winners
Expand each category below to view the 2020 Women in IT Awards Asia winners
AWARD CATEGORIES
Advocate of the Year
Sponsored by:
Winner
Ivy Young – AWS Singapore
”Ivy Young wowed our judges with her very concrete and thought-out plan to help women transition into tech by setting up Cloud Seeders. In as little as six months Cloud Seeders already has 170+ members, they have delivered 7 technical workshops, a social networking event and they have secured seven mentors. Ivy has leveraged all the learnings from her career opportunities to increase awareness for Women in Business. She is excelling on multiple fronts and has demonstrated continued positive action throughout. Well done Ivy!”
Shortlist
Adi Oxland – TRAX TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS PTE LTD
Audrey Pe – WiTech (Women in Technology)
Cinderella Molina – PayPal
Fatima Said – eWave
Gina Wong – IBM
Lydia Wong – Tech Data Advanced Solutions (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Natalja Rodionova – Sisters of Code
Regine Chan – McKinsey & Company
Xiu Yun Winne Chen – HSBC Technology Centre, China (HTC)
Business Role Model of the Year
Winner
Carolyn Chin-Parry – PwC
”Carolyn has demonstrated her business success, her dedication to coaching and inspiring other women in tech, as well as her commitment to building more diverse and inclusive communities. She continues to forge a pathway for women in and outside the company. She has dedicated much of her own time to spread the word and to drive real change. Our judges commend Carolyn for her determination and nation-wide events that encourage and drive women to embrace technological roles in the workplace. She is definitely a role model for many women in Asia. Congratulations!”
Shortlist
Ayesha Khanna – ADDO AI
Christine Chanderan – ZENIKA PTE LTD
Eka Mardiarti – Estorm Technologies Pte Ltd
Gunjan Soni – ZALORA Group
Libby Lee – Anaplan
Oanh Phuong – HP Inc
Yeo Pei Lin – Delaware Singapore
Shanthi Chandrasekar – Bahwan CyberTek (BCT)
Suganthi Shivkumar – Qliktech Singapore PTE Ltd
CIO of the Year
Winner
Sophia Leung – J.P. Morgan
”Outstanding work Sophia. Our judges were very impressed by how Sophia not only helped the company to grow but also lead in APAC, as she oversees 14 countries. Under her leadership, Sophia has helped to deliver record financial results and also play a key role in setting up majority-owned securities ventures in China. This was all accomplished while driving digital transformation using multiple digital technologies. She is a balanced leader who can influence a company’s bottom line through technology.
Simultaneously, Sophia has also put in the time to support local communities and has co-sponsored the firm’s employee volunteering program. Sophia has demonstrated her passion for tech and talent development. This goes beyond her job and contributes to the sustainability of tech talent. This is indeed a remarkable feat.”
Shortlist
Falguni Desai – VFS Global Pvt. Ltd.
Jennifer Lauretta Leong Bee Yoong – 360 Degree Digital Pte. Ltd.
Joyce Shia – NETS
Daisy Wu Kedi – Chevron
May Yap – Jabil Green Point
Shannon Hirai – Morgan Stanley
Supriya Rao Patwardhan – DHL
Swati Sankhye – MIT World Peace University, Pune, India
Data Leader of the Year
Sponsored by:
Winner
Céline Le Cotonnec – Bank of Singapore
”Well done Celine, you are our Data Leader of the Year! Our judges describe you as a thought leader and they commend you for starting the “data movement” within your organisation. Celine’s vision is inspiring. Her ideas and how she implemented initiatives to upskill and raise data literacy in her company were fantastic. We know this is the first, and often most difficult, part of the process and Celine has broken it down. We cannot wait to see the continued success and business impacts your efforts and methods will deliver.
Additionally, Celine is one of the mentors at Cloud Seeders, where she offers her own time to support professionals achieve their tech aspirations.”
Shortlist
Aamani Budhota – Biofourmis
Adeline Koh – Dell Technologies
Geraldine Chia – Moka Technology Solutions Pte Ltd
Jayshree Dawrewar – InfoCepts
Nidhi Agrawal – Standard Chartered Bank
Nikita Gupta – TBWA
Quitterie Marque – International SOS
Sing Hui Teo – TechSource Systems Pte Ltd
Sonal Jain – Validus Capital
Digital Leader of the Year
Presented by:
Winner
Penny Murphy – Arcadis
”Penny Murphy is our 2020 Digital Leader of the year because of her extensive achievements within her organisation and her involvement in the community, especially as a mentor to younger start-ups.
