Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology)
- Anushka Sharma, founder, Naaut; senior technical programme coordinator, DiRAC – HPC
- Ariane Gadd, lead DevOps engineer, Fiit
- Avril Chester, founder, Cancer Central and Ask Ave; CTO, RIBA
- Bea Karol Burks, director of explorations, Nesta
- Beckie Taylor, CEO and co-founder, TechReturners
- Becks Armstrong, CEO, Clarity
- Beeban Kidron, founder and chair, 5Rights Foundation
- Belinda Finch, CIO, Three
- Belinda Parmar, CEO, The Empathy Business
- Beth Probert, consultant engineer, Capgemini Engineering; vice-chair, WISE Young Professionals’ Board
- Bethany Koby, co-founder, Technology Will Save Us; fellow, The Bio-Leadership Project
- Bev White, CEO, Harvey Nash Group
- Bhavagaya Bakshi, NHS GP; co-founder, C The Signs
- Bindi Karia, adviser
- Bingqian Gao, senior director of global advanced analytics, Aktana; founder and chair, Tiny Viz Talks
- Bukky Babajide, founder, Female Techpreneur
- Cait O’Riordan, chief product and information officer, Financial Times
- Camille Baker, professor in interactive and immersive arts; year leader for MA Games Design, University for the Creative Arts
- Carina Namih, general partner, Episode 1 Ventures
- Carly Kind, director, Ada Lovelace Institute
- Carmina Lees, managing director, Financial Services Technology Consulting at Accenture
- Caroline Carruthers, CEO, Carruthers and Jackson; co-author, The chief data officer’s playbook
- Caroline Dinenage, minister for digital and culture
- Caroline Gorski, group director, R² Data Labs, Rolls-Royce
- Caroline Hargrove, CTO, Zedsen
- Caroline Plumb, founder and CEO, Fluidly
- Caroline Serfass, senior vice-president and chief information officer, Canon Europe
- Casey Calista, public affairs strategist, Hill + Knowlton Strategies
- Cath Goulding, chief information security officer, Nominet
- Catherine Breslin, adviser, Deeptech Labs; founder, Kingfisher Labs
- Catherine Knivett, interim head of operations, AWO (on maternity leave)
- Cathy McCabe, CEO, Proximity Insight
- Charlene Hunter, CEO and founder, Coding Black Females
- Charlotte Crosswell, non-exec director, fintech and innovation adviser
- Charlotte Kirby, vice-president global strategic relations, Salesforce.org
- Charlotte Light, advisory board member, Institute of Coding; group CTO, Aztec Group
- Charlotte Robertson, co-founder, Digital Awareness UK
- Charlotte Zhao, director, codebar; co-founder and CEO, AViD FM
- Check Warner, co-founder, Diversity VC; partner, Ada Ventures
- Cheryl Stevens, interim director for shared channels experience, DWP Digital
- Chiara Pensato, CMO, Cutover
- Christina Scott, CTO, News UK
- Christine Ashton, CIO adviser
- Claire Agutter, director, Scopism; director and lead tutor, IT Training Zone
- Claire Burn, software engineer, Rapid7; global ambassador, Women Who Code Belfast
- Claire Cockerton, former CEO, Plexal; founder and adviser
- Claire Davenport, CEO, notonthehighstreet.com
- Claire Dickson, group CIO, DS Smith
- Claire Edmunds, founder and CEO, Clarify
- Claire Morris, chief studio officer, Founders Factory
- Claire Novorol, co-founder and chief medical officer, Ada Health
- Claire Osborne, vice-president interactive, Inspired Entertainment
- Claire Vyvyan, senior vice-president, UK & Ireland commercial business, Dell EMC
- Clare Barclay, CEO, Microsoft UK
- Clare Gorman, senior VP, sales business operations, AVEVA
- Clare Joy, expansion strategy manager, Onfido
- Clare Sutcliffe, director and co-founder, She Wins; VP community, Multiverse
- Claudia Natanson, head of information security, AccuWeather; chair, UK Cyber Security Council
- Colleen Wong, founder and CEO, Techsixtyfour
- Cynthia Davis, CEO and founder, BAME Recruitment; chair, board of directors, Pop Up Projects
- Daljit Bamford, social media advocate, The Trussell Trust
