REVEALED: 2020’s TechWomen100 Award Winners

WeAreTechWomen have announced the winners of the 2020 TechWomen100 Awards.

The winners of these awards showcase remarkable women within the technology and STEM sectors, according to the organiser. Some of the outstanding winners this year include 12-year-old Avye Couloute, who, aware of female under-representation in STEM education and careers, founded Girls Into Coding to encourage more female involvement in tech; Susan Jason, a Principal Systems Engineer and Head of Outreach at In- Space Missions, led the final test phases of the Faraday-1 commercial rideshare nanosatellite; and Heather Black, who founded Supermums, which helps upskill mums (and dads) back into flexible work in the Salesforce ecosystem. 

Winners also include individuals from leading firms such as the BBC, NatWest, Jaguar Land Rover, IBM, Trainline, Visa, Deloitte, Microsoft, Bank of England and Monzo Bank, amongst many more. The awards recognise Champions, Networks and Companies, who are all actively supporting the progression of women in tech and STEM. This year, the TechWomen100 Awards are also celebrating women in tech from outside the UK, for the Global Award for Achievement category. 

OUTSTANDING TECH CONTRIBUTIONS

June Angelides, an early stage investor at Samos Investments, scooped WeAreTechWomen’s Editor’s Choice winner this year. This award specifically recognises “outstanding contribution and tireless efforts towards women in tech”. Prior to joining the world of venture capital, Angelides founded a social enterprise, Mums in Technology, which was the first child-friendly coding school in the UK. She was named the 6th Most Influential BAME tech leader by the FT in 2018 and 15th Most Influential Woman in Tech by Computer Weekly in 2018.

Since August 2020, WeAreTechWomen has been searching the UK for the best female tech talent in the country. The TechWomen100 Awards are the first of their kind to focus solely on the female tech talent pipeline and to also recognise the impact of champions, companies and networks that are leading the way for future generations of tech talent. 

Commenting on this year’s award winners, Vanessa Vallely OBE, Founder of WeAreTechWomen, said: “We have made it our personal mission to shine a spotlight on women working in tech. Our strategic aim is to highlight 1,000 female future leaders in technology by 2025. The response to this year’s awards has been fantastic and the calibre of entries has been outstanding! I am so proud to see so many women in tech recognised for their achievements and look forward to celebrating our winners and their achievements.” 

SUPPORTING TECH WOMEN GROWTH

Adding to her comments, Theresa Palmer, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, stated, ‘The TechWomen100 Awards offers on-going opportunities and membership to a wealth of information and networking to a community of women at the forefront of changing an industry globally. At BAE Systems Applied Intelligence we want to help drive that in any way that we can. Our industry depends on the best and brightest and supporting the growth and development of women in all roles across the technology industry. In a year when we can no longer see the diversity in our meeting rooms and client sites it seemed fitting to step up and headline such an important event. We see the value in celebrating what makes us unique and are very proud to be headline sponsor of the TechWomen100 Awards.” 

In today’s tech industry only 17% are women, according to BAE Systems and WeAreTechWomen. The tech sector needs more women studying, working and sticking with tech skills to ensure that there is enough talent for the future. In 2017, women made up 24% of those working in core STEM industries in the UK. Within the younger generation only one in 10 females are currently taking A-Level computer studies. This needs to change! That’s why Women Tech Council has launched the Women Tech Talent Pipeline Alliance in the US and the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies have created the DIVERSIT Charter to increase the number of women in tech roles in Europe, as reported earlier today.

2020’s WINNERS

The awards were entered by over 700 nominations from across the UK and Ireland and the nominees received over 30,000 votes of support from across the globe. The calibre of entries for these awards was exceptional and all of the judges stated how difficult it was to arrive at a final list, due to the amazing achievements of our nominees, according to the organiser. 

