E-guide ComputerWeekly’s 50 Most Influential Women in IT 2018 ComputerWeekly’s 50 most influential women in IT 2018 In this e-guide In this e-guide: Computer Weekly announces Each year Computer Weekly showcases 50 of the most the Most Influential Women in influential women in UK technology as part of its ongoing UK IT 2018 mission to make industry role models more visible and accessible. Alongside this list of women, Computer Weekly Creativity and tech ‘two sides runs an annual event, in partnership with Mortimer Spinks, of same coin’, says 2018 Most Influential Woman in IT, which aims to discuss diversity in the technology industry: why Amali de Alwis is it important, how to work towards attracting diverse candidates and how we can retain them. Most Influential Women in UK IT 2018: Rising Stars This year’s event focused on the importance of inclusion in attracting and retaining diverse talent. When people feel they Most Influential Women in UK can be themselves at work they are more likely to stay, and the IT 2018: Entrants to the Hall of Fame company can benefit from their individuality to better reflect the customers they are serving. In this e-guide we showcase some Why we need to focus on of the industry role models who break the stereotypical IT mold, inclusivity as well as diversity and share opinions on what we can do to make the industry in the tech industry more diverse and inclusive. Clare McDonald, business editor Page 1 of 61 ComputerWeekly’s 50 most influential women in IT 2018 In this e-guide Computer Weekly announces the Most Computer Weekly announces the Most Influential Women in Influential Women in UK IT 2018 UK IT 2018 Clare McDonald, business editor Creativity and tech ‘two sides Computer Weekly has announced the Most Influential Woman in UK IT 2018, of same coin’, says 2018 and is showcasing 50 of the top women in the UK’s technology industry. Most Influential Woman in IT, Amali de Alwis Computer Weekly’s annual list of the UK’s great women in tech, which is now in its seventh year, was introduced in 2012 to create a visible list of role models in Most Influential Women in UK the technology industry. IT 2018: Rising Stars The list originally comprised 25 women, before being extended to include 50 Most Influential Women in UK women in 2015, and for the second year in a row, Computer Weekly published IT 2018: Entrants to the Hall the longlist of nominees to showcase how many influential women there are in of Fame the technology industry. This year, Amali de Alwis received the accolade of Most Influential Woman in Why we need to focus on UK Tech 2018, due to her work as CEO of not-for-profit Code First: Girls, which inclusivity as well as diversity in the tech industry currently teaches more women in the UK to code than the UK’s university system, as well as her efforts as part of the steering group of the Tech Talent Charter. Page 2 of 61 ComputerWeekly’s 50 most influential women in IT 2018 The 50 women on this list, as well as Computer Weekly’s 2018 Rising Stars, In this e-guide Hall of Fame members and attendees of Computer Weekly and Mortimer Spinks’ annual diversity event, serve as role models for others both in and Computer Weekly announces outside of the technology industry. the Most Influential Women in UK IT 2018 1. Amali de Alwis, CEO, Code First: Girls This year’s winner, Amali de Alwis, is the CEO for coding education initiative Creativity and tech ‘two sides of same coin’, says 2018 Code First: Girls, which teaches women of all backgrounds how to code. De Most Influential Woman in IT, Alwis also acts as a CommonwealthFirst mentor for the Commonwealth Amali de Alwis Enterprise and Investment Council, providing mentorship and encouragement to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Most Influential Women in UK Working to align education, skills and employment, De Alwis is also on the IT 2018: Rising Stars membership committee for working women’s club AllBright, and acts as a mentor for many startups. Most Influential Women in UK IT 2018: Entrants to the Hall 2. Sarah Wilkinson, CEO, NHS Digital of Fame In 2017, Sarah Wilkinson was appointed the new CEO of NHS Digital. Prior to Why we need to focus on this, Wilkinson was the chief technology officer (CTO) at the Home Office, inclusivity as well as diversity where she led many of the most critical IT systems supporting UK borders and in the tech industry policing. Previously, Wilkinson was managing director and head of corporate systems technology at Credit Suisse for over two years, having previously worked at Page 3 of 61 ComputerWeekly’s 50 most influential women in IT 2018 HSBC, UBS and Deutsche Bank in various senior IT roles. She also acts