Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

Preethi Nair is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and inspirational speaker with a passion for storytelling and empowering women to embrace their unique journeys. 

A former management consultant, Preethi left the corporate world to self-publish her debut novel, Gypsy Masala, after facing numerous rejections. 

To promote her work, she created an alter ego, “Pru Menon,” as her own publicist andsubsequently, signed a three book deal with HarperCollins. Having never acted before, she performed a one woman show in the West End, playing all 22 characters. The play was optioned for television and has been adapted into novel called Unravelling. 

Today, Preethi is the Managing Director of Kiss the Frog, a company that uses storytelling to foster creativity and innovation in organizations. A frequent speaker at international conferences, she shares her insights on resilience, creativity, and the power of rewriting the narrative of our lives. 

Preethi’s story inspires audiences to overcome challenges, find their voice, and lead with authenticity.

Polina Changuleva is a multi-award-winning global partnerships expert and international speaker with over a decade of experience in media and tech. Having led multi-million-dollar partnerships for brands like Xbox, Thomas Cook and Hearst - the biggest magazine publisher in the world, Polina has collaborated with names including KFC, Burberry, Lego, BMW, Nivea, Adidas and many more.

In recent years, Polina has coached over 600 founders, creatives, and change makers, helping them leverage partnerships as a growth tool. She is the founder of Brand Partnerships House, a community empowering businesses to unlock their dream collaborations with organizations like Estee Lauder, Mastercard, Samsung, and Birkenstock.

Shannon Keegan is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at CBRE - the world's largest commercial real estate company - with over a decade of experience in driving effective marketing strategies across diverse sectors.

She helps technology teams articulate the value of their work to their colleagues and clients, turning complex tech jargon into simple, accessible, and motivational marketing campaigns, that drive digital literacy, confidence, and adoption.

Ivna Curi empowers professionals to become their own best advocates at work and confidently make their voices heard, without the fear of being labeled aggressive or facing retaliation.

As the host of the Speak Your Mind Unapologetically podcast, a TEDx speaker, Forbes contributor, and author of Unapologetic Voice, Ivna has inspired millions worldwide to speak up with conviction and courage, helping them unlock new opportunities, advance their careers, and increase their influence.

As ICF PCC Accredited Coaches, EMCC Senior Coach Practitioners and Accredited Coach Supervisors (AC and EMCC), Sarah Bramall and Rebecca Daniel are experts in their field. 

Alongside their coaching and supervision work, they are proud to be engaged as Associate Coach Trainers delivering world class coach training for leading coach training providers. Their specialisms include: Leadership Coaching, Neurodiversity, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB), bringing a wealth of knowledge to the coaching industry. 

Sarah and Rebecca also hold qualifications in Neurolinguistic Programming and DISC Personality and Behaviour Profiling, and are certified Mental Health First Aiders. Sarah and Rebecca both hold Associate Board roles for ICF UK, with responsibility for Professional Development and Partnerships. 

As co-host of The Coaching Catalysts Podcast, Sarah and Rebecca share their coaching experiences with humour and honesty. With a combined thirty years of experience in education as former teachers and leaders, The Coaching Catalysts are passionate about supporting coaches and professionals to enhance their skills through best professional practices, learning, development, and coach supervision. T

heir commitment to excellence, alongside their warmth and honesty, has made them invaluable resources for individuals and organisations striving for success in coaching and supervision.

Carlotta Zorzi-Chapman is a seasoned partnerships professional in the tech industry, TEDx and international keynote speaker, mentor, business consultant & coach - and an all-in-all passionate individual who's keen to help others make a positive impact on their lives and those around them.

Originally from Italy, Carlotta has lived, studied and worked across Scotland, Silicon Valley, Sweden - and is now based in Brighton, UK. 

An active advocate for more diversity in leadership and for the opportunities the tech industry brings to the table when it comes to social mobility, Carlotta has mentored countless individuals, coached ambitious clients and spoken on stages like TEDx, WomenXImpact Summit, RAF Mildenhall Growth Conference, Reframe Women in Tech Conference and OneTechWorld to name a few. 

In 2024 Carlotta founded Too Ambitious (too-ambitious.com), a brand, movement and community that aims at supporting ambitious women with the pursuit of their goals despite the challenges they might face in the corporate and entrepreneurial world. Too Ambitious’ mission focuses on changing the often negative narrative around ‘ambitious women’ by developing products that celebrate their focus, grit and drive - and creating a space to share knowledge and support through mentoring and free monthly events that feature incredible guest speakers. Because ultimately.. there’s no such thing as Too Ambitious. Visit too-ambitious.com to learn more.

Gill Cooke is a coach, mentor and Inclusion Consultant. 

With a squiggly career behind her - from TV Project Manager to Head of Digital Planning and Delivery, to HR and now being self-employed, Gill uses her experience of changing careers; transferable skills, networking and speaking to inspire, support, coach and help people find the answers they need to motivate, develop and be more self-aware. 

Gill loves giving back and helping people find their own purpose and values. Gill also supports public and private sector organisations in their journey to become more inclusive workplaces.

Erika Brodnock, MBE, is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur, philanthropist, and angel investor. She is an MBA, a Leadership Fellow at Exeter University and KCL, and a PhD in the Inclusion Initiative at the LSE. Erika is the author of Diversity Beyond Gender, TRANSPARENT Framework, and Better Venture. 

Erika is a Co-founder at Extend Ventures, The Black Funding Network, and Kinhub, which provides data-driven coaching and personalised employee support. She is one of 19 UK Black women who have raised more than £1m in equity funding for her startup.

Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

Defne specialises in data analytics and Generative AI in PwC's Workforce Consulting practice.

Without a formal tech background, she has swiftly established herself as a recognised expert, creating digital assets that drive impactful, data-driven insights. Supporting clients on their GenAI adoption journey, Defne is passionate about upskilling others in this area and has trained hundreds in GenAI.

As a thought leader in GenAI and Skills-first transformation, she leads PwC’s AI and Skills strategies and has contributed to a whitepaper with the World Economic Forum regarding the impacts of GenAI. Defne attributes her success to strong allies, mentors, and the power of creating her own opportunities, demonstrating how these factors can shape a rewarding career.

Her achievements and impact were recognised by her nomination as a Woman of the Future and her win in the TechWomen100, 2024.

At 22, with dreams of being a standup comic, Sara signed up for a spot on a comedy night. However, the panic of actually doing the standup was so consuming, she immediately gave up and didn't try again. Until she was 35. Thirteen years later, something had shifted, and Sara found the confidence to manage tough crowds and misogynistic hecklers. Within a few years, she’d turned stand-up into the job she had always dreamed of: she booked Live at the Apollo and a range of TV panel shows, as well as taking four critically acclaimed stand-up hours to the Edinburgh Fringe. 

She also launched her own smash-hit tv podcast, on which she interviews some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including Charlie Brooker, Russell T. Davies and Daisy May Cooper, to name just a few.

Professor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nottingham, Vince has mentored 1000s spanning the whole career lifecycle from school to university, executive and board level, and made it his mission in life to inspire and mentor future generations into STEM, Engineering, Tech, and Energy careers.

His other pillars around which he has built his portfolio are education, the energy transition and equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Vince has 40+ years of relevant, global business experience incorporating executive management and board positions in blue chip companies including ExxonMobil, Suez, V. Ships, Nalco, and P&G and with a boutique executive search firm, Preng & Associates, that specialises in executive and board recruitment for companies in the energy sector.

Today he manages a diverse portfolio that incorporates career mentor to undergraduates, graduates and alumni at the University of Nottingham, energy sector career mentor to students and alumni at several prestigious UK business schools including London Business School, Imperial, Oxford, Cambridge and Chicago Booth, and holds Trustee and Non-Executive positions on several boards.

He won the prestigious Chairman’s Award as global General Manager of the year at Suez for outstanding performance, and recently the Davidson Medal 2024 from the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) for global leadership in mentoring and the TechWomen100 2024 Award for Gender Balance.

Vince is a Trustee/Non-Executive Board member and Ambassador for various organisations including Male Allies UK, the Women in Engineering Society, Female Leaders in STEM Subjects, POWERful Women, MyBigCareer, a charity providing career guidance to students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the South Shropshire Multi-Academy Trust. Vince is also a member of the Progressiya 2024 initiative and mentors top businesswomen from Ukraine, and is also a mentor for the Cajigo group where he inspires women in tech.

He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of several organisations including the IChemE, Energy Institute, Women’s Engineering Society, and the Chartered Management Institute. He is a Group Partner of Circklo start-up and a member/volunteer of Graduate Mentor, UN Women UK, the Career Development Institute and European Women on Boards.

Kasia is a software engineer passionate about building inclusive technology and supporting women and non-binary people in tech. 

With a background in languages and cultural studies, she transitioned into the tech industry to combine her love of creative problem-solving with a mission-driven approach to building solutions that serve end users by adding value to their lives. 