- Daniela Menzky, co-founder and COO, Angoka
- Daryn Edgar, board member, Glisser; CEO, LYTT
- Davina Sirisena, founder and CEO, Difference Digital
- Debbie Garside, co-chair, security – KTN Defence and Security Advisory Board, Knowledge Transfer Network
- Debbie Green, vice-president applications, Oracle UK&I
- Debbie Wosskow, co-founder, AllBright; former CEO, Love Home Swap
- Deborah Okenla, founder and CEO, Your Startup, Your Story (YSYS)
- Deborah Vickers, VP product management, Citi; COO, Women in Banking and Finance
- Depika Koria, global product owner – voice assistants, HSBC
- Devika Wood, co-founder, Vida Care; proposition owner – enhanced doctor at hand, AXA PPP Healthcare
- Devon Edwards Joseph, senior analytics engineer, Spotify
- Diana Biggs, member, board of digital leaders, World Economic Forum; CEO, Valour
- Diana Kennedy, CTO, Bupa
- Dimple Dalby, lead cloud platform engineer, Compare the Market
- Doniya Soni, programme strategy lead, Multiverse (formerly White Hat)
- Dupsy Abiola, head of global innovation, International Airlines Group
- Edel McGrath, partner, group head of technology, Knight Frank
- Edwina Dunn, non-exec director, Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation; commissioner, Geospatial Commission
- Eileen Jennings-Brown, head of technology, Wellcome Trust
- Eileen Logie, deputy director, ESFA Apprenticeship Service
- Elaine Bucknor, group CISO and group director of security, Sky
- Elaine Warburton, founder and non-executive director, QuantuMDx
- Elena Novokreshchenova, vice-president of international, Remitly
- Elena Sinel, founder, Acorn Aspirations and Teens in AI
- Eli Schutze Ramirez, software engineer, Twitter
- Eliana Vanekova, founder, ZeroSmart
- Elin Ng, co-founder and COO, Salve Technologies
- Elisabetta Zaccaria, founder, Secure Chorus; entrepreneur mentor in residence, Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at London Business School
- Elizabeth Eastaugh, senior director, technology – development platform and infrastructure, Expedia
- Elizabeth Varley, adviser – early stage tech advisory group, Silicon Valley Bank
- Elizabeth Vega, group CEO, Informed Solutions
- Ella Schofield, engineering manager, Bloom & Wild
- Ellie Yell, founder and CEO, Fledglink
- Elly Zhang, director of partnerships, Heliocor; co-founder and CEO, Buzzmi; head of partnerships, Globe Derivative Exchange
- Elspeth Finch, CEO and founder, IAND
- Emily Brooke, founder and chair, Beryl.cc
- Emily Forbes, founder, Seenit
- Emma Cerrone, executive director, agile and digital fitness lead, global digital accelerator, MSD
- Emma Fryer, associate director (datacentres), TechUK
- Emma Lacy, UKIE HCM business operations leader, Oracle
- Emma Lindley, co-founder, Women in Identity
- Emma McGuigan, senior managing director, Microsoft Business Group; lead – Intelligent Platform Service, Accenture
- Emma Mulqueeny, consultant and adviser
- Emma Robertson, director and co-founder, Digital Awareness UK
- Emma Sinclair, co-founder, Enterprise Alumni
- Emma Stace, chief digital and technology officer, Department for Education
- Emma Taylor, head of digital safety, RazorSecure
- Emma Trickitt, head of diversity and inclusion – technology, Sky
- Emma Woodman, UK&I ServiceNow practice lead; MD, Accenture
- Emma Wright, director, Institute of AI; partner, Deloitte Legal
- Erika Brodnock, co-founder, Extend Ventures; founder, Karisma Kidz and Kami
- Erika Federis, associate, CMS
- Erin Platts, head of EMEA and president of the UK branch, Silicon Valley Bank
- Estelle Johannes, director, member communities UK, CompTIA
- Fanny Corlosquet, senior software engineer, The Economist Newspaper
- Farah Kanji, chief people officer, Founders Factory
- Farida Gibbs, CEO/founder, Gibbs Hybrid
- Fateha Majid, founder and CEO, Biye Biye
