Computer Weekly’s list of the Most Influential Women in UK Technology has been running since 2012, to make female role models in the UK’s technology sector more visible and accessible.
In 2015, the Hall of Fame was introduced alongside the top 50 to recognise women who have made a lifetime contribution to the technology sector, as well as their efforts to encourage others to join the IT industry, further expanding the number of amazing women people are reading about.
Individuals are only featured in the Hall of Fame if they have done extensive work in the technology sector and in shifting the dial towards better diversity in UK tech – these individuals have worked tirelessly, and dedicated their lives and careers to this cause.
Role models are vitally important to encouraging people from under-represented groups into the technology sector – seeing others like them in a particular industry or position can help them to envisage themselves in those roles in the future, as well as see the steps that may get them there.
New women are added to the Hall of Fame every year, not only to recognise and celebrate women who have spent their lives and careers going above and beyond to improve diversity and inclusion in the tech industry, and to make meaningful contributions to the technology space in general, but also to ensure different and fresh names can be included on the top 50 list of the Most Influential Women in UK Technology.
Sheridan Ash, founder and co-CEO, Tech She Can
The 2024 winner of the Computer Weekly list of the most influential women in UK tech, until 2023, Ash led technology innovation at PwC UK, and is currently co-CEO and founder of the charity Tech She Can. She was a board member of the Institute of Coding for four years and, in 2020, received an MBE for services to young girls and women through technology.
Tech She Can is an award-winning charity with more than 240 member organisations, which together work with industry, government and schools to improve the ratio of women in technology roles. It provides initiatives and pathways into tech careers across all the different stages of girls’ and women’s lives.
At PwC, Ash led change in the technology workforce, pioneering initiatives that saw the percentage of women in tech more than double to reach 32%.
Nicola Hodson, CEO and chair UK & Ireland, IBM; board member, TechUK
Hodson has an extensive background in the technology sector, and has had roles such as managing consultant at EY and general manager at Siemens Business Services responsible for public sector, healthcare, financial services and manufacturing.
More recently, she was vice-president for global sales, marketing and operations – field transformation at Microsoft, before becoming chief executive of IBM in the UK and Ireland at the beginning of 2023.
She’s also a board member of TechUK, and holds several non-executive directorships.
Liz Williams, CEO, FutureDotNow; chair, GoodThingsFoundation
Williams is CEO of inclusion campaign FutureDotNow, which aims to ensure people are not left behind by the growing skills gap caused by digital adoption. She is a member of the UK government’s Digital Skills Council, and group chair of the Good Things Foundation.
Prior to her current work, Williams spent more than 20 years at BT in a number of different roles, including programme director for sustainable business, director of tech literacy and education programmes, and director of digital society. Until 2024, she was a member of the board of trustees for Transport for London.
Hayaatun Sillem, CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering
Sillem worked for the Royal Academy of Engineering for 12 years before being appointed its CEO in 2018. Previous roles at the academy include deputy CEO and director of strategy, director of programmes and fellowship, and head of international activities.
As well as her work for the academy, Sillem is a trustee of EngineeringUK and CEO of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.
Priya Lakhani, founder and CEO, Century Tech
Lakhani founded Century Tech as a teaching and learning platform focused on subjects such as artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive neuroscience, big data analytics and blockchain, where she is also CEO.
A frequent public speaker, she has previously been a member of the UK’s AI Council, a board member for the Foundation for Education Development, a board member for Unboxed 2022, and a non-executive director for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
She is a digital patron for Cottesmore School, and has appeared on the BBC’s AI Decoded news segment. She was awarded an OBE in 2014.
Sarah Turner, CEO and co-founder, Angel Academe
Turner founded Angel Academe, a pro-women and pro-diversity angel investment group focused on technology, and is currently CEO of the group.
Until 2023, Turner was also an advisory board member of tech recruiter Spinks, and in 2007 co-founded consultancy Turner Hopkins, which helps businesses create digital strategies.
Previously, Turner was an external board member and chair of the investment committee for venture capital fund the Low Carbon Innovation Fund and a board member of the UK Business Angels Association, the trade association for early stage investment.
Rachel Neaman, partner, Energising Leaders: Strengths Unleashed
Neaman is a senior independent director and chair of the remuneration committee for digital transformation firm TPXImpact, as well as a faculty member for creative consulting company Holos Change.
She also holds several other positions as partner of Energising Leaders, faculty member at the Public School of Technology, and governor of Birckbeck University, among many other roles.
Her previous roles include CEO of digital skills charity Go ON UK, director of skills and partnerships at Doteveryone, CEO of the Corsham Institute, and chair and advisory board member of Digital Leaders.
Clare Barclay, chair, Industrial Strategy Council, Department for Business and Trade; president, enterprise and industry, Microsoft EMEA
Barclay has been with Microsoft for more than 10 years, holding several roles including director of SMB, general manager of small and mid-market solutions and partners, COO, and CEO in the UK.
In November 2024, she became president of enterprise and industry for Microsoft in the UK. She is chair of the industrial strategy advisory council for the Department for Business and Trade, and until recently, was a board member for the British Heart Foundation and a non-executive director at CBI.
Beeban Kidron, expert in children’s rights in digital world; founder and chair, 5Rights Foundation
Beeban Kindron uses her role as a cross-bench peer in the House of Lords to promote the rights of children in an increasingly digital age, and promote conversations around the subject of digital regulation and accountability.