Beyond her role, Kasia is an active advocate for gender diversity in tech and strives to empowers people to pursue their dream careers. She mentors young people through One Million Mentors, teaches coding with Code First Girls, and serves as an ambassador for social enterprises, such as GirlCode and Next Tech Girls. Through public speaking, mentoring, and community involvement, Kasia is dedicated to helping others build confidence, overcome imposter syndrome, and carve their space in the tech world.

Naomi is Global Head of Solutions Consulting in the Northern Trust Enterprise Architecture group. Her team seek to drive strong business value and operational efficiencies by developing strategies and approaches to implementing and adopting the right technology solutions. Her team provide independent internal consulting helping to solve complex problems across our technology organisation. She also leads Cross-Product Management practice for the Enterprise Architecture product portfolio. She is a certified SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager and has 25 years of experience in diverse roles across Technology. 

She leads by example - a strong female role model, passionate about diversity and inclusion. She is a founder member of the EMEA Technology Diversity group and the EMEA WIT network. She curated the inaugural, and now annual, Northern Trust EMEA Technology Virtual Conference. An active mentor both internally and externally in addition to being a mentee as part of Dell Talent Exchange and Triple FS Mentoring Programme. She is engaged in the 30% Club in Ireland and is an alumnus of their Senior Women in Tech 30 x 30 Programme. She is also a member of T200.org which aims to empower women in technology. 

Externally Naomi has represented Northern Trust at many events including the WeAreTechWomen OneTechWorld conference covering topics including how businesses can drive their own DE&I initiatives and tackling ‘Imposter Syndrome’. 

Naomi is an active member of the charity Open Spectrum providing opportunities for children with autism to actively engage in group sporting activities in a supportive environment.

Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

As a former software engineer at Amazon and Yahoo, Yota Trom understands firsthand the challenges of navigating a tech career. Now, as a leadership coach, she helps women in tech create their own path to leadership – whether that's stepping into their first director role or joining the C-suite. 

Yota combines her deep tech background with professional coaching expertise (she's ICF-accredited and holds an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology & Coaching) to help leaders tackle real challenges like imposter syndrome and executive presence. Her clients have achieved remarkable growth in their careers, including doubling their compensation and winning industry recognition. 

She's the founder of Together in Tech, a community of over 6,000 tech professionals focused on making the industry more inclusive and human. Her commitment to advancing women in tech extends to her role as a UK delegate to the UN's Commission on the Status of Women and her board position at UCL School of Management. 

Working with senior leaders and founders at companies like Google, Sky, and Booking.com, Yota helps her clients build authentic leadership styles that get results. She specialises in helping women in tech find their voice, build confidence, and create the impact they want to see in their organisations.

Sharon is a gender diversity expert and experienced diversity and inclusion leader with over 20 years' experience in global businesses. 

She is a registered psychologist, a certified coach and the Founder and CEO of Shape Talent – the equity, diversity and inclusion experts for complex multinational organisations who are serious about gender equality (and what it can achieve for their business). Prior to founding Shape Talent in 2017, she held senior leadership roles in two FTSE20 business.

Sharon’s research has identified the most significant barriers to women’s career progression and this, combined with her significant corporate experience, has informed the development of the methodology underpinning Shape Talent’s evidence-based solutions: the Three Barriers model®.

Sharon writes extensively on the barriers women face in gender equity in the workplace and is a Top LinkedIn Voice. Recently she was awarded Director of the Year – EDI by the Institute of Directors, was named on the Women in Leadership Powerlist by Management Today and was recognised in the top 50 LinkedIn Female Empowerment voices (at #30 globally). Further, she was named on the Global Diversity List 2023 for Senior Executives and was an official UN Women UK delegate to CSW 67 and 68 (Commission on the Status of Women). In addition, Shape Talent was winner of the D&I Consultancy of the Year award 2022, and the Most Empowering Workplaces for Gender Equity 2024. Born in Australia, Sharon has lived and worked in Australia and the UK, and her roles have given her experience working across 6 continents, delivering work in locations as diverse as Colombia, Romania, India, Uganda, New York, and Hong Kong. Her clients come from sectors as diverse as telecoms, consumer goods, manufacturing, publishing, medical devices, and financial services. Sharon regularly speaks at events, conferences and on panels, and has been cited in The Guardian, Metro, BBC, Forbes.com, Psychologies magazine, Business Leader, People Management, HR Magazine and more.

Sharon’s out-of-work interests include spending time with her young family, scuba diving, big cats and wildlife conservation. She is a Board Member of Born Free, a leading wildlife charity.

Jennifer Joseph is a senior technology leader with over 25 years of experience delivering high-impact strategic initiatives. Leading the Office of the CIO department for Northern Trust Asset Management Technology, Jennifer helps technology-driven organizations to be successful through strategy execution, employee development, and cultural transformation. She is passionate about shifting to a product mindset and coaching teams in the adoption of agile ways of working. 

Prior to joining Northern Trust, Jennifer began her career as a software engineer in the financial services industry and has held leadership positions supporting technology business strategy and application development. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Masters in Management (MBA). Jennifer is currently co-leading the Northern Trust Women in Technology (WIT) group in North America.

Marina is a senior technology leader with over 25 years of experience in progressive leadership roles across multiple industries. She has a passion for technology and a proven track record of delivering multimillion-dollar programs in record time using cutting-edge technologies. 

At Northern Trust, Marina leads the Office of the CIO for the Wealth Management Technology group. She plays a critical role in strategic planning, workforce development, executive communications, and financial oversight. She also co-leads the Northern Trust Women in Technology (WIT) group in North America. 

Marina began her career as a software engineer at Accenture, working on complex technology solutions for Fortune 500 companies. She has since held leadership roles at JPMorgan, Capital One, Discover, and AbbVie, gaining extensive expertise in software development, architecture, program management, and technology transformation. 

Marina holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and is passionate about fostering a supportive community that empowers women to pursue rewarding careers in technology.

Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

Amy is a Swiss/American communication coach specializing in leadership, power, status and positive influence.

Amy’s keynotes and programs are high energy, interactive and instantly applicable. As an expert, Amy upgrades the way people interact. They discover how to communicate mutual respect, manage themselves under pressure and control knee jerk reactions!Her understanding of the human psyche is extensive. With 30+ years of experience, Amy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, is a Professional Certified Coach, Master Practitioner of NLP and author of The Ego Tango, How to Get More of What You Want More Often with Less Hassle.Working cross culturally, around the globe and online, Amy has discovered the universality of this approach. The result has been transformational for many.

Amy’s Partner mindset techniques and improvisational theatre philosophy, “Make your partner look good” are life changing. She offers a collection of valuable resources with her videos, newsletters, blogs, webinars & podcasts.

Amy’s clients include: ABB, Alcon, Amgen, A.P. Moller-Maersk, Baltic Management Institute, Baxter, Baxalta, Dow, Dupont, Duracell, Eaton, Edwards School of Business, Ernst & Young, European Stability Mechanism, Ferring, Fédération Equestre Internationale, Google, Grunethal, HEC Lausanne, Hewlett Packard, IMD, iOnctura, Merck Serono, Medtronic, Microsoft, Medicines For Malaria, Nestlé, Nespresso, Novartis, Parker, P&G, Purina, Saatchi & Saatchi, Scandagra, Shell, Shire, Swiss Post, Takeda, UBS, United Nations, Varian and World Economic Forum and Zurich Insurance.

Michelle Leivars AKA The Female Business Mentor, is a multi award winning business mentor and strategist, author and podcast host, who specialises in resilience and helping women to succeed. 

With a wealth of personal and professional experiences, Michelle brings a unique perspective, facing numerous obstacles throughout her own journey, Michelle is passionate about helping women overcome adversity and achieve their goals. 

With a down to earth approach, sharing her own difficulties along the way, Michelle has achieved success with both private clients and corporate mentoring for Small Business Britain, Lloyds Bank, Amazon Accelerator & BT. Regularly contributing as a business expert in publications for the BBC, Stylist, GRAZIA, Investors' Chronicle, National World, Fabulous, Good Housekeeping & Image Magazine, Michelle is passionate about helping women thrive. 

New for 2025, Michelle is a Contributing Writer for Startups Magazine, with her own series on their website. Her very first book: The Female Business Blueprint® due for release in 2025, it's a practical, no-nonsense guide full of humour and honesty about the realities of being a female founder.

Kellie is an award-winning champion for gender equality who transforms the tech industry through strategic talent development and advocacy. 

As Founder and CEO of Halzak, she strategically connects diverse talent with inclusive tech companies, while her initiative "Elevate - Women in Tech" amplifies inspirational stories and creates pathways for women in the field. Her impact extends through innovative programs, including a podcast series, a community network, and the acclaimed "Wall of Inspiration" spotlight series. 