Penny is leading digital transformation across 10 countries and has shown excellent results in 12 months. Not only are projects being delivered, she is also focused on driving new capabilities amongst teams. Penny is a true advocate for: driving capability; inspiring people to make digital a part of their daily lives through #100daysofdigital; stepping up to be a mentor; and actively paving the way for more women to succeed in tech and in leadership. Thank you, Penny!”
Shortlist
Agathe Foussat – Danone
Amelia Green – formerly PwC Singapore
Anju Patwardhan – CreditEase
Gwendolyn Koid – Schneider Electric
Mirela Juravle – Siemens Digital Industries Software
Naomi Rajendram – PwC South East Asia Consulting
Prachi Shah – Software AG
Sakhee Dheer – Facebook
Yvonne Lim – Razer Inc
Diversity Initiative of the Year
Sponsored by:
Winner
Initiative for Mothers – Accenture
”Accenture’s Initiative for Mothers is truly fantastic!
This initiative includes extended paid maternity leave and flexible work arrangements which is applied across the board to retain mothers and helps achieve the firm’s vision of 25% Women MD roles by 2020. It is an important initiative that helps the organisation to focus, measure, track and work towards key metrics that ensure sustained equity across levels, especially that of senior leadership. They have implemented effective measures to ensure parents (especially mothers) feel supported and included as they navigate career and family. This initiative is indeed remarkable. The organisation provides not only benefit support but also facilities i.e., co-working space with attached nursery. This has indeed generated good results where it attracts and retains female talent at 45.2%.
The initiative has a broad reach and impact; and enables people already within the organisation to progress, potentially into senior positions, no matter their role. It addresses mental wellbeing and work-life balance, as well as gender equality and paternity responsibilities.”
Shortlist
SheInSecurity – Accenture
Ascent – Citi
Mongolian Women in Tech National Program – Empasoft LLC
DIB (Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging) – Equinix
Young Employee Network – Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Women on The Move – Take it Forward – J.P. Morgan
iExcel – Tata Consultancy Services
Vapasi – ThoughtWorks
Employer of the Year
Winner
Accenture ASEAN
”Accenture has been recognised as this year’s Employer of the Year. They have built and deployed commendable initiatives that are getting the organisation closer and closer to their commitment of 50/50. Our judges were impressed by the tangible actions and measurable results they have achieved. Some of the steps they have adopted are: tripling the employee referral bonus campaign to bridge the gender gap; polymetric neuroscience assessments to reduce assessment biases; women’s mentoring program; flexible work arrangements to help achieve work/life effectiveness; initiative for returning-to-work mothers; and leveraging talent analytics to engage and retain women. The initiatives are majorly influential and have an impact on the operation of the business – these are indicative that Accenture is determined to make a change. Great work!”
Shortlist
Avanade Asia
British American Tobacco GSD KL
Equinix
Ericsson MOAI
HSBC Software Development (GD) Limited
IBM
J.P. Morgan
ThoughtWorks
Entrepreneur of the Year
Winner
Jeeta Bandopadhyay – Tookitaki
”Jeeta Bandopadhyay has demonstrated stellar revenue and profit growth, with a pioneering product that has great relevance today in the area of AML risk management. Tookitaki has grown from a start-up to 70+ employees and generated 300% revenue growth in 2 years. This product and the company have won many awards and accolades, and under Jeeta’s leadership, they have earned significant investments to continue to execute this project. There is evidence of excellent customer satisfaction and proof of truly outstanding achievements. Congratulations Jeeta, you are this year’s Entrepreneur of the Year!”
Shortlist
Ashvini Danigond – Manorama Infosolutions
Cherie Tan – A1 Code Academy
Debbie Lee – TechTV Network Pte Ltd
Gina Wong – IBM
Hazel Wei – JONI.AI
Rosaline Koo – CXA Group
Sunitha Miryala – Prad Pte Ltd
Yamin Oo Shwe – RECYGLO
Fintech Project of the Year (led by a woman)
Winner
MatchMove Pay – Team led by Nelly Jimron
”Nelly Jimron has shown grit and perseverance in driving acquisition, adoption and regular usage of the Remittance Mobile App in a targeted segment. She has applied qualities such as empathy, tech know-how, data analysis, marketing and leadership. She has successfully turned over the business by increasing the user base and retention, and she has a month-on-month increase in transaction volume. Nelly has won a number of awards for her great work over the years. Her fintech project has ranked 1st in Singapore and 25th in Asia as one of the fastest-growing technology companies. Our judges agree that this project has indeed hit a home run as the problem statement is pretty clear – to generate revenue through providing a platform to transfer money back securely and legally to home countries. The project has maximized the investments made and the business has grown three-fold with a consistent growth rate of 10 – 20%. What a fantastic achievement – congratulations Nelly.”