She is founder and chair of not-for-profit 5Rights Foundation, focused around developing digital in line with the rights and needs of children.
Kindron holds many other roles, including advisor to the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford, commissioner on the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, and expert advisor for the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Body on AI.
Prior to her work in digital, she was a film director and founded education charity Into Film.
Pat Ryan, founder, Cyber Girls First
Ryan launched Cyber Girls First in 2014, when women made up only 8% of the tech and cyber workforce.
The charity is aimed at encouraging girls into cyber careers by holding events at large tech companies or university campuses where children can find out more about potential future career choices and give them a better idea of how to shape their education to reach future goals.
Ryan has previously served in the Royal Navy Intelligence, and has also previously had a high-ranking role at PwC.
She was awarded a CBE for her work encouraging young people into their future careers.
Bina Mehta, partner, KPMG UK; senior independent director, ICC
In her 30 years at KPMG, Mehta has had many responsibilities, including building the firm’s focus on trade and investment, and helping scaleup clients to access financial support.
She is now chair of the organisation, and in 2022 was awarded an MBE for services to UK trade and investment, and supporting female entrepreneurs.
Mehta is a senior independent director of the International Chamber of Commerce, honorary professor at Bayes Business School, and chair of the KPMG Foundation.
Allison Kirkby, CEO, BT Group
With a long history of CEO positions, Kirkby has experience in running companies with a background in telecoms, and in February this year took over as CEO of BT Group.
Her past CEO roles have included TDC group, Tele2 and Telia, and she is also a senior advisor for Brookfield asset management and a board member for GSMA.
She recently took up a position as a member of the Board of Trade for the Department for Business and Trade, and has won awards for her work as a chief executive.
Existing members of the Hall of Fame
Amali de Alwis
Winner of Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Woman in UK Tech accolade in 2018, Amali De Alwis is currently a board member for a portfolio of businesses, including abrdn Charitable Foundation, Ada, the National College for Digital Skills, and Cajigo, as well as acting as a startup consultant.
She has been a CEO for several companies in the past, including climate startup accelerator Subak, Founders Forum and coding training programme Code First: Girls, which not only aims to increase diversity in the tech sector, but in 2018 was teaching more women in the UK to code than the UK’s university system.
She has previously also been UK managing director of Microsoft for Startups, and member of the diversity and inclusion board at the Institute of Coding. She sits on the board of trustees for the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and is a founding member of the Tech Talent Charter.
Currently she heads up startups and venture capital business development at AWS where she focuses on venture capital, business development, cloud and artificial Intelligence (AI).
In 2019, she was awarded an MBE for services to diversity and training in the tech industry.
Andrea Palmer
Andrea Palmer has had a long career in business change and digital transformation, having held various roles at energy firm BP for over 15 years.
She is currently chair of BCS Women, and has previously sat on the BCS society board, and acted as a BCS council member.
In previous years, she has served as one of Computer Weekly’s expert judges for the Most Influential Women in UK Tech list, dedicating a lot of time, both in and outside her work, to furthering the conversation around getting more women into the tech sector.
In 2021 she volunteered as a programme manager for iSAW International, and is currently principal consultant for Infosys Consulting.
Anne Boden
Anne Boden founded digital challenger bank Starling in 2014 to build an organisation focused on customer experience. She is currently an investor and a member of its board of directors.
Prior to Starling, Boden was chief operating officer at Allied Irish Bank and head of EMEA global transaction services for RBS.
Her book, The money revolution, released in 2019, aims to help people manage their money in a digitally driven world.
Anne-Marie Imafidon
Anne-Marie Imafidon was originally named one of Computer Weekly’s Rising Stars in 2014, going on to win the title of Most Influential Woman in UK Tech in 2020.
Her book, She’s in CTRL, published in 2022, is aimed at helping women reclaim their place in the era of technology.
Imafidon is CEO of Stemettes, which she founded to encourage young women to consider careers in STEM.
Outside of her work with Stemettes, she is a commissioner for the Hamilton Commission, an initiative set up by racing driver Lewis Hamilton to address the lack of black people both in UK motorsport and in the STEM sectors.
She has appeared as a co-presenter on ITV’s Countdown, and is also a regular podcast host on the Evening Standard’s Women Tech Charge podcast.
Imafidon is also a fellow of the RSA, a council member of Research England, chancellor for Glasgow Caledonian University, computer science advisory board member at Durham University and is chair and trustee for the Institute for the Future of Work.
She has previously been a member of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) Digital Skills Partnership Board, and a visiting professor at the University of Sunderland.
Anne Marie Neatham
Anne Marie Neatham took on her current role at Ocado Group as chief solutions officer for Ocado Intelligent Automation in 2022.
Prior to this, she was chief operating officer at Kindred, the AI robotics firm acquired by the group.
She is a true believer that to get young girls into technology careers, encouragement needs to start early in the education system.
Previously, Neatham led Ocado Technology’s teams focused on robotics and automation in her role as commercial director for the office of the CTO at Ocado Technology. She has been with Ocado since 2001, originally as a software engineer, then head of Ocado Technology in Poland in 2012, where she set up the firm’s Polish arm.
She became chief operating officer of Ocado Technology in 2014, and has previously been a software engineer in software and retail firms around the world.
