A woman working in tech who has gone out of her way to support the cause of getting more women and diverse groups of people into the industry in the last 2-years. As well as examining the initiatives the candidates have pioneered to inspire women and diverse talent to succeed in tech, judges will also assess their leadership, evidence of growth and their work’s impact on, and integration with, the business. 

Cynthia Hetherington, Hetherington Group

Deborah Schildkraut, Kestin Impact Consulting

Diane Chan, BNY Mellon

Ketaki Vaidya, Oracle

LaLisha Hurt, Splunk, Inc.

Lindsay Hua, Afiniti

Maril Vernon, Aquia/The Cyber Queens Podcast/Teach Kids Tech

Mica Syjuco, Avanade

Sajni Vederey, Blackstone

Sarah Hospelhorn, BigID

A senior figure who has gone out of their way to improve the diversity levels within IT, within the organization and/or in the wider community. Successful nominations must provide case studies or examples of how the candidate has gone out of their way, or strategically prioritized, getting more diversity of talent into IT and/or supporting them in their careers, and how they intend to continue their work and support.

Jai Gulati, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Leland Elie, Bank of America

Mike Zachman, Zebra Technologies Corporation

Vikash Khatri, Afiniti

William Mechler, Tampa Police Department

A chief information/technology/operational officer or director/head of who has demonstrated positive impact on the company’s top line and driven new customer value through the innovative use of technology. Candidates will include examples of strong leadership and how they have employed a technology strategy to enhance product development and improve the service the company provides to customers. Judges will also assess how well-ingrained this senior leader is in the business and how she has helped put technology at the heart of the business, driving strong commercial results in the process. 

Beatriz Copelli, Danone

Kasia Gora, SCiFi Foods

Laureen Knudsen, Broadcom

Mary Kotch, Core Speciality Insurance

Melanie Kirkwood Ruiz, ABM Industries

Sabina Isak, Barclays

Sheila Jordan, Honeywell

Teri Green, Lite Technology Solutions, LLC

A woman IT, technology or business leader who has demonstrated successful results in data technology in the last 2-years. This could include demonstrations of successfully deploying data technologies; improving how a company uses or deals with data; delivering effective data strategies; enhancing decision-making with data; contributions to a growth/continuity plan; and/or furthering knowledge, awareness and education around data and related technologies.

Adita Karkera, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Anne Nies, Technology Leader

Cheryl DeLany, Franklin Templeton

Ewa J. Kleczyk, Target RWE

Jamie Beason, JLL

Julie-VanTrinh Nguyen, bp

Kristin Valley, Willis Towers Watson (WTW)

Sameera Kapasi, Nerdery

Suzanne Sleeva, Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network

Theresa Gebert, Afiniti

This award will be presented to a project or initiative that has had demonstrable success in improving the recruitment, onboarding, development and/or progression, and inclusion of underrepresented talent. This may be a digital technology driven initiative or project that has also improved communication, engagement and support and removed a significant barrier to change affecting diverse talent.

SP(HER)E, SPHERE

The Power of Genetic Algorithm, BairesDev®

Women in RegTech New York Network, by WIRTNY 

A woman chief digital officer, digital director or leader of a digital transformation who has led an IT/Digital transformation or business change programme driven by technology in the last 2 years. Judges will look at examples of the technology and innovation involved; leadership; best practice; results and return on investment; alignment to business goals; how culture shifts were managed; and a growth/continuity strategy. 

Anne Nies, Cohere Health

Bhairavi Dubhashi, Cummins

Dora Clements, Unum

Illona Whatley, MMIT

Jaspreet Singh, Trimble Transportation

Kate Pretkel, EPAM Systems, Inc.

Mahalakshmi Viswanathan, Software AG

Nicole Sohoni, Verizon

Shell Adams, Citigroup

Swati Oza, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

This award is open to the VP of Diversity, Chief Diversity Officer, Heads and Directors of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in the tech industry. This person has  demonstrated  success in addressing inequalities and improving outcomes, ensuring a culture where all employees can thrive. This nominee is a role model and innovative leader in actively supporting employees; has introduced organisational change that can be measured in terms of staff engagement, retention, satisfaction, and wellbeing. This person is a great influencer and inspires and motivates others to improve the business for all.   

Angela Suresh, Washington Business Dynamics

Bethany Saint Clair, OpenTExt

Kathleen Pai, N-able

Kimberley Basnight, Extreme Networks

Lindsay Hua, Afiniti

Lisa Prince, Afiniti

This award is for a technology organization that has demonstrated a great effort to attract and retain more diverse talent, or a company from any other industry that has demonstrated great efforts to attract and retain more diverse talent in its IT and/or digital department. Judges will look at efforts the company has made to create a more diverse and inclusive working environment.

Cisco

CU NextGen

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

GenSpark

Globant

JetRockets

Skill Struck

A woman leader of a technology, digital or e-commerce start-up that has demonstrated excellent growth in the last 3-years. Judges will look at demonstrations of a growth mindset, inclusive and inspirational leadership, and standout achievements. 

Dao Jensen, Oak Rocket

Jacquelyn Clayborn, ONC National

Joyce Durst, Growth Acceleration Partners

LaVerne Council, Emerald One, LLC

Maryann Pagano, BlackHawk Data LLC

Nataliya Anon, Svitla Systems Inc.

