Everywoman in Technology Awards shortlist highlights bright lights of UK tech sector

10 Feb 2014

Image via Elnur/Shutterstock

The finalists of the 2014 FDM Everywoman in Technology Awards, which celebrate and honour women leading the way in tech in the UK, be they rising stars, scientific innovators, founders or leaders in FTSE100 companies, have been revealed.

“Technology offers a hugely varied and rewarding career path, and one many women do not want to leave,” said Maxine Benson, MBE, co-founder of Everywoman.

“With the increase of jobs in tech opening up in the future, organisations need to reach out to the female 50pc of the population, and many forward-thinking companies are doing just that. The incredible women announced as finalists today are the role models we need to encourage more women to fulfil their career aspirations in IT and we wish them all the best of luck at the awards ceremony next month,” she added.

Tech career opportunities for women

Founded in September 1999, Everywoman supports women at any stage in their career through personal development resources, events and leadership programmes, award programmes, connections, advice and inspiration. Everywoman also showcases role models to inspire the next generation of female leaders and highlights the organisations they work for as ones with career opportunities for women.

“One of the biggest challenges for the UK tech sector is attracting appropriately skilled employees,” said Julian David, director-general of Tech UK, which represents 850 UK tech companies. “We need to work hard to attract smart, skilled women who are not currently attracted to the sector and communicate the career opportunities in tech that are open to all.”

And the nominees are…

The nominees for the 2014 FDM Everywoman in Technology Awards (listed below) include Future Jobs Forum keynote speaker Dr Sue Black, an award-winning computer scientist and radical thinker. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on 19 March.

Entrepreneur of the Year:

  • Roberta Lucca, co-founder, CMO, Bossa Studios
  • Alicia Navarro, CEO and co- founder, Skimlinks
  • Pat Nice, CEO, Reconnix

Innovator of the Year:

  • Torie Chilcott, co-founder and CEO of Content, Rockabox
  • Jane Stockdill-Mander, WebSphere portfolio product manager, IBM UK
  • Vanessa Tufnell, executive assistant to the chief information officer, Lloyds Banking Group
  • Vicky Brock, CEO, Clear Returns

Inspiration of the Year:

  • Dr Sue Black, founder and CEO, Savvify
  • Isla Kennedy, analyst, Accenture
  • Belinda Parmar, CEO, Lady Geek and Little Miss Geek
  • Claire Vyvyan, executive director and general manager of Public and Large Institutions, Dell UK

Leader of the Year in a Corporate Organisation:

  • Penny Hutchinson, director of IT infrastructure projects, Lloyds Banking Group
  • Angela Mitchell, partner, Deloitte
  • Katrina Roberts, vice-president of global network and international consumer technologies Europe, American Express
  • Rosemary Stark, senior vice-president and head of banking (UK), Capgemini Financial Services

Rising Star of the Year:

  • Rosie Campbell, research technologist, BBC Research and Development
  • Sadie Hawkins, executive assistant, IBM UK
  • Anne-Marie Imafidon, enterprise collaboration strategist at Deutsche Bank and head of Stemettes
  • Catherine Mills, technology consultant, Accenture

Start-up Founder of the Year:

  • Elizabetta Camilleri, founder and CEO, SalesGossip
  • Elizabeth Clark, CEO, Dream Agility
  • Clare Flynn Levy, founder and CEO, Essentia Analytics

Team Leader of the Year:

  • Diana Kennedy, head of strategy and architecture and enterprise systems, BP
  • Emma Scott, managing director, Freesat
  • Shilpa Shah, chief of staff of Deloitte Delivery and women in technology lead, Deloitte
  • Lyndsey McDougall, head of OSS, Virgin Media

Women Invent Tomorrow is Silicon Republic’s year-long campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths

Award image by Elnur via Shuttertock

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com