2019 WINNERS
Expand each category below to view the winner details
Advocate of the Year
Winner
Alice Thomas – Sun Life Financial
“Alice’s engagament to bring more women to technology and championing makes her the Advocate of the Year. While building her own career within tech, she has spent a vast amount of her private time to dismantle the hurdles that keep girls and women to pursue careers in technology.”
Janet Lin – Loblaw Companies Limited (LCL)
Dinah Davis – Arctic Wolf Networks
Alice Thomas – Sun Life Financial
Janine Moir – Deloitte
Sana Abou Shaaban – Government of Canada
Marie Wiese – Marketing CoPilot
Business Leader of the Year
Winner
Sarah Bettencourt – PointClickCare
“The Business Leader of the Year has shown herself to be a diligent and someone who is unafraid to ask the tough questions. She knows that this is the only way to to bring about real change and solve real problems, and not just tick boxes. The winner is: Sarah Bettencourt from PointClickCare!”
Natasha Walji – Google
Esther Park – Drop
Simonne Leblanc – Ethoca
Angela Garinger – Thoughtexchange SB
Sarah Bettencourt – PointClickCare Technologies Inc.
CIO of the Year
Winner
Claire Lam – Hubio Technology
“Claire Lam has seen an impressive journey in the past months with her team. The transformation they have gone through has seen them make significant changes how Hubio is run. During that trasnformation it was not only with the objective to provide better service to their clients but also change how the entire company sues technology to communicate and reward employees.”
Lorena Ferino – Plexxus
Kia Muktar – Smart Solutions 4IT Inc.
Claire Lam – Hubio Technology
Beatriz Copelli – Imperial Tobacco Canada (a British American Tobacco company)
CTO of the Year
Winner
Vicki Iverson – Iversoft
“The trajectory of Iversoft’s development from app to a full digital consulatncy has been impressive. All this is under the leadership of co-founder and CTO Vicki Iverson. What stood out in partcular was the fact that the technology team members are encouraged to develop their skillset on company time. This has not led to a downturn of productivity, but rather has driven the team to deliver more efficiently. The care for her team and the clarity in which business objectives are comunicated and achieved together was impressive.”
Vicki Iverson – Iversoft
Irene Cortes – The Luminous Landscape Inc.
Irit Van-Ham – ToeFx Inc.
Emiliya Ursova – SafetySync
Mia Salomakhin – Brain Mechanics
Data Leader of the Year
Winner
Jill Andrews – Fullscript
“The winning submission stood out to the judges for the commitment and leadership qualities this year’s Data Leader has shown. Her clarity of thought and ability to bring together large teams across the company to achieve the same goal are commendable.
Lynda Partner – The Pythian Group
Jill Andrews – Fullscript
Parisa Lak – Manulife
Digital Leader of the Year
Winner
Jodie Wallis – Accenture
“Jodie Wallis is at the forefront of digital leadership in Canada. Her work and progress with AI have made her a renowned expert. She is blazing a trail for any women wanting to specialise in AI. She is this year’s Digital Leader of the Year.”
Aarushi Kumar – British American Tobacco
Denise Man – ATB Financial
Diane Mueller – Red Hat
Maureen Higgins – Ernst & Young
Felicia Augurusa – Tilley
Jodie Wallis – Accenture
Elaine Oei – TELUS
Diversity Initiative of The Year
Winner
Advancing New Canadian Women in Technology
“The Advancing New Canadian Women in Technology (ANCWT) programme stood out for its clarity of mission and their achievements to date. Under the leadership of Dr. Sawsan Abdul-Majid the programme highlights the intersectionality of gender and immigration and helps to support women who are new to Canada and who want to build/continue their career in technology. They have had an measurable impact and are a champion of women in technology in Canada.”
Advancing New Canadian Women in Technology
Smart Solutions 4IT Inc.
CryptoChicks
The Big Push
NPower Canada
Employer of the Year
Winner
Accenture
“Accenture puts their employees well being at the centre of the way the business is run. They appreciate that the empowerment of their employees the business will thrive. They run varrious initoatives and programmes to support their employees and encourage them to be open on where there might be blindspots for the company. This makes them Employer of the Year.”