Shortlist
J.P. Morgan – Team led by Jyoti Chatterjee
NETS – Team led by Joyce Shia
Visa – Team led by Tasneen Padiath
IT Team of the Year (led by a woman)
Sponsored by:
Winner
Grab – Team led by Sri Thiba Santhira Seakaran
”Our judges were blown away and inspired by Sri Thiba’s openness and vulnerability in her submission. Her come-back story is very impressive, and the growth of Grab in Southeast Asia has been phenomenal. Our judges can see how her team (and her leadership) have all developed into the well-oiled machine that they are today. Well done Sri Thiba and to the whole IT Team for your achievements and output.
Achievements include: Leading the transition for IT (Uber Acquisition) in South East Asia – built the BPO rollout playbook and launched 4 Call Center BPOs – Transitioned and launched Ex Uber offices – Onboarded transition team to support with GrabFood launch – Onboarded diverse staff to be part of Grab.
Sri Thiba also led 14 office builds projects to completion, and she led RFP/RFI initiatives for Meraki Reseller Panel to optimize procurement lead time by 75% & delivery 25%. The list goes on!”
Shortlist
BP – Team led by Irina Mironova
British American Tobacco Indonesia – Team led by Rosa Maria
Buzz ARVR – Team led by Bell Beh
Gluu Life – Team led by Lin Shu Fen
HSBC – Team led by Jenny Yau
J.P. Morgan – Team led by Kathryn Dunn
Nucleo Consulting – Team led by Sandra Yeow
PCCW Solution Insys Pte Ltd – Team led by Sonali Chavan
Male Ally of the Year
Winner
Pavel Bulowski – Meiro / Shelovesdata
”Pavel Bulowski has created a phenomenal impact through shelovesdata.com, and is nurturing a sizeable community – reaching 12 cities and 11 countries, enabling over 10.000 women. He is also steering mentoring programs for future female leaders.
Not only is Pavel a diversity champion in his ‘daytime job’ he has dedicated a great deal of his time and energy to co-found this start-up. This not-for-profit organisation focuses on bringing more diversity into data analytics and IT by offering volunteer-driven, free-of-charge courses for women to increase interest in the data space.
The judges were very impressed by how Pavel and his team are engaging the community with this empowerment initiative to foster greater diversity, equity and inclusion. Great work, thank you Pavel.”
Shortlist
Abhishek Sharma – Citi
Aditya Patil – J.P. Morgan Services India Pvt Ltd
Hamon Yann-Alain – why innovation!
Jérôme Limozin – Bank of America
Richard Lord – HSBC
Seng Yue Yau – British American Tobacco GSD KL
Tech for Good Award of the Year
Sponsored by:
Winner
Numer8
”Nandhini Kartikeyan’s idea to use tech to develop sustainable fishing and her pursuit of this vision is inspirational. The funding and support she has received provides great evidence of her efforts and the importance of this technology. It is innovative and is now recognized internationally.
She has shown that technology can positively assist the livelihood and wellness of fishermen. She has used her technology to enable fishermen to be increasingly productive and at the same time encourages an ethical and sustainable fishery industry. Nandhini’s technology harnesses available data, government information on regulations and also aids with predictions regarding where schools of fish may be located for more controlled and responsible fishing.
What is a wonderful surprise is the all-women c-suite driving this positive change for the world through the apps. They are protecting the livelihood of the fishermen, bringing them into the digital world and protecting our oceans. A wonderful idea and a standout submission, great work Nandhini.”
Shortlist
Avanade Asia
Bank of America (Code for Change Program)
Bank of America (Cyber Security Escape Room Programs)
CHEKTEC
Citi
DBS Bank
NUS ISS
Oracle Singapore
Tookitaki
Transformation Leader of the Year
Sponsored by:
Winner
Lorraine Choo Yin Ong – Government Technology Agency
”Lorraine Choo Yin Ong is this year’s Transformation Leader because of her transformation initiative that not only has organisational impact, but also on the wider citizenry. Her work has demonstrated real thought and consideration for its users as judges describe it as “making an impact with ease of use and transforming user behaviour”.
Lorraine has 20 years of IT industry experience and has worked on various Singapore National programs and projects. She has successfully led teams in various transformational programs spanning across multiple agencies and the government. For the past 18 months she had been leading a team of project managers to drive Virtual Assistant (artificial intelligence) technology. She implemented the 1st chatbot (i.e. Ask Jamie) for the Singapore government back in 2015. Since then, she and the team have been adding new functionalities to meet the citizens’ needs such as live chat, general knowledge database, and driving adoption by agencies through engagement and awareness sessions. Today, Ask Jamie is a whole-of-government chatbot and is implemented in over 80 government agencies’ websites. Ask Jamie is also the 1st chatbot in the world to have inter-agency integration and ability to answer cross agencies queries. This long standing and continuous evolution of work make her the standout candidate!”