Carrie Anne Philbin
Another alumna of Computer Weekly’s 2016 Women in Tech Rising Stars, Carrie Philbin is currently a PHD Student conducting academic research at the Raspberry Pi Computing Education Research Centre.
Until the tail end of 2024, she had several responsibilities within the Institute of Imagination, including leading strategy, continuing professional development programmes and learning resources.
She is a fellow of the Python Software Foundation, a club volunteer for Code Club, and her various experiences in board member and chair roles – including her time as a board member for Computing at School and her stint as chair of CAS #include – have all been aimed at making computer science more accessible for everyone.
She is also a YouTuber, writer and secondary-level computing and ICT teacher, and over the last few years has been developing a magazine and podcast in association with the Raspberry Pi Foundation aimed at those teaching computing and digital subjects.
Chi Onwurah
Chi Onwurah is the MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and chair of the government’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee.
Her parliamentary career has been heavily focused on digital and technology, having been shadow minister for digital, science and technology; shadow minister for culture and the digital economy; shadow Cabinet Office minister leading on cyber security, social entrepreneurship, civil contingency, open government and transparency; and shadow minister for innovation, science and digital infrastructure.
Previously, Onwurah worked in several connectivity and telecoms-based businesses, including Ofcom, Teligent, and Cable & Wireless.
Cindy Rose
Rose started her current role as CEO of digital advertising agency WPP in 2025, and has a long career spanning several technology companies.
During her almost decade-long stint at Microsoft Rose has many roles – in 2020, Cindy Rose was appointed president of Western Europe for Microsoft, having served as CEO of Microsoft UK since 2016, where she was responsible for the firm’s product, service and support offering across the region. In 2023 she then because chief operating officer for global enterprise sales at the company before moving on in 2025.
Previously, Rose worked in senior roles across the technology and digital sectors at firms such as Vodafone, Virgin Media and Disney’s Interactive Media Group.
In early 2019, she was awarded an OBE for services to UK technology, and is currently a non-executive director for communications firm WPP.
Clare Sutcliffe
A serial founder, advisor and angel investor, Clare Sutcliffe first appeared on Computer Weekly’s radar as the founder of Code Club, a nationwide network of free volunteer-led after-school coding clubs for children aged 9–11.
Until early 2018, Sutcliffe was executive director of communities and outreach for Raspberry Pi Foundation following its merger with Code Club, where Sutcliffe was responsible for introducing and developing an online learning platform to give people access to digital “making” projects using Raspberry Pi technology.
In 2015, Sutcliffe was awarded an MBE for her services to technology, and has been a co-founder of many organisations, including She Wins and Community Pros of London.
She now helps other brands develop businesses that are based around harnessing the power of community. She founded the Cambridge Innovation Ecosystem earlier this year to connect innovators, founders, and investors in the Cambridge area to promote innovation.
Debbie Forster
Debbie Forster is an award-winning diversity, tech and education advocate with a longstanding career focused on driving diversity and equality in the technology sector.
Originally a teacher, her side step into tech came from an education perspective, first as part of Tech Partnership (formerly e-skills UK) and then for five years she holding senior positions at organisation Apps for Good, aimed at encouraging young people to gain skills in digital technology and app development.
She founded and was CEO of the Tech Talent Charter, an industry-led membership group of 700-plus signatories working to improve diversity and inclusion in the tech ecosystem, until it was disbanded in 2024.
She received an MBE in 2017 for services to digital technology and tech development, and was named 2019’s Most Influential Woman in UK IT by Computer Weekly.
Forster has had an extensive portfolio of positions as non-executive director, chair and board member, having been an advisory board member for the Money and Pensions Service Advisory Board, non-executive director of Temenos, member of the National Cyber Advisory Board, and board member the government’s Digital Economy Council.
She currently chairs the Institute of Coding’s Diversity Board, sits on the steering group of #TechSheCan, and is non executive director and chair of nominations, remuneration and HR committee at The Lending Standards Board.
Eileen Burbidge
Eileen Burbidge is director at reproductive healthcare organisation Fertifa, and is a founding partner at London-based venture capital firm Passion Capital, where she offers experience gained from various tech roles throughout her career.
Her career in technology has spanned 15 years and includes roles at companies such as Yahoo!, Skype, PalmSource, Openwave, Sun Microsystems and Apple.
Alongside her role at Passion Capital, Burbidge is a non-executive director at Currys plc, and was a co-founder/startup angel and adviser for White Bear Yard.
Until 2020, she was chair of Tech Nation, and was previously a member of the prime minister’s business advisory group, and a special envoy for fintech for HM Treasury.
Elizabeth Denham
Until 2021, Elizabeth Denham was the UK’s information commissioner, leading the office dealing with the Data Protection Act 2018 – the UK’s implementation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Before becoming information commissioner, Denham was the information and privacy commissioner for British Columbia, Canada, responsible for compliance with public and private sector privacy legislation and access to information law.
In 2018, she was awarded a CBE for services to information protection.
Emma McGuigan
Until April 2024, Emma McGuigan was the group technology officer responsible for communications, media and technology for Accenture. Prior to this, until March 2017, McGuigan ran Accenture’s UK and Ireland technology business, which includes consulting and outsourcing for 70% of Accenture’s UK business.
She joined Accenture in 1994 after graduating with a Master’s degree in electronics from the University of Edinburgh. McGuigan also led Accenture’s work with Stemettes, a charity dedicated to increasing the number of women in STEM careers.