as a In this e-guide non-executive director for both NatWest Markets and King’s College London. Computer Weekly announces 3. Debbie Forster, CEO, Tech Talent Charter the Most Influential Women in UK IT 2018 Debbie Forster is CEO of government-backed initiative Tech Talent Charter which aims to boost diversity and address gender imbalance in technology roles. She is also director at consultancy Novel Design, and director for Creativity and tech ‘two sides of same coin’, says 2018 international development at the National Consortium of Secondary Stem Most Influential Woman in IT, Schools (NCSSS). Amali de Alwis During her time as co-CEO at Apps for Good, Forster inspired hundreds of students, teachers, industry experts and sponsors to engage with the Most Influential Women in UK organisation. As well as scaling at an impressive rate under Forster’s IT 2018: Rising Stars leadership, Apps for Good is working hard to tackle diversity in Stem education. The course has achieved and maintained a gender balance of close to 50/50. Most Influential Women in UK IT 2018: Entrants to the Hall Over 50% of apps which have won at the organisation’s annual awards have of Fame been developed by all-girl or mixed teams. Forster recently received an MBE for digital innovation, and was named WISE woman of the year in 2016. She has Why we need to focus on regularly featured in Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Women in UK IT list. inclusivity as well as diversity in the tech industry 4. Elizabeth Denham, information commissioner, ICO As information commissioner for the UK, Elizabeth Denham is responsible for ensuring information rights are in the public interest and leads the office dealing Page 4 of 61 ComputerWeekly’s 50 most influential women in IT 2018 with the Data Protection Act 2018 – the UK’s implementation of the EU’s In this e-guide General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Computer Weekly announces Prior to becoming information commissioner, Denham was the information and the Most Influential Women in privacy commissioner for British Columbia, responsible for compliance with UK IT 2018 public and private sector privacy legislation and access to information law. 5. Anne-Marie Imafidon, CEO, Stemettes Creativity and tech ‘two sides of same coin’, says 2018 Anne-Marie Imafidon founded volunteer organisation Stemettes to inspire the Most Influential Woman in IT, next generation of women into science, technology, engineering and Amali de Alwis mathematics (Stem) via a series of panel events, hackathons and through the media. She is also a board member at Inspirational You, a fellow of the Royal Most Influential Women in UK Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and IT 2018: Rising Stars a Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) digital skills partnership board member. Most Influential Women in UK IT 2018: Entrants to the Hall She won the FDM Everywoman Rising Star of the Year award in 2014 and has of Fame featured in Computer Weekly’s list of the Most Influential Women in UK IT after being marked as a Rising Star in previous years. Prior to Stemettes, Imafidon Why we need to focus on started her career in IT as a business analyst intern and web designer before inclusivity as well as diversity becoming an enterprise collaboration strategist at Deutsche Bank. in the tech industry Page 5 of 61 ComputerWeekly’s 50 most influential women in IT 2018 6. Alice Bentinck, co-founder, Entrepreneur First In this e-guide Alice Bentinck is the co-founder of Entrepreneur First, a firm focused on Computer Weekly announces supporting technology startups from around Europe. As part of the Entrepreneur the Most Influential Women in First initiative, Bentinck also co-founded Code First: Girls, an organisation which UK IT 2018 provides part-time coding courses across university campuses. Bentinck was on the advisory board of Founders4Schools for two years, and is Creativity and tech ‘two sides of same coin’, says 2018 on the computer science department industrial liaison board for Imperial College Most Influential Woman in IT, London. Amali de Alwis 7. Jeni Tennison, CEO, The Open Data Institute Most Influential Women in UK Jeni Tennison is CEO of not-for-profit The Open Data Institute, and was IT 2018: Rising Stars awarded an OBE for services to technology and open data in 2014. Previously, Tennison was technical architect and lead developer for Legislation.gov.uk and Most Influential Women in UK acts as executive director for Open Addresses UK. IT 2018: Entrants to the Hall of Fame Until 2015, Tennison was a member of the Open Data User Group, an independent ministerial advisory group for the Cabinet Office.