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…