Shortlist
Anneliese Schulz – Software AG
Aurore Duhamel – CargoAI
Felicia Cheung – Microsoft
Jazz Moser – Verizon Business Group
Linda Newman – S&P Global – Ratings Division
Rama Sridhar – Mastercard
Wilma Gerber – JLL
Yolande Le Mercier – Activeo Singapore PT LTD
Yu Jie Kaneoka Yukiko – Lenovo
Woman of the Year
Sponsored by:
Winner
Aliza Knox – Cloudflare
”Aliza Knox is our 2020 Woman of the Year!
She is known in the tech space for the contributions she has made to drive awareness of female representation within cloud computing. Her work over the years has been consistent in its messaging – “we need to have better and stronger female role models”. Aliza has demonstrated simple, yet powerful acts to achieve this and these are the hallmarks of a great leader.
Aliza has worked for equality in the workplace by promoting a safe environment for everyone to voice their opinions and grants equal opportunities to succeed across all roles. Aliza has significantly contributed to the increased percentage of women in senior roles and has helped grow the business on an international level.
Aliza is known for demanding high standards while leading with empathy. This is clear in the sample provided in her email signature: “Please note, we work flexibly at Cloudflare. I am sending you this message now because it works for me, but I do not expect you to read or respond outside regular business hours.”
Our judges were also moved by her efforts for inclusivity. In addition to the day-to-day recognition and acknowledgement of special occasions, once a month the office holds monthly birthday celebrations. At this time, Aliza makes a point for all employees that have birthdays which fall within that month, to have their birthday greetings and songs in their native language sung/played. This is a fun yet inclusive social activity that the entire Singapore office looks forward to. Aliza is aware of the many cultural nuances in the APAC region, and with this is deliberate in respecting everyone’s individual cultural preferences, starting from ensuring she pronounces everyone’s name correctly—right when she meets them.
These actions speak louder than words! Well done and congratulations Aliza.”
Shortlist
Amra Naidoo – Accelerating Asia
Elena Ionenko – TurnKey Lender
June Lai – Catalyst
Liyana Sulaiman – Pollen
Lynn Tan – Blonk Group
Rachel Barger – SAP
Yuk Wah Kwong – National Trades Union Congress
Young Leader of the Year
Sponsored by:
Winner
Valerie Lim – Gojek
”For the judges, Valerie ‘ticked all the boxes’ – leadership, innovation, drive for diversity, eco-friendly, and she demonstrated savings and impact on her company’s revenue projections. Valerie is the ultimate woman leader and still so early on in her career.
Her involvement and role in Gojek has helped the company grow and expanded greatly in the past years. She also leads in Woman in Data – a commendable initiative dedicated to giving back to the community. Valerie has demonstrated tremendous innovation and proactive thinking in identifying problems and delivering solutions. Alongside these achievements, she is also striving to enhance diversity and inclusion through her mentorship program. You are doing a fantastic job Valerie, keep going! We all see a very bright future for you.”
Shortlist
Akansha Goyal – Barclays Global Service Centre
Christina Gao – Shell
Chu Yuan (Joanne) Ng – R3
Deepika Dinesh – CavinKare
Farah Saleh – Digix
Hanny Kusumawardhani – MasterCard
Johannine Christian Perello – Ascender HCM Asia Pte Ltd
Susan Claire Alvarez – Sodexo Services Asia Pte Ltd
Wajiha Hassan – Teradata
award ceremony host

Able Wanamakok
Int’l Celebrity Presenter, Presenter Coach, Author and TEDx Speaker
With over 15 years experience, Hong Kong-born, US-raised Able is the founder of Find Your Voice Asia (Coaching), an International Presenter, TEDx Speaker, Motivational Speaker and Entrepreneur.
She worked as a News Anchor for NBT Phuket, TV Show Host for Thailand@Large and Window on Thailand, and TV Presenter/Producer for Fashion One International Network. She currently travels around Asia to host conferences, gala dinners, awards and other large-scale events.
Having grown up as the only Chinese girl in small town USA, she learned quickly to adapt to any culture, yet always stay true to her roots. That’s why today she easily switches between English, Cantonese and Thai – having chosen to make Thailand her home.
A fun-loving, honest and determined spirit, Able says that, “I want to live an extraordinary life, not an ordinary one. My goal is to become the best in what I do and bring joy to all the people around me through my work. You should live a life without regret, have the courage to rise above and embrace failure as a best friend.”