- Fatimat Gbajabiamila, software engineer, Apolitical; founder, Bridgemap
- Faye Holland, founder and director, Cofinitive
- Felicity Burch, executive director, Centre for Data Ethics & Innovation
- Fiona Hudson Kelly, chair, board of directors, Smart Apprentices
- Flavilla Fongang, managing director, 3 Colours Rule; founder, TLA Black Women in Tech
- Flora Tasse, head of CV/AI research, Streem
- Fran O’Leary, co-founder and director of client services, Lodestone
- Francesca Carlesi, co-founder and CEO, Molo Finance
- Funmi Adewodu, iOS engineer, Spotify
- Gabi Wagenhofer, VP markets and midstream digital/CIO trading, shipping and midstream, BP
- Gabriella Talbot, strategic technology delivery manager and co-chair, Aspire Network, The Co-op
- Gem Hill, senior test for voice and AI, BBC
- Gem Young, founder, Women of FinTech; founder, DiversiTech Hub
- Gemma Moore, founder and director, Cyberis
- Genevieve LeVeille, principal founder and CEO, AgriLedger
- Georgina Owens, chief product and technology officer, Doqit
- Ghislaine Boddington, co-founder and director, Women Shift Digital
- Gillian Docherty, CEO, The Data Lab
- Gillian Lamela, director, Technology Cost Simplification Programme; Women In Technology UK regional lead, Barclays Investment Bank
- Grace Stuart, director of product marketing, Deel
- Hadley Beeman, chief technology adviser to the secretary of state, Department for Health and Social Care
- Hannah Dawson, co-founder and CEO, Futrli
- Hannah Sutcliffe, relationship manager, MOONHUB
- Hayaatun Sillem, CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering
- Hayley Sudbury, co-founder and CEO, Werkin
- Hazel Moore, chairman and co-founder, FirstCapital
- Heather Black, CEO and founder, Supermums
- Heather Picov, CEO, Apps for Good
- Heather Savory, non-executive director, UK Parliament Information Authority, House of Lords
- Heba Bevan, CEO and founder, Utterberry
- Helen Boothman, managing director, Evergreen Energy
- Helen Fraser, software developer, Morgan Stanley
- Helen Kelisky, vice-president, cloud sales, UK and Ireland, Salesforce EMEA
- Helen Lamb, head of delivery centres of excellence, Fujitsu
- Helen Meek, agile coach and consultant, RippleRock
- Helen Mitchell, director and co-founder, Blukudu; director of innovation strategy, ecosystems, change and communications, Global Transformation Office, BMI Group
- Helen Needham, managing principal, Capco; founder, Me.Decoded
- Helene Panzarino, associate director, Centre for Digital Banking and Finance, London Institute of Banking and Finance
- Hephzi Pemberton, founder and CEO, Equality Group
- Hilary Leevers, CEO, EngineeringUK
- Holly Smith, senior solutions consultant, Databricks
- Indra Joshi, director of AI, NHSX
- Inês Teles Correia, co-founder and CEO, DWYL
- Ira Krachanovskaya, senior marketing partner, BP Launchpad; startup adviser
- Iris Lapinski, founder and chair, Apps for Good
- Irra Ariella Khi, CEO and founder, Zamna (formerly VChain Technology)
- Isabel Chapman, director, Power2Connect
- Isabel Fox, co-managing partner and co-founder, Luminous Ventures; general partner, Outsized Ventures
- Isabel Lewis, senior technology associate, Publicis Sapient
- Ivana Bartoletti, technical director – privacy, Deloitte; co-founder, Women Leading in AI Network
- Jackie Bell, senior teaching fellow in equality, diversity, outreach and public engagement, Imperial College
- Jacqui Taylor, CEO, Flying Binary
- Jane Silber, chair, Diffblue; NED, Pusher
- Jane Turner, CEO, Centtrip
- Janet Coyle, managing director business growth, London & Partners
- Janet Hughes, programme director, Future Farming and Countryside Programme, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- Janine Hirt, CEO, Innovate Finance
- Janthana Kaenprakhamroy, CEO and founder, Tapoly