In 2012, she was the technology category winner of Women in the City’s Woman of Achievement Awards, and in 2013 was made a fellow of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. McGuigan has previously been a board member of industry body TechUK and treasurer of the Orchid Project.
She is currently an advisory board member of Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.
Flavilla Fongang
Computer Weekly’s 2022 most influential woman in UK tech, Flavilla Fongang, is a strategic brand specialist aiming to help technology companies with brand engagement. Until recently, she was managing director of creative agency 3 Colours Rule, as well as a branding, neuromarketing and social selling course instructor for the agency.
Now, she is CEO of Black Rise, a talent network aimed at finding business opportunities for black professionals and entrepreneurs, and is on the strategy steering board for the City of London Corporation.
She has previously acted as a brand adviser at the BBC, a brand specialist for Consilience Ventures and is currently an entrepreneurship expert with the Entrepreneurship Centre at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.
She founded the Tech London Advocates Black Women in Tech group, which aims to support and accelerate diversity and inclusion in the tech sector.
A podcaster, author and influencer, Fongang goes above and beyond to ensure the inclusion of black women in the technology sector and beyond.
Gillian Arnold
Gillian Arnold is managing director of IT recruitment firm Tectre, which is aimed specifically at supporting women in technology roles.
Previously chair of BCSWomen, she is now president of the BCS, and a board member for the Industrial Advisory Board for the School of Computing and Communications at the Open University.
In her 30-plus-year tech career, Arnold has spent time as chair of the European Women in IT taskforce, aimed at developing best practices and Europe-wide activities to increase the number of women in the tech industry.
As well as having chaired a forum for IT trade body Intellect (now TechUK), Arnold used to be a board member at Wise, which supports women in STEM.
Hannah Dee
Dee is an information security and databases lecturer at Aberystwyth University, where she researches computer vision, and is also a founding member of online STEM magazine Scientists Are Humans.
She founded the BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium in 2008 as a conference for female undergraduates. Now deputy chair of the colloquium, Dee helped run the first Women in Tech Cymru summer conference in 2019.
She has won awards in teaching and received a Suffrage Science award in 2018.
Dee was on the committee of BCSWomen until 2023, and until 2020 was secretary of BCS Mid-Wales. She has had a long career in science and technology.
Helen Milner
Helen Milner is founder and CEO of not-for-profit the Good Things Foundation (formerly the Tinder Foundation), having founded the charity in 2011 to help the digitally excluded become comfortable using digital and online technologies.
Most of her work is focused on building tech inclusion for digitally excluded people.
She is Chair of environmental charity Subak, and a non executive director of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
She has been a board member of both FutureDotNow and the DCMS Digital Skills Partnership Board, and is on the Advisory Group for the UK’s Money and Pension Service.
Milner was previously a specialist government adviser of digital engagement for the Public Accounts Committee, was named Digital Leader of the Year in 2017, and was awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to digital inclusion.
Jacqueline De Rojas
The 2015 winner of Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Woman UK Tech, De Rojas insists that you “can have it all” – she is not only president of a company and non-executive director of several more, but is also married with three children and two dogs.
De Rojas is president of Digital Leaders, board member and former president of TechUK, co-chair of the governance board for the Institute of Coding, and non-executive director of Rightmove, IFS, Costain Group and FDM Group.
She acts as a business adviser and mentor and was awarded a CBE in 2018 for services to international trade in technology.
Jane Moran
Jane Moran was the first winner of Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Woman in UK IT when it was launched in 2012.
At the time, Moran was CIO at Thomson Reuters, where she took part in the Thomson Reuters Women’s Network, Women in Technology International and the National Centre for Women in Technology.
Now she is the non-executive director of JP Morgan Europe, and chief information and digital officer at Mass General Brigham in the US, having stepped down as global CIO of Unilever, a position she held for almost seven years.
Moran is also a non-executive director for JP Morgan Securities and was previously a non-executive director for Institutional Cash Distributors.
She actively participates in the IT community, and is an advocate for leadership skills and ensuring more women consider a career in technology.
In 2014, Moran was placed first on the annual Computer Weekly UKTech50 list, a showcase of the top movers and shakers in the UK IT industry.
Janet Coyle
Janet Coyle has held several roles at London & Partners, including principal adviser, director of trade and growth, leading the export and growth strategy for the firm, and managing director of growth, before being made managing director of business growth in early 2021.
She is currently a trustee and chair of Remco for Founders4Schools, and in the past, she was co-chair for the Tech London Advocates Scale Up Group, non-executive director for Rocketseed, managing director of Silicon Valley Comes to the UK and an adviser for charity Founders4Schools.
Jo Twist
Jo Twist was CEO of UKIE, the games industry trade body that aims to make the UK the leader in games and interactive entertainment, for 11 years, before moving on to be CEO of the British Phonographic Industry in 2023.
Twist is vice-president of games charity Special Effect, and a patron of gaming mental health charity, Safe In Our World.
Twist was previously commissioning editor for education at Channel 4, deputy chair of the British Screen Forum, chair of the games committee at Bafta. and was multi-platform commissioner of entertainment and Switch for the BBC in the early 2000s.
In 2016, she received an OBE for her contribution to the creative industries.
Joanna Shields
The 2013 winner of Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Woman in UK Tech, Joanna Shields is now founder and CEO of AI advisory firm Precognition, as well as founder and management board member of WeProtect Global Alliance.
