2019 WINNERS
Ilona Budapesti – Advocate of the Year
Nicole Eagan – Business Leader of the Year (not pictured)
Bernadette Rotolo – Business Role Model of the Year
Sponsored by BMC
Anuradha Gali – Data Leader of the Year
Melissa Wiley – Digital Leader of the Year
McAfee – Diversity Initiative of the Year
Sponsored DiversityQ
Ashley Ward – Innovator of the Year
BMC – IT Team of the Year
Hayley Leibson – Rising Star of the Year
Monique Head – Security Champion of the Year
Sponsored by Lastline
Alley Lyles – Transformation Leader of the Year
LeAnna Fries – Future CIO of the Year
Hewlett Packard Enterprise – Employer of the Year
Carrie Rasmussen – CIO of the Year
Sponsored by Red Hat
Rashim Mogha – Woman of the Year
Transformation Leader of the Year
Winners & Shortlist
Advocate Of The Year
Winner
Ilona Budapesti – 1 Million Women To Tech
“The truly global impact of Ilona’s work make her the Advocate of the Year. Having seen the under representation at indutsry events and hackathons she decided to move the dial on gender parity herself and has more than achieved what she set out to do.”
Ilona Budapesti – 1 Million Women To Tech
Pascale Ameye – The Centre for Balanced Leadership
Monica Eaton-Cardone – Chargebacks911
Sangeeta Walsh – RingCentral
Tracey Welson-Rossman – TechGirlz
Jenn LeBlanc – HAL (Changing Tides)
Shefali Kapoor Patel – Vijay Computer Academy
Melody Serra – Year Up
Business Leader Of The Year
Winner
Nicole Eagan – Darktrace
“The judges were impressed by the very innovative approaches Nicole has taken to solve problems as ensure the growth of the company in a very crowded market sector. “
Nicole Eagan – Darktrace
Natalie Catliota – NetCentrics
Erica Schultz – New Relic
Sagit Manor – Nyotron
Jennifer Tejada – PagerDuty
Stefanie Chiras, Ph.D – Red Hat
Kira Makagon – RingCentral
Claudia Franco – Rocket Software
Business Role Model Of The Year
Winner
Bernadette Rotolo – Warner Music Group
“As an executive leader at Warner Music Group and women’s advocate, Bernadette has successfully launched a Global Network Group for women in technology. The community and the support it provides to its members has had a tangible result on the way these women build and navigate their careers.”
Silvana Gaia – Belatrix Software
Janine Yancey – Emtrain
Tina Tarquinio – IBM
Rashmi Gopinath – M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund
Elveera Rebello – Pacific Gas & Electric
Tracy Rankin – Red Hat
Darcy Bell – Sephora
Bernadette Rotolo – Warner Music Group
Alaina Percival – Women Who Code
CIO Of The Year
Winner
Carrie Rasmussen – The Save Mart Companies
“Carrie’s work and achievements in the past 18 months have been transformative. It is especially astounding considering the trajectory of those past months. She has changed culture of her team to IT innovation and managed to keep her team motivated and engaged through an exciting time of massive change. Through her work she has managed to contribute to the growth of the business while keeping costs minimal and she and her team are already working on achieving their next objectives.”
Chandra Dhandapani – CBRE
Carol Vorster – Corix
Archana (Archie) Deskus – Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Miao Song – MARS
Wendy M. Pfeiffer – Nutanix
Carrie Rasmussen – The Save Mart Companies
CTO Of The Year
Winner
Geeta Chauhan – Silicon Valley Software Group
“Geeta’s technical skills and know-how are impressive. Her extraordinary breadth of knowledge and hands-on approach to her work are exemplary. She is a true tech technologist and works hard to advocate for diversity & inclusivity in tech.”
Meghann Chilcott – Benzer Pharmacy
Julie Iskow – Medidata Solutions
Heather Rivers – Mode
Geeta Chauhan – Silicon Valley Software Group
Data Leader Of The Year
Winner
Anuradha Gali – Uber Technologies
“Anuradha has accomplished a vast amount in a very short amount of time. The Data Lake she has created with her team has become one of the most used resource in the company and is being rolled out to use for other teams. She has shown great leadership and tenacity and achieved true innovation.”
Sharon Tang – Applied Materials
Swathi Arulguppe Nagendra – Galvanize
Julia Zhang – Humana
Archana Neelipalayam Masilamani – Lastline, Inc
Amita Gajewar – Microsoft
Mona Rakibe – Reltio
Anjali Arora – Formerly at Rocket Software
Anuradha Gali – Uber Technologies
Digital Leader Of The Year
Winner
Melissa Wiley – Formerly at National Geographic
“Melissa has transformed a traditional media player to a digital platform which successfully supports 400m visitors a day. Her work showed her innovative thinking and understanding the needs of the business and what its objectives are.”