The cornerstone ElevateHER Leadership Mentor Program has matched over 100 women with mentors in 2024, providing crucial personal development resources to address underrepresentation in tech leadership. Drawing from 20 years of industry experience, Kellie serves as a business and Women in Tech coach, DEI consultant, and keynote speaker.

Beyond her professional achievements, she coaches girls' netball, extending her mission of building confidence and leadership skills to the next generation.

Leila Singh is an accomplished Sales and Finance professional with a corporate career spanning 25 years. She has a wealth of experience initially gained as a qualified accountant (FCCA), followed by 16 years spent at Hewlett Packard Enterprise initially in Corporate Finance, and latterly nearly ten years as a successful Sales Executive delivering a little shy of $1bn of business.

In parallel, during the last ten years Leila has established her Coaching Practice & Personal Brand Consultancy, drawing on her breadth of skills, knowledge, and experience in the areas of sales, finance, and extensive personal growth and development, where she coaches highly motivated and ambitious career professionals at all levels up to CXO and NED’s, typically working in the tech industry, to establish their competitive advantage, be best in class, and accelerate their career towards leadership, by creating a powerful personal brand and showing up as their best self. Her clients' results speak for themselves, with each client securing at least one promotion through working with Leila and an increase in income averaging 47%.

Furthermore, Leila, a TEDx & Keynote Speaker, is accredited as a Master Coach, Enneagram Practitioner, L&D Trainer, and Professional Speaker Mentor, Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) & Hypnotherapy, Podcast Host of ‘Life Leadership – All Things Coaching, Career & Personal Brand!’, and Published Author of ‘Success Redefined – How to leverage your natural talents to be limitless!’

Rob leads market activation for PwC’s cloud and digital transformation business in the UK. He is a leading voice in the field of AI and an evangelist for the responsible and ethical adoption of technology and its impact upon society. 

He’s a Senior Visiting Fellow at Bayes Business School, and a founding board member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on AI. HR Magazine ranks him as an ‘HR Most Influential Thinker’, Onalytica cites him as a ‘Who’s Who in AI’, and he was voted ‘Tech Community Leader of the Year’ at the CogX Festival. 

He’s been a judge of the TechWomen100 Awards since the beginning and was a proud winner of the Editor’s Choice Award in 2021 in recognition of his championing of the Women-in-Tech agenda.

Rosie focuses on how to harness technology to shape the future and drive sustainable growth. Rosie's centre of gravity is bridging the gap between organisational strategy and where to focus technology innovation and investment efforts, from trend exploration and idea generation to incubating and scaling impactful initiatives. As part of this she unpacks emerging technology trends to understand how they manifest themselves across all components of the business model and what this means for both protecting and creating business value.

Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

Teri Green is a seasoned Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) with over a decade of experience in cybersecurity leadership.

Recognized for her expertise in implementing robust security frameworks and driving large-scale IT transformations, Teri is passionate about fostering diversity within the cybersecurity field. She has led teams through complex cloud migrations, cybersecurity risk management, and the integration of advanced security technologies.

Teri advocates for diverse perspectives in cybersecurity, believing that inclusive teams are essential for innovation and resilience in combating modern threats. 

A sought-after speaker and mentor, Teri frequently shares her insights on cybersecurity leadership, policy, and the strategic value of diversity in strengthening security. Currently preparing for her CISM certification, Teri is dedicated to advancing the cybersecurity industry and empowering the next generation of leaders.

I am a highly driven and confident Cyber Security Consultant with in experience in strategy, innovation and cyber security.

I have a proven track record in implementing and aiding security technologies, processes and infrastructure. My work and contribution to the technology industry has been recognised and resulted in me winning the TechWomen100 2024 awards. I am passionate about cyber resilience, delivering strategic outcomes to aid clients.

My expertise extends to virtual and digital training where I have delivered and designed impactful programs to diverse audiences. I am proficient in the use of industry-recognised frameworks such as ISO27001, NIST and NSCSC.

My personal work and contributions to policy extends to collaboration with stakeholders such as MOPAC, TFL and central government.

Rianat Abbas is a product and cybersecurity professional with over 6 years of experience working with global brands like Volkswagen, Deloitte, and Revolut. 

She combines her expertise in product management, and cybersecurity to help organizations build secure, user-focused software solutions. Rianat is passionate about breaking down complex ideas into practical strategies and has a knack for making technology approachable. 

She’s a mentor, a speaker, and a leader, dedicated to driving innovation while fostering inclusivity and collaboration in the tech space. Her work spans multiple continents, giving her a unique perspective on building products and solutions that work for diverse markets and audiences.

Alana Esty is the host of the Health Analytic Insights podcast. She has her master’s degree in biomedical engineering and currently works in the field of health informatics.

When she graduated from university, she found out that just having a degree didn’t magically open the doors she wanted to enter. What followed was a long and difficult two-year journey to attempt to find a job in her field.

Along the way, she picked up some impactful tips that helped her to pivot into the health informatics field. She created the Health Analytic Insights podcast to discover a community of individuals who are passionate about the field of health informatics and help them get into the field quicker with actionable and helpful tips.

She has had the opportunity to speak at the STEMNoire 2022 conference, The Wonder Women in Tech Summit 2023, Black in Data Week 2023, and the Women in Tech Speaker Series 2024, inspiring others to break into the health informatics field.

Tara Mustapha is an award-winning leader on a mission. 

Founder and CEO of Code Coven, she's pushing the gaming industry to recognise that it's more than just pixels on a screen. With two decades deep in the game, she's seen both the indie and AAA spaces, and she's using that experience to make the industry a space where everyone, no matter their background, can find a place. 

Code Coven isn't just a company; it's a movement. We've raised over £1 million to help further opportunities for underrepresented developers, building pathways that turn potential into progress. Built to level the playing field, to create real opportunities and wealth for those often left out. It's for the underdogs, the unseen, the voices that deserve a seat at the table but haven't been given one. And now, that platform's touched over 1,000 lives with mentorship, education, and professional development—turning dreams into paychecks and hopes into real studios. 

From Riot to Netflix, from Meta to Niantic, the biggest players in the industry are backing Code Coven, not just because of the talent we're spotlighting but because we're setting a new bar for what this industry can be. Code Coven is a redefining success—not just the commercial kind, but the kind that builds community, elevates voices and shapes the culture. 

Tara's a storyteller at heart, an advocate for the underrepresented, and a leader who knows how to bring people together. She's on a quest to make change tangible, from code to culture. You'll find her on international stages, dropping wisdom on equity, gaming, and the future of tech—sharing the expertise that has earned her numerous industry awards. 

She's here to uplift, inspire, and lead, proving that when you build the right platform, everyone shines.

Hena Naranbhai, an accomplished Finance Transformation Specialist and Technology Leader, she has an extensive background in the financial Services and banking. Hena is also a former Rising Star winner and has been shortlisted for multiple awards in technology and leadership.

Hena is an advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, having championed various initiatives and volunteers her time to support various social enterprises, charities and serves as a School Governor.

Lisa Ventura MBE is an award-winning cyber security specialist, published writer/author, journalist and keynote speaker. She is the Founder of Cyber Security Unity, a global community organisation that is dedicated to bringing individuals and organisations together who actively work in cyber security to help combat the growing cyber threat and Neuro Unity, a non-profit that champions and promotes neuroinclusion for all. 

As a consultant Lisa also provides cyber security awareness and culture change training and works with cyber security leadership teams to help them collaborate more effectively. She also provides training to organisations on the benefits of hiring neurodivergent people. She has specialist knowledge in the human factors of cyber security, cyber psychology, neurodiversity and AI in cyber. 

More information about Lisa can be found on www.lisaventura.co.uk.

Kanika is a Partner with EY with over 20 years of experience in delivering Cybersecurity and Resilience engagements and working closely with regulators to provide thought leadership and market insights to the industry. Kanika has significant experience in working with Boards and Executive Committees, bringing deep expertise in understanding evolving Cybersecurity and Resilience regulatory expectations. She also leads the EMEIA Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) and Outsourcing solution. Kanika works with a wide range of clients across the banking, insurance, wealth and asset management sectors. 

Kanika is a passionate Diversity, Equity & Inclusiveness leader for EY and sponsors several Women in Technology initiatives. She also works with multiple local charities and non-profit organisations which target the causes of inequality and help people from diverse backgrounds develop their skills and confidence to enhance their employability.

Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

Tosin Clement is a seasoned Data Analytics professional with over five years of experience across consulting, healthcare, and e-commerce industries and transforming complex datasets into meaningful insights to drive strategic business decisions.

With expertise in SQL, Power BI, Tableau, and Python, Tosin excels in ETL processes, predictive modeling, and crafting intuitive visualizations that empower organizations to confidently make data-driven decisions.

In their career, Tosin has successfully led initiatives to optimize reporting processes, streamline financial metrics analysis, and enhance operational efficiency.