- Jaycee Cheong, cloud infrastructure engineer, Bryter
- Jeanie York, chief technology officer, Virgin Media O2
- Jeni Tennison, vice-president and chief strategy adviser, Open Data Institute
- Jennifer Allum, head, Gov.UK; director, Government Digital Service
- Jennifer Opal, DevOps engineer, HelloSign at Dropbox
- Jennifer Rigby, COO, Lloyd’s of London
- Jenny Griffiths, founder and CEO, Snap Vision
- Jess Gosling, senior international policy adviser, UK government
- Jess Wade, postdoctoral research associate, Imperial College London
- Jessica Falk, site reliability engineer, Google
- Jessica Figueras, vice-chair, UK Cyber Security Council
- Jill Hodges, CEO and founder, Fire Tech
- Jillian Godsil, founder and editor in chief, Blockleaders.io
- Jin-Yan Gu, principal engineer, NatWest Group
- Jo Dalton, account director, Lodestone, secretariat of the Parliamentary Internet Communications and Technology Forum
- Jo Eckersley, CEO and founder, Bubbl
- Jo Graham, CIO, Boohoo
- Jo Haslam, design director, Snap Finger Click
- Joan Lei, senior data scientist, Revolut
- Joanna Davinson, executive director, Central Digital and Data Office, Cabinet Office
- Joanna Montgomery, founder, Little Riot
- Joanne Hannaford, head of EMEA technology and global head of quality assurance engineering, Goldman Sachs
- Joanne Smith, founder and CEO, Recordsure; chair, CBI SME Council
- Jots Sehmbi, chief digital and technology officer, University of Essex
- Joy Foster, CEO, TechPixies
- Joyeeta Das, founder and chair, Gyana
- Jude Ower, founder and CEO, Playmob
- Julia Lopez, parliamentary secretary at Cabinet Office, responsible for digital government policy
- Julie Bretland, CEO, owner and founder, Our Mobile Health
- Julie Parmenter, chief financial officer, nDreams
- Julie Watling, managing director, Communications Solutions
- Julie Woods-Moss, chair, Dunnhumby; CMO, Thoughtworks
- Juliet Bauer, UK managing director, Kry Livi
- Juliette Atkinson, IT director, Bradford University
- June Angelides, investor, Samos Investments
- Justine Roberts, founder and CEO, Mumsnet and Gransnet
- Kadine James, CEO and founder, The Immersive KIND
- Kanta Dihal, senior research fellow, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge
- Karen McCormick, chief investment officer, Beringea
- Karimah Campbell, founder, Black Tech Queens; EMEA leader, customer success management, Relativity
- Karina Vazirova, co-founder, Femtech Lab
- Kate Beaumont, director device operations, product and innovation, Vodafone
- Kate Bohn, innovation and strategy – incubator and accelerator lead, Lloyds Banking Group
- Kate Rosenshine, director, global cloud solution architecture, unicorns and scaleups, Microsoft
- Kate Ross, director of delivery, Smart
- Katherine Calleja, senior partnerships and development manager, Raspberry Pi; founder, Cambridge Women in Tech
- Katherine Eilbeck, head of research and development, Sellafield
- Katia Lang , co-founder, FemTech Lab
- Katie Koschland, principal engineer, The Financial Times
- Kavita Kalaichelvan, software engineer, Cleo AI
- Kayla Shapiro, production engineer, Facebook
- Keeley Crockett , professor in computational intelligence, Manchester Metropolitan University
- Kerensa Jennings, senior adviser, digital impact, BT Group
- Keri Gilder, CEO, Colt
- Kike Oniwinde, founder, BYP network
- Kim Nilsson, chair, Pivigo
- Kiran Bhagotra, CEO and founder, ProtectBox
- Kiran Uppal, VP projects, Unruly
- Kirsten Connell, First Cheque Fund at Octopus Ventures
- Kirstin Duffield, CEO, Morning Data
- Kit Collingwood, assistant director, digital and customer services, LB Greenwich
- Kriti Sharma, vice-president product, GFK; founder, AI for Good UK
- Lara Sampson, partner, Public Digital
- Larissa Suzuki, data/AI technology practice lead, Google
