Women in Software Power List 2019

Nominations open from 11th Feb until 17th March 2019

Know an incredible woman working in software?

ComputerWeekly and Makers have launched the UK’s first 2019 Women in Software Power List to celebrate the fantastic female talent driving the UK’s digital economy. 

We call on the tech and software community to help us create this important list of women by nominating female tech colleagues and leaders creating cool digital products, managing software teams, building amazing companies – or all of the above! Candidates don’t have to be software engineers – they can also be project managers and non-technical leaders.

We also encourage women from the software profession to nominate themselves if they belong on the list.

A team of judges, including Ashwini Kulkarni (DevOps & Technology Manager of hotels.com) and Joann McCann (IT Director UK, Corporate & R&D of Unilever) will consider all nominees and create a shortlist which will be announced in May at a Level39 evening event. 

We look forward to receiving your input and for helping us bring a community together that showcases the power of women in the world of computing and the digital age.

ComputerWeekly, the leading magazine for IT Professionals in the United Kingdom, and Level39 – a world-leading tech startup community, are proud to support Makers in highlighting the women shaping the future of the digital industry.

Level39                    

You should apply if:

Your experience, or the experience of your nominee meets the following criteria. 

Criteria

The criteria we use is our definition of impact, which we assess in relation to 3 core areas:

Growth

  • Strong learning trajectory;
  • New skills and technologies mastered in a short space of time;
  • Demonstration of leadership.

Influence

  • Blogs, speaks at events or runs meet ups; 
  • Teaches others.

Innovation

  • Has been contributing to interesting projects at work or in spare time.

Who is eligible? 

Please feel free to nominate a woman (including yourself!) who: 

  • Is based in the UK;
  • Is not necessarily an engineer – project managers and client-facing leaders are also invited to apply;
  • Has been working in the software industry for less than 6 years;
  • Has mastered a wealth of new skills in a short space of time;
  • Has grown professionally in a short space of time;
  • Has overcome challenges to break into the tech industry;
  • Has found their calling in the tech industry and wants to inspire other women to do the same;
  • Has learnt to make an impact in a male-dominated industry;
  • Has actively encouraged more women to get into tech.

Nominations open to both cis and trans women.

Some of the 2019 Nominees:

Funmi Adewodu

Bio:

While working in Accounting, Funmi was also teaching herself to code. She did this through a web development course with Code ​​First Girls​​. A friend invited her to take part in a hackathon put on by fast-growing digital-only bank Starling Bank, through which Funmi was eventually offered a job. She became a Software​ ​Engineer​ at Starling Bank, one of London’s hottest fintech startups. She now works as an iOS engineer at Yoyo Wallet.

Anna Holland-Smith

Bio:

Anna was once a criminal defence lawyer. Through CodeFirst:Girls, she became more interested in coding. After Makers, she worked at the BBC as a Software Engineer for Content Distribution Services within Design and Engineering. She has also taught refugees and asylum seekers how to code; as well as providing monthly coding workshops for women and members of the LGBTQ+ community.  She now works at The Hut Group, a young tech company known for its dominance of and continued growth within the e-commerce space. She is working with them to create and manage their own Technology Institute.

Alexandra Gillon-Livesey

Bio:

Alexandra started her career in investment banking at Morgan Stanley. She now works as a Strategy Associate at J.P. Morgan and is also studying her MSc in Business Analytics at Imperial College. She is part of J.P. Morgan’s Corporate & Investment Bank in-house Strategy team, advising senior C-level management on strategic projects for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Analytics. At Imperial College, her training includes Data Structures and Algorithms, Network Analytics, and Optimisation and Decision Models.

Phoebe Chibuzo Hugh

Bio:

After completing Makers, Phoebe co-founded Brolly through Entrepreneur First. It is the UK’s first artificially intelligent insurance advisory app, where users can seamlessly manage their policy details and documents. Phoebe previously worked for Aviva as an underwriter before recognising the opportunity to start Brolly, which to date has received over £1m in seed funding in a round led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures and tech VC Pi labs.

Sandrine Zhang Ferron

Bio:

Sandrine worked in finance for seven years, first at a brokerage firm, then managing investments for a HNWI. After struggling to sell a designer sofa when moving house, she noticed a niche in the high-end furniture market. She trained at Makers so she could build the prototype for her business herself. Now, her business Vinterior is an online, curated marketplace for high-end pre-owned furniture and home accessories, which connects design lovers across the capital and makes it easy for Londoners to buy and sell quality vintage furniture to one another.

Rachael Gan

Bio:

Rachael was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs before advising philanthropic tech platform Agora for Good, consulting on Finance and Business Strategy at Project Provenance, and co-founding food waste startup DayOld. She is now the CFO at ImpactVision, an early stage technology company building a more transparent food system. ImpactVision is a machine learning company, applying hyperspectral imaging technology to food supply chains to deliver consistent quality, generate premium products and reduce supply chain waste.

Jess Sapick

Bio:

Jess has worked at Google for the past 8 years, currently as a marketer for DeepMind in London, and in the past on YouTube, Google Glass, Projects Jacquard and Soli and Ads. Before Google, she worked for an Indian NGO, as a venture capital analyst for Pinnacle Ventures and as a project manager for fashion designer Brian Reyes. She launched her own eyewear brand, highbrow, at New York Fashion Week in September 2010. Jess graduated from University of Michigan Ross School of Business in December 2007 and Google’s executive program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

 

Want to see the list?

Be the first to know when the winners are announced.

 

 

Our panel of judges:

Jo Brown (Transition Lead, Enterprise and Group Design & Data, Lloyds Banking Group)
Joann McCann (Information Technology Director, Unilever)
Ashwini Kulkarni (DevOps, Technology & Platform Engineering Manager, Hotels.com)
Clare McDonald (Business Editor, ComputerWeekly.com)
Chris Astley (Director — Cloud Practice Lead, KPMG UK)
Kim Rowan (Head of Engineering, Ministry of Justice)
We share more info on the judges’ backgrounds here

 

How it works:

Nominations open from 11th February 2019
On the Makers website
Anyone can nominate a woman working in software.
Applications close at 11:59pm on 17th March 2019
No applications accepted after this date
 Nominations are collected.
Applications are reviewed 
Judging process takes place
Our panel of judges will review the nominations.
Winners announced on 8th May 2019
At an evening reception at Level39
The list is announced in May at an evening reception in London.

 

 

Nominate before 17th March 

If you think you, or someone you know meets any of the criteria on that list, we want to hear from you. No hesitations or holding back.
Nominations closed

Nominations closed menu close