With over 10 years of sales experience, Miriam has worked across industries, from selling mobile phones to multi-million-pound properties and tech solutions. 

Her strength lies in her soft-sales approach—listening, understanding client needs, and building genuine relationships. Recently, she worked with accountancy firms to implement accounts payable software.

 A passionate speaker and LinkedIn voice, Miriam breaks down sales strategies and inspire others. She was recognised as a Top 50 Woman in Accounting 2024 nominee and won Young Businesswoman of the Year 2024.

Georgina is an award-winning Experience Transformation Consultant with a Masters in Applied Data Analytics, blending creativity and technology to drive impactful change across industries. With a diverse professional background spanning the creative sector, sales, finance, and technology, she combines cross-industry knowledge with data-driven insights to craft innovative solutions. Her expertise in marketing and luxury management, honed at prestigious institutions such as London College of Fashion a, underpins her unique approach to problem-solving. 

Recognised as a dedicated Career Changer and Mentor, Georgina has been honoured with accolades including the 2023 Women in Tech Award, a place on the 2024 Northern Power Futures List, and the 2024 We Are The City Rising Star Award. Georgina is passionate about empowering businesses to thrive at the intersection of creativity and technology, inspiring the tech community to push boundaries and shape the future.

Rachna has been shaping and delivering large, global, marketing & digital transformation programmes for over 15 years. Rachna leads Accenture’s Sales Force business in Europe, and in the UK & Ireland market, helping our joint portfolio of clients in reimagining their digital business, and their enterprise-level investments. 

Her passion lies in bringing together diverse talent, cultures, skillsets and approaches, to solve for the tough stuff together. She is active in the industry on topics related to women in business, and to advancing women in the workplace.

With over a decade in localisation, Elise explored the different facets of our discipline: language specialist, editor, project manager… She’s now a Localisation Quality Manager and has been the first to build Deliveroo’s quality management process from the ground up. 

This new process is enabling the company to test all its products, in all available languages, and improve quality beyond copy.

Marine Ruhamanya is a Cybersecurity Senior Manager at Accenture with over 14 years of experience helping Fortune 500 companies secure their environments. She has a proven track record of leading complex security projects and engaging executive stakeholders to deliver impactful results. 

Her accomplishments span developing cyber strategies, leading cyberattack recovery efforts, designing cyber organizational changes, establishing policy frameworks, developing metrics and reporting for board and tactical teams, and implementing technical security solutions across IT and OT/Industrial environments. Strongly committed to Operational Technology (OT) security, an emerging field focused on securing industrial physical environments often underpinning our critical infrastructures, she advises organizations on designing and implementing robust measures to prevent cyber disruptions to essential services. Marine is frequently invited to share her insights as a panelist and to collaborate with other cyber women leaders. 

Passionate about nurturing the next generation of security professionals, she takes great joy in training new junior consultants at the Accenture Security Academy and in mentoring many, often from underrepresented groups.

Rebecca joined Secureworks in 2014, where she developed an immediate passion for cybersecurity. Rebecca quickly expanded her cyber acumen, working across a variety of roles including Business Operations and Incident Command, finally moving into her Threat Intelligence Knowledge Manager role in 2022. Rebecca is focused on the implementation of knowledge management processes and procedures for the Counter Threat Unit, the ingestion and management of Secureworks Threat Intelligence knowledge, and its associated quality, storage and maintenance. 

She is also a Human Intelligence Researcher spending time on the darkweb and on underground forums with a focus on data dumps and access brokerage. 

Rebecca has been acknowledged in industry for her contributions, most recently winning ‘Security Woman of the Year’ at the Computing’ Security Excellence Awards 2024.

Rebecca has a wealth of experience in all things data, coupled with a tuned-in business viewpoint that bridges the gap between technical and operational. 

Automation, efficiency and new tech are key drivers behind the MI suits that Rebecca builds and delivers, regardless of the size of the organisation. 

Working on a successful multi-million pound nationwide project, Rebecca was hired after the plans, tools and processes were already prepared, and the data collection had already begun. But, quite early on, Rebecca worked out a new combination of data points that would increase the quality of mapping in place. The idea was accepted and embedded into the processes which meant the majority of the project went forward using Rebecca's idea. During her time on this project, Rebecca also progressed from Analyst up to Project Manager where she also became a qualified PRINCE2 Practitioner. 

Over the course of her career; exposure and experience on migrations, system designs, system builds, I.T. and MI has given Rebecca a varied and accomplished skillset. 

Her team are exceptionally proud to have a TechWomen100 2024 Winner as their manager, and they are looking forward to achieving great things together in the future.

Transformational Technology Leader with 20+ years’ working for multinationals, primarily in the media, telecoms, and airline sectors: Comcast, Sky, British Airways. 

Extensive experience directing digital transformation, data science, cloud adoption, advertising technology, data governance and SaaS / PaaS development. Expert in structuring organisations for success and steering the execution of complex technology programmes; balancing risk, cost, and quality. 

Non-executive Director and Charity Founder, with immense personal credibility, enabling the creation of mutually beneficial partnerships. We are Tech Women - 100 Women in Tech Talent Award winner 2024.

I have established myself as a senior leader adept at building high-performing teams who work with Marketing Technology in B2C and B2B, client and agency side. 

My career has been driven by a passion for transformation, innovation and strategic alignment of business goals with customer needs.My ability to build rapport and inspire others has been crucial in retaining top talent, fostering collaboration, and delivering high-quality results.

Currently, I am Head of Digital Marketing for BT Business, I designed and built a new digital marketing organisation from scratch. I am empowered to transform our digital marketing capabilities, placing customers and colleagues at the heart of our strategy. I designed the team to eliminate silos and promote a holistic approach across data, media, email, mobile, print, and our website. I am leading a multi-million £ project to transform our MarTech estate, reducing from 4 marketing automation platforms to one strategic marketing automation platform that will enable us to deliver exceptional digital nurture journeys for our B2B prospects and customers from Sole Traders to multi-national Corporates. To build on this, we have a 2-year roadmap in place for multiple proof of concepts for new platforms to increase creative diversification, optimise media budgets and optimise lead quality.

As Client Services Director at a Digital Marketing agency, I honed my technology and data skills, building data solutions, websites and data and logic driven customer journeys for high-profile clients, including Hyundai, Public Health England, RBS, and Bupa to drive client growth, retention, and improved customer experience.As Marketing Director for UK and Europe at Asurion, I built and led a diverse, multi-lingual team. I had a vision for a transformational, digital-first customer experience; building a secure portal that would enable customers to self-serve and view their mobile phone insurance T&C’s, check their excess fee and access any communications they had previously received relating to claims or admin. This involved bringing together Marketing data and content and Operations data and content, to build an engine that worked real-time via API feeds between three parties, using over 1000 rules to drive the right content to the right customer on the right network at the right time. Resulting in over £1.2m savings on print.My career at EE, Orange, and T-Mobile was equally impactful. I managed CRM planning and campaign management for a 27-million customer base, delivering remarkable ROI and leading the successful launch of 4G services across the UK.

In addition to my professional achievements, I am deeply committed to personal well-being. I have almost completed 300 hour yoga teacher training and am a qualified meditation and breathwork guide. I am completing the BT Business School mini-MBA and I’m a member of the DMA Email Council, where we shape the future of email marketing and the DMA AI Taskforce, where we shape the future of AI in Marketing. This commitment to continuous learning and personal growth reflects my passion for inspiring others to develop a growth mindset.

Mel is a digital marketeer with over 10 years of experience driving search performance and enhancing digital media effectiveness for multiple brands. She has successfully led initiatives that optimise online visibility and maximise ROI and is passionate about driving an always curious mindset.

Elle Farrell-Kingsley is an award-winning futurist, AI specialist, policy advisor, and bestselling author of speculative sci-fi fiction exploring the ethical complexities of emerging technologies. 

Recognised among the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics™ and TechWomen100 honorees, she draws on her extensive experience working with cutting-edge technologies like large language models in big tech. 

Elle has advised the European Commission on AI policy and contributed research to global forums such as the UK Parliament, Commonwealth, and G7 Y7, shaping critical national and international policies. Her work is informed by her legal technology studies specialising in cyberlaw, AI, data protection, and privacy, providing the frameworks for addressing the ethical and regulatory challenges of our digital futures. 

As a Next Generation Foresight Practitioner and Champion with the School of International Futures, Elle is committed to exploring the intersection of technology, society, and policy. With a passion for equity and inclusion, she advocates for a more inclusive digital landscape while amplifying women's voices in the tech industry.

Chris has a decade of experience in AI across software (SaaS), strategic consulting and as a Data & AI executive in a large global organisation. He is highly regarded for his ability to translate the promise of new technologies into delivering measurable business value in large and complex organisations. 

Chris currently leads AI Strategy & Transformation in UKFS at EY. His focus is to accelerate the adoption of AI into our client service delivery in order to reimagine the way that EY creates value for our clients and for ourselves. 