Until late 2023, she was CEO of artificial intelligence company BenevolentAI, which aims to train computers to change how medicine is developed.
She was previously parliamentary under-secretary of state at the DCMS, and until early 2018 was UK minister for internet safety and security.
From December 2016, Shields acted as the prime minister’s special representative on internet crime and harms, driving a more international approach to internet safety and security.
Formerly CEO of accelerator programme Tech City, Shields founded not-for-profit WeProtect.org in 2013 to fight online child abuse and exploitation.
Formerly European chief of Facebook, Shields has had several roles as an adviser on digital. She believes the UK must address digital transformation properly if it is to remain a leader in digital development.
June Angelides
June Angelides founded, and until 2017 was CEO of, Mums in Tech when on maternity leave from Silicon Valley Bank, where she held roles as an associate for accelerator growth and an associate for entrepreneur banking.
She’s currently a board observer for many firms, including Everpress, Flair and Jude, is an investor at Samos Investments and Ada Ventures, and is an honorary fellow at the Institute of Engineering and Technology.
She has held many non-executive positions in the past, including board adviser for Cajigo App and Global App Testing, an Oxford Foundry mentor at Oxford University, and was a founding ambassador of the FiftyFiftyPledge, among many other non-executive positions.
Angelides was previously chosen as a Computer Weekly Rising Star, and was awarded an MBE in 2020.
Kate Russell
Kate Russell has been writing about technology since the mid-1990s, and is seen as a subject matter expert when it comes to the technology sector. Before her career in TV presenting and journalism, she sold CD manufacturing to computer game companies.
Russell is a frequent events speaker and works with organisations that aim to increase the number of young people who pursue a role in the tech sector, such as TeenTech.
Until 2021, she was a presenter on BBC technology programme Click, from which she stepped down to create a Twitch channel dedicated to rescued ferrets.
Currently, she is the communications manager for the DiversIT Charter, responsible for social media strategy to drive interest.
She has published many books, including Working the cloud, Elite: mostly harmless, and A bookkeeper’s guide to practical sorcery.
Kathryn Parsons
Kathryn Parsons founded Decoded in East London in 2011 “with a credit card and a mission to teach code in a day”. The coding school has taught people in businesses worldwide about the inner workings of technologies such as code, data, AI and cyber security.
Parsons launched the Decoded Data Academy in 2018 and wants Decoded’s efforts to increase digital literacy in businesses and government, and fill the data skills gap.
Until early 2021, she was a non-executive board member for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and until 2020 sat on the business advisory boards for the London mayor and 10 Downing Street.
Parsons was awarded an MBE in 2016 for her work in campaigning for code to be introduced into the UK’s curriculum.
Kerensa Jennings
Kerensa Jennings is a writer, executive coach and sits on the boards of several companies and initiatives, including as a board member for Founders for Schools, an advisory board member for Digital Leaders, and a board advisor for the Institute for Coding.
Until 2024, Jennings headed up BT’s data platforms, helping to create new business models using data and artificial intelligence (AI). She led the BT Skills for Tomorrow programme, helping people across the UK use digital to their advantage. The programme helped 10 million people learn digital skills and gain confidence with technology.
She was previously director at the Royal Household, and chief executive responsible for strategy and delivery of iDEA CIC, the inspiring digital enterprise award, and before that spent 15 years with the BBC in a variety of roles, including programme editor for Breakfast with Frost and executive editor for BBC News.
She spent two-and-a-half years as programme executive for the BBC Academy, helping develop a leadership programme for senior creative leaders throughout the corporation. Jennings has also held roles at major broadcast organisations ITN and Sky.
Lopa Patel
Lopa Patel has an extensive background in both diversity and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths), and currently holds a position as chair of equality charity Diversity UK, which aims to help create opportunities in the corporate, tech and public sectors for people from diverse backgrounds, where she was previously CEO.
She is also currently a deputy chair and non-executive board member of NHS Devon, where she is using her skills in digital transformation to help shape the future of the organisation.
She founded Asians in Tech in 2015, which annually showcases the top 100 people from Asian backgrounds working in the technology and digital sectors in the UK.
Previously in her career, she held positions as non-executive director of UK IPO, founder and CEO of NewAsianPost, trustee of the Science Museum Group, chair of the National Science and Media Museum, and STEM ambassador at STEMNET.
Maggie Berry
Until 2024 Maggie Berry was the director of Heart of the City, which works with small businesses to help them develop business programmes aimed at promoting diversity and supporting local communities, among other things.
Prior to this, she was executive director for Europe at WEConnect International, where she helped the firm to develop its corporate and public sector support, and grow its network of more than 1,500 women-led businesses to connect to the corporate supply chain.
Berry previously ran the womenintechnology.co.uk online job board for recruitment and networking, and is an advocate for diversity in the tech industry. She was awarded an OBE in 2019 for her services to women in technology and business. She is also a committee member of the Walsworth Community Centre and, until early 2021, was a diversity advisory committee member for Founders4Schools.
Currently, she’s the SME procurement lead at Enterprise Nation, and volunteers as liveryman of The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.
Maggie Philbin
The 2016 winner of Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Woman in UK Tech, Maggie Philbin is founder of TeenTech and has spent more than 30 years reporting on STEM subjects for television and radio.
She co-founded TeenTech with the aim of helping young people be inspired by – and seek a future career in – technology by using it to solve real-world problems.