Nikita Gupta, Careerflow.ai

Silvina Moschini, Unicoin

Stacia Nelson, Pivot Strategies

Vickie Chen, AviaGames

An IT team, led by a woman, that has delivered real value – with tangible business results – to a company. Judges will look at projects and achievements, along with examples of best practice, leadership, ROI generated, alignment to business goals and growth strategies. 

8th Light LLC, Led by Kristin Kaeding

Afiniti, Led by Ksenija Draskovic

Cognizant, Led by Mariesa Coughanour

Expedia Group, Led by Aya Taleb

Pearson, Led by Gabriele Bauman

Slalom, Led by Kesha Williams

Thoughtworks, Led by Luiza Nunes

Unisys, Led by Suzanne Taylor

Unum, Led by Debbie Thornbury

Verizon, Led by Abby Knowles

This category recognises the achievements over a long period of time which have made an important contribution to the general standing of the technology industry. This individual has dedicated a major part of their working life to helping and supporting others. Judges will be looking for evidence of multiple projects and how they have impacted women and young girls. This individual is required to have more than 10 years of service within the technology industry.

Angelique Napoleon, GDIT

Elaine Montilla, Pearson

LaVerne Council, Emerald One, LLC

Terri Roeslmeier, Automated Business Designs

Yasha Sterling, ComEd/Yasha Sterling Management Agency

This award is for a woman (of any age) that has entered the tech space for the first time within the last 2-years. It recognizes women who have progressed rapidly through their roles and demonstrated business value and innovation. Submissions should include some examples of the following: upskilling efforts; demonstrable success deploying technologies; improving approaches to technology; delivering effective strategies; enhancing decision-making; creating business value, efficiencies and cost savings, or improving services; driving new innovation in the industry; or furthering knowledge, awareness and education around technology.

Ashley Scott, PepsiCo

Kristin Valley, Willis Towers Watson (WTW)

Melissa Sutton, Unum

A woman under the age of 30, or who turns 30 in 2023, who has progressed rapidly though their career and demonstrated business value and innovation through the use of technology. This could include demonstrable success deploying technologies; improving approaches to technology; delivering effective strategies; enhancing decision-making; creating business value, efficiencies and cost savings, or improving services; driving new innovation in the industry; or furthering knowledge, awareness and education around technology. 

Arteesha Bosamia, Dentsu

Fanny Heneine, Afiniti

Morgan Bell, Google

Namaswi Chandarana, GameChanger

Spandana Govindgari, Meta Platforms Inc.

Stephanie Lee, Infleqtion

Tess Mackay, Frank Recruitment Group

Thamina Stoll, LinkedIn

Yifei Wang, Meta Platforms Inc.

Yvonne Cristy, Clarasys

A woman CSO, CISO or any other senior IT security function (including cyber security and data management), who has delivered outstanding work, implemented innovative approaches to security and contributed to the impact of policies, procedures and projects within the business. Submissions should include examples of this work; the ROI; the methodologies of implementation; the impacts on the business and other stakeholders; and their strategy to uphold security best practice. 

Christa Ferrell, Bank of Montreal

Christine Whichard, SmartBear

Dana Simberkoff, AvePoint

Frankie Jackson, K-12 Education Technology Leadership Projects

Heather Hinton, PagerDuty

Judy Garcia, Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Kavya Pearlman, XR Safety Initiative

Monica Eaton, Chargebacks911

Rita Gurevich, SPHERE

Stephanie Franklin-Thomas, ABM Industries

This award honours a responsible tech project or initiative within an organisation or company, with a demonstrable social or environment impact. It recognises social responsibility, charity work or green and sustainable initiatives that are driven or implemented using pioneering digital techniques. Entries will be judged on their effectiveness, innovation and overall commitment to doing good. Entrants should reference how their technology links to the UN Sustainability Goals, and which SDGs in particular.  

Carnegie Learning

JASA

Kollege and Kareer 4 Youth

This award will be presented to the individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to addressing social-economic inequalities. The award recognizes projects or initiatives that encourage social mobility and sustainable community involvement from all backgrounds.

Aquia/The Cyber Queens Podcast/Teach Kids Tech

Financial Literacy Programme, led by Parker Bartimus, JP Morgan Chase

GDIT

Mojaloop Foundation

Navisite Global Steminist Scholarship Program, Navisite

Unicoin

A company that has torn up the rule book to create innovative processes and ways of working to drive a coherent and sustainable working strategy. Judges will look at demonstrations of growth (turnover, profit, employees etc.), standout achievements and customer testimonials. The business must be under 3-years old.

Careerflow.ai

Klickly

KORIS

A role model who has demonstrated a high degree of excellence, innovation and leadership in the last 5-years, and shone a light on the great things women in technology can achieve. In their submission, nominees should not only demonstrate outstanding business- and tech focussed achievements, but also give examples on how they have actively sought to bring more diversity to the technology industry.  

Adita Karkera, Deloitte Consulting LLP

Alice Buratti, Clarasys

Beverly Chamberlain, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Kavya Pearlman, XR Safety Initiative

Mariesa Coughanour, Cognizant

Martha Salinas, TreviPay

Mica Syjuco, Avanade

Prerna Goja, Zensa LLC

Shannon Sbar, Schneider Electric

Vivienne Wei, Salesforce