Previously, Chris pioneered the adoption and strategic application of Generative AI at BT, rolling out Copilot and code generation tools. He was also the P&L owner for the monetisation of BT’s data and AI assets through the creation of new data products, and grew new product revenues from £0.5m to £8.0m in just two years. 

Prior to BT, Chris was a Partner at EY in Financial Services Advisory in EMEA. He advised leading Financial Services firms on how to apply the power of machine learning and AI to their businesses. 

Chris also spent 14 years at IBM in sales and commercial leadership roles, including the founding of the IBM Watson AI team in 2014, and led it to become the largest AI provider by market share for the EMEA Financial Services market. Educated at University of Cambridge and Harvard Business School, Chris combines genuine curiosity with creativity to deliver solutions that produce top-line revenue growth and profit improvement.

Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Women in UK Tech 2024 - Top 15

Computing’s 100 Most Influential Figures in UK IT 2024

Computer Weekly’s Most Influential People in UK Technology 2023
+ Most Influential Women in UK Tech 2023 - Top 10

CURRENT ROLES: inclusive Science & Tech talent and pathways

• Co-Chief Executive Officer of the tech careers inspiration and social mobility charity Tech She Can: bridging industry, policy and education, on a mission to increase diversity in tech and enable social mobility UK-wide.

• Advisor & Venture Partner at Deep Science Ventures: supporting the creation of deep-tech science companies; working across deep-tech skills, international R&D partnerships, and commercialisation strategy; launched a new, inclusive PhD in invention - the Venture Science Doctorate.

• Member: techUK’s TechSkills Employer Advisory Board

BACKGROUND

Leading innovation strategy in research-intensive UK universities, working across government, business, start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs, third sector, philanthropy and academia.

• Led multi-£million acquisitions; developed the vision and strategy for Imperial’s White City £3bn 23-acre innovation district; built clusters; led a university Tech Transfer Office; and operated the #1global university business incubator

• Sector-agnostic and across digital, smart infrastructure, space, security and defence innovation ecosystems

PhD in Astroparticle Physics from Imperial College London on the direct detection of dark matter, conducted in a working mine 1km underground.

Dal is Accenture’s Corporate Citizenship Lead for UK and Ireland – leading our key strategic relationships with charity partners who deliver amazing social impact in communities who are most affected by disadvantage and hardship. Dal’s passion lies in helping digitally excluded communities build the skills, knowledge and tools to succeed in an ever-changing world where technology continues to play a major role in how we live and work. 

Dal has previously held leadership roles in Accenture’s consulting business helping clients deliver complex technology change as well as leading Accenture’s flagship youth-employment charity Movement to Work which helps young people with barriers to employment find a pathway to careers through work experience placements.

Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

Kinga Magyar is a product leader, coach and the founder of productkind, a product management consultancy. 

She is focused on driving positive societal change through impactful product development and amplifying diverse voices in tech. She specializes in transforming complex user needs into successful digital solutions, with deep expertise in e-commerce optimization, agile methodologies, and outcome-driven product strategy.

Her approach combines user-centered product development with inclusive leadership practices to build products that deliver both business and customer value.

I'm Shivali Naik, a passionate Solutions Consultant with a strong focus on data engineering and cloud technologies, particularly within the Snowflake ecosystem. With over two years of experience as a Solutions Consultant, I thrive on solving complex problems and optimizing data workflows to drive business success. 

I believe in continuous learning and sharing knowledge with the community, and I actively contribute to discussions on tech blogging platforms. My goal is to empower organizations to harness the full potential of their data, and I am always on the lookout for new challenges and opportunities to collaborate.

Zena Wood is an Associate Professor in Digital Economy at the University of Exeter and Director of the Defence Data Research Centre (DDRC). 

Professor Wood’s background is in Computer Science with her research focusing on how we can derive value from datasets that would help us understand the impact of digital transformation within the Digital Economy and the Defence sector. She is particularly interested in the overlap between methods that can be applied to datasets relating to physical and non-physical environments. 

Most of her research is interdisciplinary involving collaborations with experts from geography, psychology and business. She was a fellow of the Alan Turing Institute (ATI) between October 2021 and September 2023, one of Tech Woman's 100, and listed as one of the ten finalists for Digital Leader's AI Expert of the Year (2024). DDRC comprises a consortium led by the University of Exeter, supported by the Universities of Liverpool and Surrey, and the Digital Catapult. DDRC aims to help Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), and the wider UK defence sector, overcome their data and AI related challenges.

Flavia Saldanha is a visionary data strategist with nearly 15 years of experience empowering organisations—primarily in the banking sector—to unlock the transformative power of data. 

As AVP, Data Strategist at Fifth Third Bank, Flavia has built a reputation for designing and implementing modern data architectures, from robust data warehouses to agile data marts, tailored to meet diverse organizational needs. 

In recent years, Flavia has embraced a pivotal role as a Data Strategy Coach and Consultant, where she is reshaping how large organizations think about and work with data. 

She is passionate about cultivating a data-driven culture that bridges the gap between technology and business. Her mission is to embed a proactive data mindset across all levels of the organization, enabling teams to approach complex data challenges with confidence and creativity. 

Through her leadership, Flavia is not just meeting today’s data demands but laying the foundation for a sustainable, innovation-driven data culture that evolves with the organization’s needs.

Liliia Rafikova is a seasoned backend software engineer with over a decade of industry experience, specializing in building scalable, highly available, and low-latency distributed systems.

Her technical expertise spans Java, Rust, Kafka, AWS services, SQL/NoSQL databases.Currently serving as a Software Engineer at Amazon Web Services (AWS) in London, Liliia has made significant contributions to the development of resilient cloud-native applications. She is an active member of the tech community, regularly sharing her knowledge through speaking engagements at conferences and meetups.

Most recently, Liliia delivered a talk titled ""Building Resilient Applications with Cell-Based Architecture on AWS"" at an Appvia event. In this session, she explored the principles of cell-based architecture—splitting applications into isolated ""cells"" to enhance resilience, scalability, and fault tolerance—and shared insights on implementing this approach in modern cloud environments.She also presented ""Mastering DynamoDB: Scalable, NoSQL Databases for Modern Applications"" at Cloud Native London in November 2024, where she emphasized designing for access patterns with a schema-less, single-table approach and balancing consistency, cost, and performance in DynamoDB. 

Additionally, Liliia has shared her deep understanding of concurrent programming in Java with her talk ""Java Concurrency: A Deep Dive - Part 1"" at the London Java Community meetup in October 2024.Beyond her professional achievements, Liliia is passionate about mentoring and actively supports initiatives to increase diversity in tech. She mentors through the Women Who Code London network, providing guidance to aspiring engineers and advocating for greater representation of women in technology.

Liliia’s dedication to solving complex technical challenges, her commitment to learning, and her contributions to the tech community make her a thought leader in Java development, cloud computing, and modern architectural practices.

Kinga Magyar is a product leader, coach and the founder of productkind, a product management consultancy. 

She is focused on driving positive societal change through impactful product development and amplifying diverse voices in tech. She specializes in transforming complex user needs into successful digital solutions, with deep expertise in e-commerce optimization, agile methodologies, and outcome-driven product strategy.

Her approach combines user-centered product development with inclusive leadership practices to build products that deliver both business and customer value.

With around 14 years of experience in Data Analytics and strong background in business process analytics, I have had the opportunity to work across various territories, including Russia, UK, US, and Ireland. 

Currently, I’m based in London, where I work as the Risk Innovation and Analytics Lead at SSE.My career began at PwC, where I discovered my fascination with data. I learned how data could unveil the reality of business processes and how the right techniques and insights could help businesses improve their risk and control environments, optimise business and operational processes, and identify cost-saving opportunities.

In my current role at SSE, I focus on the technical enablement of the Group Risk and Audit Team through data analytics and other technologies. Leading a team of two, I support the Group Audit team in delivering ongoing audits, building solutions to automate data audit processes, exploring new technologies such as Generative AI, and working to establish the Assurance Analytics Centre of Excellence. This Centre of Excellence aims to standardise our approach to data analytics, both methodologically and technically.

Recently our Group Risk and Audit team was was Highly Commended as an Outstanding Team in the Private Sector by the Institute of Internal Auditors.

Throughout my career, I have been driven by how the data can uncover what is truly happening within business processes. I take great joy in mentoring and developing my team and helping them grow. My ongoing mission is to leverage data to drive informed decision-making and ensure that our analytics capabilities remain at the forefront of innovation.

Nathalie is robotics and cybersecurity enthusiast specialising in supply chain and logistics, she has a proven track record of applying data analysis, machine learning, cybersecurity, and robotics to optimise supply chain operations. With extensive experience across diverse industries and international supplier networks, her expertise encompasses negotiating contracts, enhancing supplier relationships, managing logistics, and demand forecasting using ERPs to ensure smooth and secure operations.