- Laura Dawson, CIO, London School of Economics
- Lauren Kisser, director, Alexa AI – Knowledge International, Amazon
- Leanne Bonner-Cooke, founder and CEO, e-Bate
- Leeann Monk-Ozgul, co-founder and COO, Elemental – The Social Prescribing Company
- Leontina Postelnicu, head of health and social care, TechUK
- Liane Katz, CEO, MAMA.codes
- Libby Kinsey, head of data science strategy and operations, Ocado Technology; co-founder, Project Juno
- Lilybeth Go, VP data and analytics platforms, BP
- Lisa Forte, partner, Red Goat Cyber Security; co-founder, Cyber Volunteers 19
- Lisa Hammond, CEO and co-founder, Centrix Software
- Lisa Jacobs, Europe managing director, Funding Circle
- Lisa Ventura, CEO and founder, UK Cyber Security Association; board member, Cyber Security Global Alliance
- Liz Ashall-Payne, CEO, Orcha
- Liz Rice, chief open source officer, Isovalent; chair, Technical Oversight Committee, Cloud Native Computing Foundation
- Liz Whitefield, director, Hippo Digital
- Liz Williams, CEO, FutureDotNow; chair, GoodThingsFoundation
- Lorna Davidson, CEO and founder, Redwigwam
- Lou Cordwell, CEO, magneticNorth
- Louise McCarthy, CIO adviser; co-founder and chair, Fluttr
- Louise Rix, investor, Forward Partners
- Louise Stokes, director, Digital Leaders; director, Shoreditch Virtual
- Lucie Glenday, group CEO and founder, MySense.ai
- Lucinda Carney, founder and CEO, Actus Software
- Lucy Hall, founder, Digital Women and SocialDay; director, Avviso Media
- Lucy Ireland, MD, BCS Learning & Development
- Lyn Grobler, group CIO, Howden Group Holdings
- Lynn Collier, renewals project lead, Syniti
- Magdalena Kron, Rise Global FinTech platform director, Barclays
- Maggie Van’T Hoff, vice-president of IT transformation and value, Shell
- Mala Mawkin, digital medicine innovation lead, Imperial College London; head of market development, Leva Clinic
- Malika Malik, data and AI cloud solution architect, Microsoft; adviser, APPG on AI
- Mandy Chessell, distinguished engineer, IBM
- Mansata Kurang, digital product owner, Alzheimer’s Society; founder, VR Revival
- Maria Axente, AI and AI for good lead, PwC UK; advisory board member, APPG for AI
- Maria McKavanagh, COO, Verv (Green Running)
- Mariarosaria Taddeo, associate professor, senior research fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
- Marija Butkovic, founder and CEO, Women of Wearables
- Marily Nika, senior AI/machine learning product manager (Speech), Google
- Marta Krupinska, head, Google for Startups UK
- Martha Moniz, engineering manager, Intercom
- Mattie Yeta, head of sustainability – group strategy, DEFRA
- Maxine Mackintosh, postdoctoral research associate, the Alan Turing Institute; co-founder, One HealthTech
- Meha Nelson, co-founder and CTO, Predina; product and operations manager, Minica Automation
- Mehak Mumtaz, COO and co-founder, iLoF
- Mel Unsworth, global director of content and commerce technology, Yoox Net-A-Porter
- Melinda Nicci, founder and CEO, Baby2Body
- Melinda Roylett, global head of small and medium business, Afterpay
- Melissa Di Donato, CEO, SUSE
- Melissa Hendry, co-founder and managing director, ddroidd
- Melissa Morris, CEO, Lantum
- Meri Williams, CTO, Healx
- Merve Taner, software engineer, Shopify
- Mevish Aslam, founder, Sprinters
- Michelle Darracott, CSO, Smart
- Michelle Senecal de Fonseca, area vice-president, Northern Europe, Citrix
- Michelle Seng Ah Lee, AI ethics lead, Deloitte UK
- Mignon Mapplebeck, business/entrepreneurship advisory, SEE Consulting; founder, CIO Digital Book Club
- Mikela Druckman, CEO and co-founder, Greyparrot
- Misa Ogura, research software engineer, BBC; co-founder and CTO, Women Driven Development
- Monika Radclyffe, head, SetSquared, Bristol
- Mridula Pore, co-founder and CEO, Peppy
- Mursal Hedayat, co-founder and CEO, Chatterbox