Carol Meksavan –Applied Materials
Shell Adams – Citi
Lisette Titre-Montgomery – Double Fine
Nupur Srivastava – Grand Rounds
Marie Wiese – Marketing CoPilot
Melissa Wiley – Formerly at National Geographic
Neeti Deshmukh – PayPal
Michelle Killebrew – PwC New Ventures
Julie M. Smith, MBA – Verizon
Diversity Initiative Of The Year
Winner
McAfee
“McAfee’s submission stood out for achieving gender pay parity in just one year. Their ambition and the scope of the work involved seems impressive. In addition to that comes their commitment which was shown by the huge investment of resources. This makes them the winner for the Diversity Initiative of the Year.”
Beyond
CloudNow
DevelopHer
Growth Acceleration Partners
McAfee
IOActive
Pantheon
Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS)
Employer of the Year
Winner
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
“Employee well-being is clearly not just an empty phrase at HPE but at the centre of their employee expierence. Judges were particularly impressed by the introduction of 26 weeks of paid parental leave for both, mum and dad’s. HPE’s appreciation of the lives their employees live outside of work and their endeavour to enable them to live full lives makes them the Employer of the Year.”
Entrepreneur Of The Year
Winner
Nicole Hu – One Concern
“Nicole has proven herself to be an astute netrepreneur who has grown her company and team in a robust and sustainable manner. She has successfuly launched their core product and has shaped her team by putting collaboration and best practise ahead of anything else.”
Sherry Wei – Aviatrix
Kirsten Bay – Cysurance
Lisa Brunet – DLZP Group
Veena Gundavelli – Emagia
Chloe Alpert – Medinas.
Nicole Hu – One Concern
Jeanine Johnson – SunToWater Technologies
Susie Opare-Abetia – Wovenmedia
Monica Zent – Zent Law & LawDesk360
Future CIO of the Year
Winner
LeAnna Fries – Palo Alto Networks
“LeAnna’s accomplishments and the challenges she has overcome show her tenacity and dedication and make her already a SME on cybersecurity. The judges were agreed that this is a Future CIO in the making.”
Rashmi Kumar –Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Cynthia Czabala – IHG Hotels & Resorts
LeAnna Fries – Palo Alto Networks
Wanda Ma – Sephora
Pamela Martinez – Snowball Wealth
Hajar Mokhtafa – The Adecco Group
Innovator Of The Year
Winner
Ashley Ward – Mission Support Alliance
“The use of cutting-edge technology is only part of the reasons why Ashley is the Innovator of the Year. Her understanding on how to implement an innovative approach amongst various teams and having an understanding on the challenges each of the teams has. Ashley’s level-headed leadership is commendable.”
Qilong Yuan – Adobe Inc.
Yinka Ogunbiyi – Desora
Clare Bond – EPAM
Fatima Said – eWave
Mercedes Soria – Knightscope
Ashley Ward – Mission Support Alliance
Ashie Bhandiwad – StemChef
Kavya Pearlman – XR Safety Initiative
IT Team Of The Year
Winner
BMC Software
“The IT Team at BMC has had an impressive impact. They are a team that works closely, despite being spread across the globe and have overachieved on their targets over the past 18 years.”
Rising Star Of The Year
Winner
Hayley Leibson – Lunchclub
“The judges were impressed by Hayley’s work with the LunchClub and also her advocacy for women in tech across the globe. To that purpose she is a regular writer, has founded networking groups through which she not only motivates other women but brings them together.”
Rikki George – Accenture
Moriah Womble – AppSmart
Kelauni J. Cook – Black Tech Nation
Sidney Madison Prescott – ETRADE
Carissa Toyama – Forward
Lauren Maffeo – GetApp (a Gartner company)
Spandana Govindgari – Hype AR
Szu Hong – LinkedIn
Hayley Leibson – Lunchclub
Security Champion Of The Year
Winner
Monique Head – PayPal
“In Monique’s work one thing is clear and runs through like a red line: Her commitment to knowledge sharing and educating future generations. She gives back to communities through educating girls and young women on cybersecurity and empowers them to take charge of their digital selves.”
Lauren Zink – AmTrust Financial
Laura Louthan – Angel Cybersecurity
Irina Loktionova – Delta Dental of California
Chitra Elango – FannieMae
Saryu Nayyar – Gurucul
Monique Head – PayPal
Michelle Wilner – VIRTIS
Stina Ehrensvard – Yubico
Transformation Leader Of The Year
Winner
Alley Lyles – Direct Energy-Centrica
“Alley’s hard work has made her this year’s Transformation Leader of the Year. A creative thinker with commercial astuteness, she has shown how important attitude and culture are when going through a transformation.”
Emily Dunn – Anaplan
Windy Garrett – Atos
Manju Abraham – Delphix
Alley Lyles – Direct Energy-Centrica
Aashima Gupta – Google
Patricia Grant – ServiceNow
Nataliya Anon – Svitla Systems
Woman of the Year
Winner
Rashim Mogha – Automation Anywhere
“Rashim is successful both in the workplace as a cloud leader and in the community as the president of the Parent Advisory Committee contributing to child development and emerging women leaders. Her impressive career achievements and her work within her community make her an outstanding advocate for technology and this year’s Woman of the Year.”
Rashim Mogha – Automation Anywhere
Karin Lachmi – Bioz
Irma L. Olguin – Bitwise Industries
Dr. Natasha Bansgopaul – DarcMatter
Rhonda Vetere