Leveraging proficiency in data analysis tools, she focusses on driving operational efficiencies, reducing costs, and fostering collaboration across cross-functional teams.

Dr Beverley Flint is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years of experience in the NHS and the private sector. She is the Chief Mental Health Programme Officer at Smart About Health, leading on the development and co-ordination of the mental health sessions, trainings and programmes. 

Bev has always focussed much of her attention on the wellbeing of colleagues and workforces. In recent years, her focus has been on supporting businesses to address employee mental health and wellbeing in a meaningful and effective way.

Dr Laura David (MBChB, BSc (Hons), MRCGP, MRCS) is a GP by background with over 15 years working clinically, and is the Founder of Smart About Health. She is also a mother of 2 girls and is committed to gender equity and health equity for women as part of the wider work she does with Smart About Health for global organisations. 

Her entrepreneurial journey evolved from her own experiences of post-natal depression. Smart About Health works at all levels of organisations, improving individual, team/group and systemic wellbeing for improved performance, health, happiness and thriving.

As one of four female Directors of the award-winning social enterprise Genius Within, Jacqui’s role as CEO is to shape and grow Genius Within’s inclusion work supporting neurodivergent individuals and the organisations that employ them. Genius Within’s work is rooted in research and data, and Jacqui delights in building consensus and expanding understanding across all sectors.

As a dyslexic woman, Jacqui embraces her own lived-experience spiky profile and appreciates the common oversights that prevent inclusion from becoming a workplace reality. Working in a psychology-led practice, Jacqui and her team advise businesses on building inclusive workplaces and cultures, ensuring that neurominorities can bring their best selves to work every day.

Jacqui also champions the Genius Finder™, an innovative online assessment platform designed to help individuals discover their unique strengths and challenges. The Genius Finder™ provides personalized strategies to support neurodivergent individuals in maximizing their potential and thriving in the workplace.

Dr Nancy Doyle C. Psychol is the founder and Chief Science Officer of Genius Within CIC, an international B-corp and non-profit. Genius Within provides coaching, assessment, training, HR consultancy and scalable digital services to thousands of businesses each year. 

Genius Within won the Queen’s Award for Business in 2022 Nancy has worked in disability inclusion since the late 1990s and is a Chartered Occupational and Coaching Psychologist, registered with both the British Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association. 

Nancy is also the co-founder of the Centre for Neurodiversity at Work at the University of London. Nancy is a Forbes columnist and BBC documentary maker, known for her work on Neurodiversity inclusion globally. Nancy provides thought leadership, expert reference, talks and workshops for the United Nations, Universities such as Imperial, Cambridge, Oxford and Stanford, the UK Government and international companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Veolia and Orange. 

Nancy co-authored the definitive guide to neurodiversity coaching with Professor Almuth McDowall and has written a book on her own lived experience of Neurodiversity and Leadership.

Katie is one of the leading voices and trainers on the menopause in the UK, and has many UK and global private, public, health and education sector clients where she delivers RDPI’s suite of programmes under the banner of ‘Midlife Matters’. 

She is an Associate of the British Menopause Society, a member of EMAS (European Menopause and Andropause Society), a member IMS (International Menopause Society) and works in close collaboration with leading clinical partners, two Professors of Gynaecology. 

She has appeared on TV and Radio in the UK, India, Canada, US, Australia and the Middle East, with the most recent being BBC Radio Sussex. In April 2022 and October 2023 she organised and delivered menopause conferences in UK Parliament with a panel of national speakers including 2 MPs and 1 Minister. 

Katie has been in the ED&I space for over 35 years and developed a leadership and personal development programme for women in the mid 1990s, which she has delivered in the UK, the US, India, the Middle East and Africa. Katie is a qualified business coach and continues to work with clients on leadership, communication, team building and resilience courses for everyone. 

She has written two books on women’s personal development, and appears regularly as a key-note speaker at global conferences. She gave a TEDx talk in 2019 – The Roar of the Menopause. In 2024 she graduated from University of Wales, Trinity St David with a Masters in Professional Practice, which she started at the age of 61. Her research project was on menopause.

Patience is a global mental wellness speaker and qualified trauma-informed hypnotherapist, spiritual life coach, and specialist in regression (inner child healing work), anxiety, and stress. 

Currently training as a pluralistic psychotherapist, she is the founder of The InnerVerses, a mental and spiritual wellness company dedicated to helping individuals master themselves, transforming their pain into power and purpose while awakening their innate healing abilities. 

Patience is passionate about illuminating transformation and empowering individuals to achieve self-mastery and nurture their relationship with themselves. Her approach blends ancient healing techniques with spiritual and clinical psychology, advanced meditation, metaphysics, energy healing, and trauma-informed practices, offering a unique holistic approach to spiritual and mental wellness.

Ira Guha is the founder of Asan, an-award winning social enterprise that is ending period poverty globally. 

Ira designed and patented the Asan menstrual cup, a reusable period product that replaces 2,500 pads and tampons. Asan has enabled over 75,000 low-income women to attend school and work during periods, and has stopped over 200,000 tonnes landfill waste from disposable pads. Asan also recently launched the Asan Period Tracker, an innovative period tracking app built by a 100% female team. 

For her work at Asan, Ira has been awarded the Cartier Women's Initiative Fellowship and the Innovate UK Unlocking Potential Award. Ira holds a Masters from Harvard University and a BA from Cambridge University.

Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

Margarida Pereira is a Solutions Architect with a decade of experience in software engineering and technology leadership. 

Passionate about fostering inclusivity and career growth, she has spearheaded initiatives to promote gender equality in tech and empower the next generation of innovators. 

Margarida brings expertise in designing scalable financial systems, driving digital transformation, and mentoring professionals to achieve sustainable success.

Dr Hammond is a multi-award-winning GP and a passionate advocate for health equity. 

She is a keynote speaker, CEO of Dr Hammond Aesthetics, Health Governor, NHS Clinical Entrepreneur, Mentor, BMA EDI Advisory Group Member, London Inspire Programme Steering group member, member of the Kent and Medway Local Maternity and Neonatal Services, and Trustee and Chair of the DEI committee for the West Kent Mind.

Ambra is Italian-born Chinese and moved to the UK to pursue a Bachelor in International Management at Warwick. She started her career in London as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and later became a tech and financial services investor at Eurazeo. Given her struggles with polycystic ovary syndrome throughout her career and the healthcare coverage gap in the space, she took the leap to build Juniper, the first end-to-end reproductive health insurance.

Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

Candice Pearce is founder of The Wellbeing Fix, a corporate wellbeing expert and women’s health coach with over 20 years experience in the fitness and wellbeing industry. She has a BSc Hons Degree in Nutrition and Exercise Science as well as a number of CIMSPA accredited qualifications in women's health including pre and postnatal, menopause and stress resilience.

Whilst focus & dialogue around women’s health, such as menstruation, menopause and pelvic floor dysfunction, are slowly improving there is a long way to go before the stigma surrounding these topics disappears. With employers now recognising this need and supporting female staff, candice aims to work with businesses' to educate and support women to live a happier and healthier lifestyle whilst bridging the gap between fitness and medicine using a holistic approach to women’s physical and mental health.

Shannon Clark Johnston is a dynamic keynote speaker, trainer, coach, and podcaster with over 25 years of experience as a business executive and human resources leader. 

As the founder of True HR, she’s driven by a passion for empowering individuals and teams to unlock their full potential and thrive both personally and professionally. With an MS in Organizational Leadership, Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification, and coaching credentials, Shannon marries academic rigor with practical, on-the-ground expertise. Known for her ability to combine insight, warmth, and humor, she inspires leaders to embrace transformation, engage their teams, and achieve holistic success. 

For audiences, Shannon offers not just inspiration, but actionable strategies grounded in the realities of today’s fast-paced world—delivering insights only someone with decades of firsthand people leadership experience can provide.

Hannah Hagon is the founder of Unplugged Tots, a consultancy specialising in screen-free play-based learning experiences for children aged 2½ to 8.

A passionate advocate for gender equity in education, Hannah actively promotes female leadership in classrooms and celebrates the vital role of male allies in creating inclusive learning environments. She is dedicated to ensuring that young girls know they have a place in STEAM sectors and actively encourages girls to pursue their passions in technology.

By empowering parents and educators with engaging, screen-free activities, Hannah fosters critical thinking, problem-solving, and computational thinking skills in young children. These foundational skills are crucial for success in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

Recognised for her expertise, Hannah has contributed to academic publications such as ‘The Early Childhood Education Journal’ and the ‘International Journal of Computer Science Education in Schools’. Her work has also been featured in ‘Hello World’ articles. She has presented her research at esteemed conferences including the European STEAM Educators Summit and the Computing at Schools edTech conference. Recognised for her devotion to help those coming behind her, Hannah was a Small Business Sunday Winner chosen by Theo Paphitis. 