- Musidora Jorgensen, area vice-president, head of UK energy and utilities sales, Salesforce; ally for women in STEM
- Nabila Salem, board member of tenth revolution group and president, Revolent Group
- Nadia Abouayoub, founder, Aifinai
- Nadine Thomson, global chief technology officer, MediaCom
- Nadira Hussain, director of leadership development and research, Socitm
- Naina Bhattacharya, chief information security officer, Danone
- Naomi Timperley, co-founder, Tech North Advocates; growth and innovation consultant; project director, FreelanceHER100
- Nat Pawlak, COO, My Ventures
- Natalie Billingham, vice-president, sales and managing director, EMEA
- Natalie Gammon, digital and cyber security adviser
- Natalie Massenet, founder and executive chair, Net-a-Porter Group
- Natasha Sayce-Zalem, global head of partner engineering, Prime Video, Amazon
- Neeta Mundra, banking and financial services, Salesforce; industry transformation adviser
- Neeta Patel, CEO, Centre for Entrepreneurs
- Neha Rajesh, head of account-based and partner marketing, Temenos
- Nicky Tozer, SVP, EMEA, Oracle NetSuite
- Nicola Blackwood, chair, Genomics England
- Nicola Graham, director of infrastructure and support services, NHS Ayrshire & Arran
- Nicola Martin, head of quality, Adarga; BCS Women and BCS software testing committee member
- Nicola Whiting, co-owner and chief strategy officer, Titania
- Nicole Eagan, chief strategy and AI officer, Darktrace
- Niki Trigoni, chief technology officer, Navenio; professor in computer science, head of cyber physical systems group, University of Oxford
- Nikki Kelly, SVP public sector and health, Atos
- Nina Tumanishvili, CEO and founder, HelloHub
- Nneka Abulokwe, founder and CEO, MicroMax Consulting
- Noor Shaker, founder and CEO, Glamorous AI
- Norma Dove-Edwin, chief information officer, National Grid ESO
- Nova Baines, VP cloud DevOps, AVEVA
- Olga Kravchenko, CEO, Musemio
- Olivia Gambelin, founder and CEO, Ethical Intelligence Associates
- Pamela Maynard, CEO, Avanade
- Pat Ryen, founder, Cybergirls First
- Patricia Shaw, CEO and founder, Beyond Reach; fellow, ForHumanity
- Paulette Watson, founder and managing director, Academy Achievers
- Payal Jain, chair, Women in Data UK
- Pearl Noble-Mallock, head of product and cyber security, BAE Systems
- Penny Endersby, CEO, Met Office; visiting prof in electronics and computer science, Southampton University; WISE ambassador
- Perrine Farque, founder, Inspired-Human
- Phoebe Chibuzo Hugh, founder and CEO, Brolly
- Phoebe Greig, co-founder, Women Driven Development; co-director, Lesbians Who Tech, London; lead software engineer, Citi Innovation Lab
- Phoebe Thacker, programme manager – neuroscience, Google DeepMind
- Pip Jamieson, founder and CEO, The Dots
- Pip White, managing director UK&I, Google Cloud
- Pippa Malmgren, partner and senior adviser, Monaco Foundry
- Polly Barnfield, founder and CEO, Maybe
- Poppy Beer, co-founder and CTO, Thrift+
- Poppy Gustafsson, CEO, Darktrace
- Pravina Ladva, chief technology and operations officer, Swiss Re
- Priya Guha, venture partner, Merian Ventures
- Priya Lakhani, founder and CEO, Century Tech
- Rachel Murphy, CEO, Difrent Group
- Rachel Neaman, non-executive board member, adviser, mentor
- Rachelle Mills, CEO, KareInn
- Rahel Tesfai, founder and CEO, FroHub
- Rashada Harry, co-founder and managing director, Your Future, Your Ambition
- Rav Bumbra, founder, Structur3dpeople; founder, Cajigo
- Rebecca Kemp, director of customer journey, Citizens Advice
- Rebecca Mister, co-founder and director, RedTech Recruitment
- Rebecca Pope, UK digital and data science innovation lead, Roche
- Regina Moran, vice-president strategic programs and change, Fujitsu
- Reshma Sohoni, founding partner, Seedcamp
- Rioch Edwards-Brown, founder, So You Wanna Be In Tech?