A huge advocate of diversity in the tech sector, Philbin has received eight honorary degrees and an OBE to recognise her services in this area – although she insists those honours belong to her “amazing and dedicated” team.
Margaret Ross
Originally on track to become a secretary, Margaret Ross, a professor at Southampton Solent University, went on to gain degrees in mathematics, which eventually led her to programming and computing.
Although semi-retired, alongside her work at Southampton Solent, Ross is involved in BCS and BCSWomen.
In 2009, she was awarded an MBE for services to education.
Martha Lane Fox
Co-founder of Lastminute.com, serial entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox continues to promote the cause of women and diversity in the IT industry.
She also works for digital skills parity and believes more should be done to ensure the 12 million adults who cannot use the internet can achieve even the most basic tasks involved in a digital future.
Lane Fox intends her Doteveryone project – which she launched during her speech at the 2015 Dimbleby Lecture – to act as a platform to fuel the discussion around startups, governments, gender and skills.
A firm believer that the internet should be used as an enabler for change, Lane Fox has used her position as chancellor for the Open University and crossbench peer in the House of Lords, to speak out about the need for diversity and digital enablement.
She is now president of the British Chambers of Commerce, a cross-bench peer, and was appointed a distinguished fellow by the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, alongside Wendy Hall.
She is currently also non executive director of British Airways and Multiverse, and in the past did extensive work with the Government Digital Service.
Max Benson and Karen Gill
Benson and Gill launched Everywoman in 1999 to act as an online community for women across the UK and provide a network, support and resources for women wanting to start their own businesses.
The network eventually grew to support not only female entrepreneurs, but also women in sectors such as retail, travel, transport and logistics, and insurance and risk.
In 2010, it expanded further to cater to women in the technology sector, and Benson and Gill launched the Everywoman in Technology Awards to showcase the sector’s role models and shine a light on the different types of roles and careers in the sector.
As part of Everywoman, the pair also launched the Tech Hub, which aims to give women in the tech sector access to resources and connections that will help them further develop leadership skills and advance their careers.
Benson and Gill were awarded MBEs in 2009 for services to women’s enterprise.
Melissa Di Donato
Melissa Di Donato stepped back from her role at SUSE in 2023 to focus on her foundation Inner Wings, which she founded in 2020 to give young girls more confidence and work towards worldwide gender equality.
Currently, she is also a small and medium-sized enterprise digital adoption task force member for the Department for Business and Trade, and chair and CEO of financial analytics firm Kyriba, alongside other non executive director and board positions.
Prior to her current roles, she was non executive director at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; chief revenue officer for ERP and cloud and then chief operating officer for digital core at SAP; and spent six years at Salesforce, first as the area vice-president of ISV and channel programmes for EMEA and Asia-Pacific, during which she chaired a European ISV Advisory Innovation Board, and then as area vice-president of Wave Analytics Cloud.
Di Donato is a board member and adviser to various technology companies in the UK and Silicon Valley. She is a philanthropist, focusing on STEM initiatives and mentoring women in business.
Nicola Blackwood
Blackwood is chair of the board of Genomics England, is an advisory board member for Harwell Science and Innovation Campus and board trustee for the Alan Turing Institute.
Previously, she worked in the public sector, originally as the first female MP for Oxford and more recently as minister for innovation in the Department of Health and Social Care.
She has been a chair of the Human Tissue Authority, a board member for Oxford University Innovation, an advisory board member for Eagle Genomics, sat on the board of directors for the Campaign for Science and Engineering, was a mentor for the Creative Destruction Lab, and was deputy chair of Public Policy Projects.
Nicola Mendelsohn
Mendelsohn is head of the Global Business Group for Facebook parent company Meta, and was previously vice-president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) operations at Facebook, where she focused on growth areas in the region.
As well as her role at Meta, Mendelsohn is a chairperson for the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation, and co-president of charity Norwood.
Previously, she was industry chair of the Creative Industries Council, non-executive director of consumer goods firm Diageo, and a director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Mendelsohn has had a long career in technology, as well as advertising and marketing in roles such as executive chairman and partner at the Karmarama advertising agency.
In 2015, she was awarded a CBE for services to the creative industry.
Poppy Gustafsson
The 2021 winner of the title Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Woman in UK Tech, Gustafsson is minister for investment for both the Department of Business and Trade and HM Treasury.
Prior to this, she was CEO of cyber artificial intelligence (AI) firm Darktrace. As an organisation, Darktrace has high female representation compared to the industry average, with women making up 30-40% of employees.
During her winner’s interview, Gustafsson pointed out that there are many different routes into the technology sector, and that women should not be “apologetic” about having non-traditional skillsets while making their way into tech roles.
Gustafsson studied mathematics at Sheffield University, moving on to become an assistant manager at Deloitte, then a fund accountant at Amadeus Capital Partners.
She joined Darktrace as chief financial officer (CFO) in 2013, then spent some time as chief operating officer (COO) before becoming CEO in 2016.
Gustafsson has been featured in lists such as the Management Today 30 under 35 and was a winner in the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Awards in 2019.
Priya Guha
Guha is a serial adviser and non-executive director, and in 2021 received an MBE for services to international trade and women in innovation.
In 2019, she joined Merian Ventures as a venture partner, having previously been ecosystem general manager for the London campus of Silicon Valley-born co-working space RocketSpace.