Unplugged Tots offers a range of resources including cross curricular schemes of work for schools and workshops for parents and corporations, all with one aim: to nurture the next generation of tech leaders, starting with the youngest minds.

I am an experienced Automation Test Manager at Barclays, specializing in driving innovation and efficiency in software testing. My expertise lies in implementing automation frameworks that reduce manual effort, streamline workflows, and enhance productivity across teams. 

I am honoured to be a recipient of the prestigious TechWomen 100 awards, recognized for my contributions to fostering a robust and inclusive tech culture. Passionate about empowering women in technology, particularly working mothers, I draw from my personal journey of balancing motherhood and professional growth. 

With a background in engineering and teaching, I transitioned into technology with a mission to innovate and inspire. I strongly advocate for upskilling, knowledge sharing, and creating opportunities for the next generation of tech leaders. 

In my free time, I enjoy contributing to industry discussions, mentoring colleagues, and exploring creative projects that make a positive impact.

I’m Adriana—an entrepreneur and a mother who transitioned from a successful corporate career in forensic finance to pursue a greater purpose: helping my exceptionally talented child with Asperger's thrive. Together, we developed the YUNO learning method, a transformative approach designed to empower children who think differently—those who face learning challenges, excel beyond traditional limits, or approach problems outside the box.

The YUNO method became the foundation of my online educational platform, which transforms learning habits by combining innovative pedagogy with technology. A major milestone has been the successful digitalization of Slovenia’s entire public primary school curriculum, providing inclusive, modern learning tools to students nationwide. YUNO operates on a subscription-based model and serves a diverse range of stakeholders: children, parents, schools, hospital schools, charities, and government institutions, including partnerships with Slovenia’s Ministry for Digital Transformation. Whether helping students catch up, fostering independent learning habits, or supporting educators with tailored digital tools, YUNO creates interactive, personalized experiences that empower learners to thrive. Our achievements have earned significant recognition. 

I was named one of the Top 3 Breakthrough Entrepreneurs by AWE in 2023 and a finalist for Startup of the Year in the same year. For two consecutive years, we’ve received multiple awards for social responsibility and sustainable development. Additionally, our collaborations with hospitals and charities ensure children facing unique challenges have access to quality education. At YUNO, we empower children and stakeholders alike by teaching them to identify what truly matters, focus on what’s essential, and get straight to the point. By reigniting curiosity and the will to learn through understanding the 'why,' we are redefining education with a unique blend of technology, empathy, and personal experience—transforming the way learning happens.

Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

With over two decades of experience in the IT industry, Rachael leads the team responsible for cultivating talent and driving innovation within Nomura’s CIO organisation. As the Global Head of Learning and Growth, she designs, develops and implements innovative upskilling programmes that directly align with Nomura’s strategic objectives. 

Beginning her career as a Project Manager, Rachael then took a 12-year career break to focus on her family. Her successful return to the corporate world has ignited a passionate advocacy for Returner Programmes. Collaborating closely with HR, she has played a pivotal role in placing numerous candidates within Nomura’s Technology function, championing diversity and inclusion in the tech industry.

With over 12 years of experience in Operations, Pavneet developed a robust understanding of the business lifecycle. Her journey through various roles in Operations allowed her to build strong leadership skills and a keen eye for efficiency, risk management and problem-solving – qualities that would provide invaluable in her future technology career. 

Ready for a new challenge after over a decade in Operations, Pavneet leveraged her extensive network to discover an exciting opportunity in Wholesale Data and Operations Tech. This role, aiding the transformation of the Market Data Commercial function, allowed her to apply her strong business acumen while stepping into the world of technology. Since transitioning to Technology, Pavneet has not only excelled in her role, but has also supercharged her commitment to DE&I and actively advocates for a more inclusive environment, leveraging her unique perspective as a career transitioner and a recently diagnosed autistic woman.

Having left University with a first class honours degree in Computer science, Jane joined a national publisher where over two decades her career progressed rapidly from development engineer to leading large scale data centre migrations and web infrastructure projects. 

After a 2 year career break, caring for her father with deteriorating Alzheimer's, Jane successfully returned to the corporate world as a selected candidate in Nomura's first returners programme. 

Over the past 5 years Jane led a global real estate technology team supporting critical applications, overseeing technology selection, project management, and system optimisation to enhance operational efficiency and security. 

Key achievements include modernising systems, standardising global platforms and introducing agile practices alongside the creation of a global governance forum to align stakeholders and prioritise activities.

Sheridan is a national leader who combines her expertise in transformational technology strategies with ensuring that women play a full role in determining our futures that are being shaped by technology. Her wide leadership experiences – from developing and implementing PwC’s digital transformation strategy, to the Women in Technology ’ architect and leader, more than doubling the number of women in technology roles, from 14% to 38% and founding the charity, Tech She Can, that to date has educated over a half a million children about technology and careers – show how technological advances are built upon advances in diversity. 

A unique voice for technology + diversity, Sheridan has helped shape the agenda and policy in the public and private sectors for dealing with issues of national technology skill shortages and the importance of diverse talent in technology. 

She has been widely recognised for her contributions, including being named in the IT Leaders 100 – a list of the most influential IT leaders in the UK in 2024. She was ranked the 3rd most influential woman in UK technology by Computer Weekly in 2023; received a TechUK President’s Award in 2023; and won the Forward Ladies Business Woman and Social Impact Leader Award in 2022. In 2020 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for her services to young girls and women through technology. 

The unique combination of her skills are recognized in a number of appointments, including: L’Oreal UK&I Advisory Board; and co-chair City of London Corporation Digital Skills Taskforce, working with over 100 companies to support women from non-technical backgrounds to pivot into technology roles. She is also the co-founder of Birmingham Digital Futures (BDF) established to tackle the region’s digital skills gap.

With over nine years in the tech industry, Tasmia has progressed to an Engineering Lead role at Lloyds Banking Group, where she applies extensive engineering best practices, IT services expertise, and GitHub proficiency, which she has developed over six years with the company. 

Having pivoted into tech from stacking shelves in a supermarket, she is passionate about showing women that they can transition into any career they choose. Tasmia is dedicated to driving innovation and fostering an inclusive environment, aligning with the Lloyds Banking Group’s commitment to pushing technological boundaries while ensuring diverse perspectives contribute to the team's success.

Julie started at Aviva on a Tech Returner programme after taking a career break to raise her 2 young children. She’s now been with Aviva for 2 and a half years and counting, taking an active part in the Balance Community that supports gender equity in the company. 

Prior to her career break, she worked as a Business Analyst for a large building society, where she’d started her career in the call centre and worked her way through various roles before landing in change.

Nadia is a self-taught Software Engineer with two career pivots into tech. She began by learning to build websites, securing a job in Web Development, and continued to deepen her technical skills by seeking out courses and materials to teach herself Software Engineering. Her background in Project Management demonstrates the value of transferable skills in solution design, delivery planning, and effective communication.

Passionate about accessibility, Nadia ensures digital experiences are inclusive, leveraging advanced techniques to enhance usability for all users. With 7 years of experience in websites, including 3 years as an Engineer, she is committed to delivering thoughtful, user-centric solutions and exemplifies the power of self-learning in tech.

Rabiya is a Senior Quality Assurance Engineer with a background in Computer Information Systems and a passion for delivering high-quality digital experiences. She began her career in IT before pivoting into quality assurance through a career reinvention programme, demonstrating the power of adaptability and continuous learning.

With over three years at The Very Group, she has led testing efforts on key logistics and fulfilment projects, ensuring seamless customer experiences. Skilled in automation, API testing, and defect resolution, she collaborates closely with developers and stakeholders to maintain high standards of software quality.

Rabiya is passionate about championing women in tech, advocating for greater diversity and inclusion in the industry.

Nina works with leading financial institutions to reinvent and transform their businesses. She uses data intelligent products and services to create positive impacts for customers and colleagues. She is purpose driven, multi skilled and focused on sustainable business growth. She has an unwavering commitment to embed I&D together with industry partners into the places we live and work.

A Technology focused leader with 24 years of versatile experience in Technology Controls, Cyber Security, IT Auditing, Risk, and compliance experience. An innovative leader with a Global mindset, with abilities in leading technical risks programs and rendering consultancy. A strong champion of CSR, Inclusion and Diversity in the IT industry.

Anjali is an Assistant Vice President Operations Lead within the Strategy and Performance team across Group Technology Infrastructure Services and the Chief Technology Office at Barclays. Anjali joined the financial services industry in 2019 and has navigated a dynamic career path from Personal Banking to Private Banking while earning a First Class Honours Degree in BSc Accountancy from Edge Hill University.

Her Journey at Barclays began through the Graduate Technology Programme where she worked as a Project Manager across three core teams contributing to governing the Enterprise Architecture Roadmaps, working on strategies across Cloud, Salesforce and the Technology Learning Curriculum, and driving the deployment of Rubrik in Non-Production environments on the Regulatory Barclays UK Resilience Programme.