- Rita Martins, FinTech partnerships lead, Finance and Risk
- Roberta Lucca, co-founder and board director, Bossa Studios
- Romanie Thomas, founder and CEO, Juggle Jobs
- Ronda Zelezny-Green, global head, training and e-learning, Internet Society
- Ros Delderfield, customer experience manager, BP International
- Rosalind Singleton, CEO, Spring Fibre
- Rose Ross, co-founder, TechBritannia; MD, Omarketing
- Rosie Sherry, community lead, Orbit
- Roxane Heaton, director, digital, data and technology, Cabinet Office
- Rubi Kaur, senior solutions architect, Vodafone Group
- Sabina Ciofu, head of EU and trade policy, TechUK
- Sabrina Castiglione, chief financial officer, Tessian
- Safia Barikzai, associate professor, London South Bank University; academic lead, Digital Grid Partnership
- Samantha Payne, co-founder and chief operating officer, Open Bionics
- Samantha Smith, head of digital and IT, 3C Shared Services; strategic IT lead, Cambridgeshire County and Peterborough City Councils
- Sana Khareghani, head, UK Government Office for Artificial Intelligence
- Sandra Taylor, assistant director of IT and digital, Worcestershire County Council
- Sandra Wachter, associate professor and senior research fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
- Sara Sharkey, head application services and DevOps, Defence Digital
- Sara Simeone, CEO, Digital Oracles
- Sarah Armstrong-Smith, chief security adviser, EMEA, Microsoft
- Sarah Atkinson, director, corporate social responsibility, Global at Micro Focus
- Sarah Curran Usher, MD EMEA, True Fit
- Sarah Hunter, director of global public policy, X (Google MOONSHOTS)
- Sarah Luxford, partner (DDaT), GatenbySanderson; co-founder, TLA Women in Tech
- Sarah Porter, founder and CEO, Inspired Minds
- Sarah Rench, director of AI and industry solutions, Avanade
- Sarah Shields, vice president – central and North Europe channel, Dell Technologies
- Sarah Tulip, head of digital transformation, BJSS
- Sarah Turner, CEO and co-founder, Angel Academe
- Sarah Wilkinson, CIO, Thomson Reuters
- Sarah Winmill, CIO, business functions, Ministry of Defence
- Shahanaz Parven, commercial director and research analyst, Baharia Tech
- Shaheen Sayed, senior managing director and technology lead UKI, Accenture
- Shalini Khemka, founder and CEO, E2Exchange
- Sharmadean Reid, founder, Beautystack, WAH Nails, The Stack World
- Sharon Moore, CTO for public sector, IBM UK
- Sharon Russell, senior software engineer, Comparethemarket.com
- Sheeza Shah, founder and CEO, UpEffect
- Shefali Roy, board member, Ada’s List and MakerDAO
- Sheree Atcheson, global director of diversity and inclusion, Valtech
- Sheridan Ash, technology and investments director, women in technology leader UK, PwC; founder, Tech She Can
- Sherry Vaswani, group CEO, Xalient
- Shivvy Jervis, forecaster and founder, FutureScape 248
- Sian Allsopp, technology executive director, Morgan Stanley; steering committee member, Tech She Can
- Sian John, director security, compliance and identity strategic growth business development, Microsoft
- Siobhan Baker, senior software engineer, 8th Light
- Sonia Patel, CIO, NHSX
- Sonya Barlow, founder, LMF Network CIC
- Sophie Davies-Patrick, CTO, MPB
- Sophie Deen, CEO, Bright Little Labs
- Sophie McGrath, partner, tech and life sciences, Goodwin Procter LLP
- Stephanie Eltz, co-founder and CEO, Doctify
- Stephanie Itimi, founder and CEO, Seidea
- Stephanie Phair, chief customer officer, Farfetch
- Sue Whittington, director of operations, Smart
- Suki Fuller, founder, Miribure
- Susan Buttsworth, COO, Three UK
- Susan Morrow, head of R&D, Avoco Secure
- Susana Zoghbi, deep learning research engineer, Greyparrot
- Susanne Baker, associate director, climate, environment and sustainability, TechUK
- Susanne Chishti, CEO, Fintech Circle
- Susie Hargreaves, CEO, Internet Watch Foundation