FDM Group Canada Inc.
Accenture
Ethoca
Axonify
Entrepreneur of the Year
Winner
Sue Britton – FinTech Growth Syndicate
“In a very competitive category Sue Britton’s submission stood out for her not only talking about open leadership but also implementing it in practise within her business. She views the customer as the main and most important factor when making decision on the future of the business.”
Sue Britton – FinTech Growth Syndicate
Alwar Pillai – Fable Tech Labs Inc.
Midia Shikh Hassan – Dextra Innovation Inc
Alyssa Atkins – Lilia
Melissa Nightingale – Raw Signal Group
Carol Leaman – Axonify
Future CIO of the Year
Winner
Catherine Sim – RBC
“Catherine displays all the qualities a Future CIO would be expected to have. She takes a holistic approach when it comes to any project, is very good in communicating and knows on a case-by-case basis on how to prioritise best practise v business objectives.”
Sara Jetta – Loblaw
Hamida Rebai – Revenu Quebec
Rim Almaliki – FDM Group Canada Inc.
Catherine Sim – RBC
IT Team of the Year
Winner
Cancer Care Ontario
“The IT Team at Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) have delivered an impressive amount of projects, each of them with their own challenges they had to overcome. This is even more impressive as there was no scope to stop the day to day service CCO was already providing. After the successful transformation the foundation of the business have been strengthened and has positioned them on the path to being digital leaders.”
Freightcom Inc.
SNC-Lavalin
Mackenzie Health
Toronto Public Library
Cancer Care Ontario
Security Champion of the Year
Winner
Mukta Soni – CIBC
“Mukta Soni’s career spans 25 years and she has proven herself to be a leader in Cybersecurity. Considering the lack of women within the securoty space 25 years ago this achievement is even more impressive. Not only has Mukta proven herself as a expert in her field, but she has also proven her mettle against prejudice and biases.”
Irina Loktionova – Delta Dental
Jenny Dho – WSP
Neetika Bhargava – Prodigy Game
Karine Dubé – Investissement Québec
Mukta Soni – CIBC
Transformation Leader of the Year
Winner
Helen Wetherley Knight – Calgary Drop-In Centre
“During her three years at the Calgary Drop-In Centre Helen has transformed how the Centre is run and has made funding and best practise when using technologies one of the main priorities. This is highly unusual for a non-profit. Her efforts have paid off and productivity has gone up significantly and has set up the organisation to deliver better care to a larger number of people.”
Claire Adams – PWC
Sophie Bacchi – CN
Helen Wetherley Knight – Calgary Drop-In Centre
Sarah Tatsis – BlackBerry
Michelle Joliat – BMO Financial Group
Woman of the Year
Winner
Michelle Joliat – BMO FInancial Group
“Michelle’s submission stood out for the results she has achieved since joining the Digitisation Programme at BMO. The changes she and her team have had impressive results in onboarding client and opening accounts being more efficient and also optimising internal processes. In addition to this, Michelle is firmly committed in supporting women who are already working in technology and are looking for guidance, as well as actively looking for new talent and then mentor them as interns. Transparency and empowerment is at the core of what Michelle endeavours to achieve every day.”
Roberta Fox – FOX GROUP Technology Consulting
Shalini Nagrani – OpenConcept Consulting Inc
Sharon Zohar – The Big Push
Elena Sinelnikova – Cryptochicks
Michelle Joliat – BMO FInancial Group
Young Leader of the Year
Winner
Michelle Kimoff – ATB Financial
“Michelle has shown in less than a year her tenaciousness and hard work at ATB Financial. She has achieved not only the objectives set for her, but at the same time has managed to be a mentor and inspiration to her junior’s, offering guidance and support when needed.”
Meg Button – Nuscreen Inc
Alexandra Sunderland – Fellow.app
Michelle Kimoff – ATB Financial
Iliana Oris Valiente – Accenture
Laura Fiume – Gensuite
Natalie MacArthur – Invest Ottawa
Caitlin Hung – MindBridge Ai
Garima Bajpai – Ericsson
Nida Hussain – BlackBerry
Trish Villanueva – Scotiabank