Winners by category include:

• Champion:  Rav Bumbra – Structur3dpeople 
• Global Award for Achievement: Amanda Obidike – STEMi Makers Africa 
• Network of the Year: The Shuri Network 
• Company of the Year: Atos IT Services Ltd 

The remaining 2020 TechWomen100 winners in alphabetical order include:

• Alina Timofeeva – KPMG
• Amelia Hayward – BBC
• Amy Khalfay – IBM
• Ananya Gupta – J.P. Morgan
• Anasol Pena-Rios – BT
• Anastasia Perysinakis – Jaguar Land Rover
• Avye Couloute – Girls Into Coding 
• Becky Hartley – PwC
• Beverley O’Neill – NatWest
• Breda Forrest – Nomura
• Carly Morris – International Airlines Group Cargo
• Carmel Britto – LPF Kiddies Club
• Carolyn Ngiam – Barclays
• Charlene Hunter – Coding Black Females
• Cheryl Hung – Cloud Native Computing Foundation
• Chloe Crutchlow – Jaguar Land Rover
• Christina King – Tribosonics Ltd
• Claire Venners – Telefonica UK
• Cristina Munteanu – Silverbird
• Danielle Calabrese – Baringa Partners
• Danielle Stewart – National Grid
• Daphne Coates – IBM
• Elissa Webb – NatWest
• Emily Beeney – Morgan Stanley
• Emma Martin – BT
• Faye Skinner – Adobe
• Gabriela Adamczyk – Sensor City
• Gill Cooke – Three UK
• Gillian Lamela – Barclays 
• Heather Black – Supermums
• Helen Needham – Capco
• Ivana Skerlikova – Atos
• Jennifer Opal – BT 
• Jessica Leigh Jones – iungo solutions limited
• Kajol Patel – Deloitte
• Kari Lawler – Youth4AI
• Katherine Ramo – CMS 
• Katie Severn – University of Nottingham
• Kayla Lawrie – PwC
• Kayleigh Ridd – Zone Digital
• Kaysee Sahni – Atos 
• Kelly Gardner – CodeBase Stirling
• Khaleelah Jones – Careful Feet Digital
• Kim Diep – Trainline
• Laura Marulanda-Carter – Institute of Technology, Milton Keynes College
• Laura Price – O2/Telefonica 
• Lavinia Osbourne – Women in Blockchain Talks
• Lesley Jonas-Nartey – IBM
• Lucy Futcher – Visa
• Lucy Marshall – Deloitte 
• Lucy Woodhead – GSK
• Mansha Rajani – IBM
• Mari-Ann Ganson – Envirocache Ltd
• Marlene Spensley – Hitachi Vantara
• Monica Menniti – MySense
• Mumuksha Singh – CMS
• Nerissa Arviana Prawiro – Goldman Sachs
• Oishi Deb – Imperial College London
• Olivia Nicklin – EY
• Padmasini Dayananda – Cognizant Worldwide Ltd
• Pola Goldberg Oppenheimer – School of Chemical Engineering and Institute of Healthcare Technologies, University of Birmingham
• Rachel Pattinson – Newcastle University
• Rahel Tesfai – FroHub
• Rashada Harry – AWS
• Rituja Rao – Sparta Global
• Rupinder Sandhu – BAE Systems Applied Intelligence
• Sahydi Garcia – Morgan Stanley
• Sandie Small – Bank of England
• Sarah Croxford – Microsoft
• Sema Yuce – Truth ISC Technology and Security Consultancy
• Sepideh Bazazi – Oliver Wyman
• Shara Gibbons – Barclays
• Simran Mohnani – Deloitte
• Sinead Byrne – BNY Mellon
• Siobhan Tierney – Telefonica UK 
• Snezhana Ilieva – PwC
• Snigdha Satti – News UK
• Sophie Jane Wilson – Raytheon UK
• Srishti Issrani – Deloitte
• Sukhi Jutla – MarketOrders
• Susan Jason – In-Space Missions Ltd
• Suzanne Lord – BBC News
• Suze Shardlow – Self-Employed
• Swati Toshniwal – Mphasis
• Tabby Davies – Zynga/Natural Motion
• Tanya Knowles – Oil and Gas Authority
• Temi Nelson – PwC
• Tereza Litsa – Lightful
• Tracy Higgs – Kainos
• Tulsi Parida – Visa
• Valeria Cortez Vaca Diez – Monzo Bank
• Vibhusha Raval – BT
• Victoria Repa – BetterMe
• Victoria Forrest – VIKA Books
• Vittoria Millan – Fondy
• Vivian Galinari – BBC
• Wincey Tang – Oliver Wyman
• Yasmin Curren – Creative Asembly
• Yasmin Desai – Impala
• Yasmin Johal – CMS 

The 2020 awards were powered by BAE Systems and sponsored by Accenture, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Oliver Wyman and OpenFin. Click here for more information.