- Suzie Miller, senior cloud solutions architect, Azure, Microsoft
- Sylvia Lu, head of cellular technology strategy, u-blox; board director, Cambridge Wireless; board member, UK5G
- Tabitha Goldstaub, co-founder, CognitionX; chair of government’s AI Council
- Tamara Lohan, founder and CTO, Mr & Mrs Smith
- Tamara Rajah, chief business and science officer, Holland & Barrett
- Tamsin Ashmore, CFO, Ultima Business Solutions
- Tania Boler, CEO and co-founder, Elvie
- Tanya Cordrey, partner, AKF Partners
- Tara Donnelly, chief digital officer, NHSX
- Tara McGeehan, president of UK and Australia operations, CGI
- Tarah Lourens, chief product and technology officer, Rightmove
- Taylor Semelsberger, founder, Miro Solutions UK
- Tina Götschi, principal, Ada. National College for Digital Skills
- Tina Howell, cloud practice lead, AND Digital
- Ting Zhang, CEO and founder, Crayfish.io
- Tracy Westall, chair, Curium Solutions; non-executive director, Department for Transport; NED, West Midlands 5G
- Tristi Tanaka, technology change programme leader, currently at NHS; BCS Women committee member; fellow, ForHumanity
- Tugce Bulut, CEO and co-founder, Streetbees
- Valerie Willis, head of operations and client relations, PrepaidFS
- Verena Rieser, professor of conversational AI and head, NLP; co-founder, Alana
- Vibhusha Raval, data innovation scrum lead, GSK
- Vicki Young, founder and CEO, Nalla Design
- Vicky Brock, founder and CEO, Vistalworks
- Victoria Carr, scientific programmer, Wellcome Sanger Institute; founder, ResearcHers Code
- Vivi Cahyadi, CEO, AltoVita
- Wai Foong Ng, founder and CEO, Matchable
- Wendy Redshaw, chief digital information officer, retail banking, NatWest Group
- Wendy Tan White, vice-president, Moonshots at X; member, UK Digital Economy Council; trustee, Alan Turing Institute
- Yanna Winter, CIO, head of IT, Generali
- Yemi Jackson, founder and CEO, Engage Transform
- Yemi Oluseun, programme manager, The Change Hive
- Yi Luo, angel invester
- Yvonne Gallagher, digital director, The NAO
- Zahra Bahrololoumi, CEO, Salesforce UK&I
- Zandra Moore, CEO, Panintelligence
- Zara Nanu, CEO and co-founder, Gapsquare; Global Future Council on Equity and Social Justice at World Economic Forum
- Zoe Cunningham, director, Softwire
A panel of expert judges used the following criteria to decide which of these women will be included in the top 50 shortlist:
Influence: What authority or ability does the person have – either through her personal position or the role she holds – to personally influence the development of UK IT, or to influence others in positions of authority?
Achievements: What has the person achieved in the past 12 months to help the development of UK IT?
Profile: Is the person recognised as a role model for aspiring leaders? How widely is she acknowledged by her peers as an authority and influence on UK IT?
Leadership: Does the person demonstrate the skills and experience necessary to be seen as a leader in the development of IT in the UK? Does she have a leadership role and does that help her to develop the role of IT in the UK?
Potential: How likely is it that the person will have a significant impact on UK IT in the next 12 months? Will her authority and responsibility grow?
Community: Has the person contributed to the women in technology community? To what extent has she used her influence to help other women progress in IT?
Women considered to have made a lifetime contribution to the technology sector, as well as past winners, have been added to our Hall of Fame, and so do not appear on the annual nominations list.
The shortlist of 50 will be published soon, allowing reader voting, and the winner of the top 50 will be announced at Computer Weekly’s annual diversity in tech event, run in partnership with Spinks, which this year will be held online on 30 September 2021.