Guha also acts as an adviser for Tech London Advocates, as well as being a member of the international committee at the Royal Academy of Engineering and a previous council member for InnovateUK.
Rav Bumbra
Bumbra founded Structur3dpeople in 2015 to help organisations to recruit a more diverse workforce for technology, digital and leadership roles, and is still director there.
Since then, she has founded Instagram Live chat show Women Talk Tech to showcase the experiences of women across different types of tech industry roles, and is also founder of mobile learning platform Cajigo, which helps women of all ages gain the skills they need for tech roles.
Bumbra was named a women in tech Rising Star by Computer Weekly in 2018.
Rebecca George
Until spring 2021, George was the managing partner for government and public services at Deloitte, leading the firm’s public sector practices across Europe.
Previously, she was lead public sector partner at Deloitte, where she was responsible for projects such as helping the public sector improve efficiency and develop best practice, and was a board member of the City Mental Health Alliance until 2024.
George is skills advisor at the Department for Education, and in 2006 she was awarded an OBE for her work on sustainable communities.
Rioch Edwards-Brown
Rioch Edwards-Brown, entrepreneur and founder of So You Wanna Be on TV?, is an advocate for diversity and has extensive media experience.
She began So You Wanna Be on TV? as a community outreach programme after her son was shot and stabbed at school, and uses the platform to tackle the lack of diversity and social mobility in TV by providing free employability skills through partnerships between TV, brands, corporations and the community. Based on her already successful model, she launched So You Wanna Be In Tech? in 2016.
Sarah Burnett
Until 2022, Burnett was a founding partner and non-executive director at management consultant firm Emergence Partners, where she was head of technology immersion and insights.
Before this, she was an executive vice-president and distinguished analyst at Everest Group, where she used her skills to lead the group on global service delivery automation research and European practice across its global services research areas.
Before joining Everest Group, Burnett was vice-president of research at Nelson Hall, covering areas such as infrastructure, IT outsourcing, cloud and government business process outsourcing. Until 2024, she was chair of BCSWomen, and in 2017 launched the BCSWomen AI Accelerator.
Burnett is an industrial advisory board member for the Open University School of Computing and Communications, and chief technology evangelist for KYP.ai.
Sarah Luxford
Luxford is co-lead and co-founder of Tech London Advocates’ women in tech group and was co-founder of Croydon Tech City. She is now a partner (digital, data and technology) at advisory firm GatenbySanderson and a fellow for the RSA.
Before her current role, Luxford was director at recruitment company Global Resourcing, and as director at Nexec Leaders from 2015 to 2017, she worked with founders, investors and business leaders to find the talent they needed.
She was named as one of Computer Weekly’s Rising Stars in 2015.
Sarah Wood
Wood founded global advertising marketplace Unruly, where she was CEO until 2015 when it was acquired by News Corp.
In the past she has been non-executive director of Signal AI, senior independent director of Tech Nation, and a business mentor for The Hatchery at University College London.
Wood is author of Stepping up: How to accelerate your leadership potential, which she describes as a career handbook for the millennial generation.
In 2016, she was awarded an OBE for services to technology and innovation.
Sharon Moore
Moore is currently technical director of the IBM Technology Ecosystem.
Previously at IBM, she was global technical lead for government – where she aims to use technology to help the government to develop better outcomes for people across the UK – was chief technology officer (CTO) for public sector at IBM UK and, prior to that, focused on designing technical solutions for IBM’s clients in the travel and transportation industry, incorporating engagement, internet of things (IoT) and analytics technologies, in her role as industry technical leader for travel and transportation.
Moore has been heavily involved in the BCS over the years, and until recently was a justice and emergency services management committee member for TechUK.
In 2018 she was awarded an MBE for services to women in technology-based industries.
Sheila Flavell
A member of the tech sector for 30 years, Flavell was appointed chief operating officer of IT services firm FDM Group in 2008, and is an executive board director of the firm where she spearheads FDM’s Global Women in Tech campaign and FDM’s Getting Back to Business programme, aimed at providing opportunities for returners to work.
She is current president of TechUK, a council member for the Digital Skills Council, and is frequently called to advise government committees on various issues, especially around the digital skills gap.
She won Leader of the Year at the Everywoman in Technology Awards in 2012, and in 2019 was awarded a CBE for services to gender equality in IT and the employment of graduates and returners.
Sherry Coutu
The 2017 winner of Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Woman in UK Tech title, Coutu is a serial entrepreneur, having founded or co-founded companies such as Founders4Schools, Workfinder, the Scaleup Institute and Silicon Valley Comes to the UK.
She is still involved with many of these companies, is an angel investor, and sits on the boards of several companies, charities and universities.
Coutu is an independent non-executive director of Phoenix Group, Pearson and Raspberry Pi.
In 2013, she was awarded an OBE for services to entrepreneurship.
Dame Stephanie ‘Steve’ Shirley
Originally from Germany, aged five, Shirley – who at the time was named Vera Buchthal – was one of the thousands of children who came to the UK on The Kindertransport before the outbreak of the Second World War.
She grew up with her sister and foster parents in the West Midlands, developing a background in technology and mathematics from a young age, and after school, she got a job building computers and coding for the Post Office Research Station in Dollis Hill.
After doing night classes to gain a degree in mathematics, she then went on to get a job at another technology company.
In 1962, Shirley developed a “software house” for female freelance programmers, which eventually employed more than 8,000 people and paved the way for flexible working.
When she launched the firm, she began signing her name as “Steve” to overcome male preconceptions about women in business.
Shirley appears in both the Bletchley Park and California computing museums, was the first female president of the BCS, a master of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, and co-founded the Oxford Internet Institute in 2001.
Shirley passed away in August of 2025 at the age of 91.
Sue Black
In 2015, Black was awarded an OBE for her services to technology, and is an outspoken advocate for ensuring more women and girls take an interest in technology.
She is founder of the TechMums initiative, which aims to encourage more children into technology by ensuring mothers gain confidence and skills in using IT.
Black’s book, Saving Bletchley Park, which details her campaign to stop the historic Bletchley Park from falling into disrepair.
She is currently a keynote speaker and professor at several universities.
Sue Daley
Daley leads TechUK’s work on cloud, data, analytics and AI, as well as the organisation’s director of tech and innovation, and has been recognised in the UK Big Data 100 as a key influencer in driving forward the big data agenda.
She is co-chair of the National Data Strategy Forum, which aims to put the UK at the forefront in data, and has acted as a judge for several awards, such as the Loebner Prize in AI, UKtech50 and the Annual UK Cloud Awards.
Before joining TechUK in January 2015, she was responsible for Symantec’s government relations in the UK and Ireland.
In 2016, Daley swam the English Channel.
Suki Fuller
Suki Fuller founded Miribure in 2015. The company uses data gathering and analytics to promote strategic decision-making in firms.
Currently, as well as running Miribure, Fuller is a fellow at the Council of Competitive Intelligence Fellows, and is part of the B2B network Group of Humans as an analytical storyteller and strategy human.
She is also a founding ambassador of the FiftyFiftyPledge, an advisory board member of Tech London Advocates and Tech Global Advocates, and the TLA Women in Tech co-lead.
Fuller co-founded, and until 2019 was CEO of, incubator and accelerator Salaam Ventures, which focuses on assisting ethical startups.
Fuller volunteers as a career coach for global charity Dress For Success, which aims to help women from disadvantaged backgrounds get on the career ladder. She was voted as the most influential woman in UK technology 2023.
Tabitha Goldstaub
An expert on artificial intelligence (AI), Tabitha Goldstaub is best known as the co-founder of CognitionX, a platform and network that helps to build AI and data-driven systems.
She is currently co-founder of consultancy LichenAI, and is acting as y, and she is also the author of How to talk to robots – a girls’ guide to a world dominated by AI.
She also acts as a judge for Teens in AI, is a board member for the Centre for Foundational AI at UCL, and is an advisory board member for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.
In the past, she has been chair of the government’s AI Council, marketing counsel for Founders4Schools, adviser for The Prince’s Trust, executive director of Innovate Cambridge to help the region develop an inclusive and sustainable innovation strateg and was a co-founder of Future Girl Corp, an organisation that runs free events for future female CEOs.
Trudy Norris-Grey
Norris-Grey’s career has been focused on technology and digital transformation across firms such as BT, Sun Microsystems, Oracle and Eastman Kodak, where she held senior executive posts.
She now splits her time between the US and the UK and until recently was chair of Wise (Women in Science, Engineering and Technology), as well as chair of the UCAS board of trustees.
Until 2019, Norris-Grey was global managing director of local regional government, smart cities and connected infrastructure for Microsoft in Seattle, US, followed by a role as deputy CEO of enterprise and global partnerships at AXA.
Vanessa Vallely
In 2008, Vallely founded WeAreTheCity, an organisation that provides working women with help and resources to support their careers. The organisation has evolved to include many branches, such as WeAreTechWomen, GenderNetworks, WeAreVirtual and SheTalksTech.
She is CEO of WeAreTheCity, as well as visiting lecturer at the University of Warwick Business School, a public speaker for Women Inspired Limited and a companion of the Chartered Management Institute.
Vallely has a background in technology and finance, is author of Heels of steel, co-author of the recent Lovelace report, and in 2018 was awarded an OBE for services to women and the economy.
Wendy Hall
Hall holds several positions at the University of Southampton, including professor of computer science and associate vice-president (international engagement), and is an executive director of the university’s Web Science Institute.
Hall was named a Dame CBE in 2009, and is a fellow of the Royal Society.
She has held several prominent positions in the STEM sector, including president of the ACM and senior vice-president of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
As well as having been a member of the UK prime minister’s Council for Science and Technology, Hall was co-chair of the UK government’s 2017 AI review, and was announced by the government as the first skills champion for AI in the UK
Wendy Tan White
Wendy Tan White is CEO of Intrinsic, an Alphabet company focused on AI and robotics, and prior to this, she was vice-president at X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory, a group of investors and entrepreneurs aiming to use technology to save lives.
She also has a presence at Imperial College London, where for the past ten years she has been on the advisory board for the Dyson School of Design Engineering, and in was awarded an MBE in 2016 for services to technology and business.
Tan White co-founded and was CEO of Moonfruit until 2015, a DIY website and online shop builder for small businesses. She was a general partner at Entrepreneur First, a programme and fund focused on early-stage deep tech companies, and until 2018 was an advisory board member for the Government Digital Service.
She is now a member of the UK’s Digital Economy Council which aims to develop the government’s strategy for the development of a world-leading digital economy.
She splits her time between the UK and San Francisco.
Source