Anjali's dedication and hard work have been recognised with a Rising Star Award in 2023, a Tech Women 100 Award, and a place on the Northern Power Future List in 2024. Beyond Anjali's professional achievements, she holds a position as the co-lead of the Women in Technology EMEA Grow Pillar and leads multiple strategic partnerships to attract and grow diverse talent in Technology. Anjali is an avid speaker and mentor, actively sharing her experiences and insights on empowerment, leadership and DEI. Anjali brings a fresh perspective through her experience, fuelled by curiosity and commitment to creating meaningful societal impact.

Emily Hall-Strutt is Director of Next Tech Girls, where she works to inspire and empower the next generation of women in technology. A multi-award-winning leader in tech diversity, in 2024 she was recognised with the European Diversity Award for Women in Technology and the Women in IT Advocate of the Year Award. 

Drawing from her experiences as a neurodivergent woman in tech and working mother, Emily speaks candidly about authentic leadership, intersectional inclusion, and the importance of relatable role models. She is passionate about smashing stereotypes and showing that tech careers are for everyone. Emily is a regular speaker at major industry events including Women of Silicon Roundabout and Karren Brady’s Women in Business & Tech Expo.

Andrew has spent over 30 years in manufacturing and supply chain. Latterly he ran the supply chain operations through Asia Pacific and Caspian for an international chemical and service provider to the energy sector.

During this time has led several projects in capital investment, manufacturing automation, process monitoring and analytics, global information communication and ERP roll outs. He believes that when traditional answers cannot deliver, “It is what it is” thinking should be challenged, and novel solutions sought.

Andrew is currently supporting businesses to find a way to break obstacles, increase productivity, drive engagement and instil continual improvement. He advocates sharing of lessons and networking of ideas to help everyone drive industry forward. A passionate advocate for STEM awareness and education, working with several organisations and charities as an award-winning STEM Mentor.

Amanda is a Senior Manager at Accenture, working in the Utilities industry, supporting clients to deliver innovation as well as providing the technology to run their business. 

Amanda has previously worked at IBM, Microsoft and had a 20-year successful career at Shell, most notably working with the Shell Business to keep Global Fuel stations connected and innovative. Amanda led the UK Women in IT Network for Shell - since then, she has spoken on Tech panels, mentored business start-ups and helped schools design STEM pathways. Amanda also now leads I&D for the Resources Industry Group and the North West at Accenture. Amanda is incredibly passionate about STEM careers and encouraging others to consider the vast and wonderful opportunities. 

In her “spare” time, she aims to support and empower women to reach their potential, through her blog www.thecareermum.co.uk and Global Facebook community www.facebook.com/groups/thecareermum (which now has over 6200 global members). She is also a mum of four, including identical 8 year old twins.

Jeremy is the CEO of Ylead, a leadership consultancy he founded in 2020 to create a more data-driven and human-led approach to developing leaders. He draws upon two decades in the banking industry leading large teams across the UK and Africa. 

His passion for Leadership and Gender Equity and Allyship, combined with his extensive experience and business acumen help organisations and individuals to lead their people with purpose, compassion, courage and a desire for continuous learning and development. 

Jeremy began his career at Barclays in branches and rapidly gained experience and responsibility across strategic, operational, customer-facing and functional roles. Having gained his MBA with Distinction, he progressed into scale-leadership roles & discovered a passion for leading people. For the next 15 years, he led large customer-facing teams in Retail, Business and Premier Banking across the UK and Africa, including 3 years transforming the Barclays (now Absa) Retail Business in Mauritius. 

After further senior roles in Business Banking, including Chief Operating Officer and Global Head of Servicing & Support, Jeremy left Barclays to set up Ylead. He has since worked with multiple clients across the globe who have benefited from his wide-ranging leadership experience and open, honest and engaging personal style. He is regularly invited to speak and consult on Gender Equity and Allyship with clients from around the globe and has delivered programmes for senior leadership groups for large, multi-geographical businesses. 

In his spare time, he is an enthusiastic armchair sportsman, slow runner, Chelsea fan and most importantly, husband to Helen and father to Phoebe and Toby.

Sarah Schlobohm is the Chief AI Officer at zally, where she steers the development of AI systems that work effectively without losing sight of ethical considerations. She holds a PhD in particle physics from the University of Washington, where she didn't find the Higgs boson, but she did discover an interest in AI. After moving to the UK, she joined PwC’s graduate scheme to bridge the gap between academia and business, later applying her data expertise in financial crime compliance at HSBC. She has previously been the Head of AI at Kubrick and Citation Group.

Sarah has spent her career grappling with how data-driven systems shape decisions, often in ways we don't expect. She’s seen how bias creeps in—not just in the models, but in the assumptions behind them—and focuses on the tangible impact of AI in the real world. She brings a clear, no-nonsense perspective to discussions about AI ethics, algorithmic bias, and the broader societal effects of automated decision-making.

Catarina is an award-winning AI leader dedicated to building technology that empowers humans. As the Global AI Director at Pandora, she drives the development of AI solutions designed to empower people, ensuring that technology serves as a tool for progress rather than a replacement for human expertise.

She believes that the best AI systems are built through collaboration, diversity, and a strong focus on software quality. Throughout her career, Catarina has led the development of large-scale software platforms across industries, holding leadership roles at JP Morgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group, Deloitte, and Square Enix. Her work is driven by a commitment to responsible AI that helps people thrive in an increasingly digital world.

Elly is currently a Director of Analytics at Motorway, the UK’s fastest growing used-car marketplace. In her role, Elly established the Analytics function at Motorway, leading a team of 10 data scientists. Elly empowers teams across Motorway in Marketing, Product and Operations with key insights and modelling to optimise their performance and encourage data-driven decision making. 

Prior to Motorway, Elly spent over five years at Expedia Group and Hotels.com, optimising marketing channel analytics and leading on data strategy and enablement. 

Elly has an MSci in Natural Sciences (Experimental and Theoretical Physics) and a PhD in Combined PET/MRI Preclinical Imaging, both from the University of Cambridge. Originally interested in an academic career as a Medical Physicist, Elly has had a long-standing interest in ensuring that technical advancements through data and engineering can be applied in interesting and useful ways to real-life problems. 

Following on from her PhD, Elly joined Tesco initially as an Analyst in 2016 and built a team of data scientists and analysts specializing in forecasting demand for items on promotion across the UK, Ireland, Central Europe and Malaysia. 

Ultimately, Elly believes having as diverse a group as possible, armed with accurate data, leads to the best outcomes. She has encouraged her employers, past and present, to widen their recruitment base to encourage more apprenticeships and entry level roles outside of our graduate program to open these opportunities up to a wider base. 

Outside of work, Elly loves exploring the world with her young family and running marathons. She recently ran the London Marathon and looks forward to joining team Motoway at the Great City Run.

I am an Executive Assistant with over 25 years’ experience in Financial Services. I joined RBC Brewin Dolphin in September 2021 as an Executive Assistant to the then COO, covering a maternity cover and I haven’t left since. I now support the Head of Wealth Management Europe and Asia Technology and I am a keen member of our RBC Women In Tech London Group. 

On a personal level, I am a Mum of two grown up Daughters so Women in Business is something close to my heart.

Lead Program Manager, Monica has overseen large scale programs over her 20+ year professional life, in the field of Program Management and Agile Methodologies. Having spent the majority of her career in Toronto, Canada, Monica made the transition 3 years ago to take on a role at the London, UK office for Royal Bank of Canada. She currently has a global team in RBC Technology and Operations that has several workstreams that support the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) yearly program. 

When she’s not at work, Monica is often found in some far-away country, doing photography and absorbing local culture.

I’m a Project Coordinator at RBC, focusing on tech in the wealth management space. My focus is on governance, financial tracking, and project coordination, making sure complex initiatives stay on track. I’ve worked closely with teams across the UK and Canada, streamlining processes and ensuring efficiency. I’m passionate about driving impactful change in tech and finance, especially by bringing structure and clarity to large scale projects within the bank.

Harvinder is the Director of Application Support and Maintenance at RBC Wealth Management. With over 15 years of experience in managing IT support teams within the financial sector, Harvinder currently oversees a team of 40 employees, ensuring the smooth operation of all production business applications. Harvinder has played a key role in the replacement of back-office systems and the integration project aligning RBC’s technology and processes with those of their recently acquired company Brewin Dolphin. 

Outside of work, Harvinder is excitedly expecting her first child, a journey that she is balancing alongside her professional responsibilities.

Gill Cooke is a coach, mentor and Inclusion Consultant. 

With a squiggly career behind her - from TV Project Manager to Head of Digital Planning and Delivery, to HR and now being self-employed, Gill uses her experience of changing careers; transferable skills, networking and speaking to inspire, support, coach and help people find the answers they need to motivate, develop and be more self-aware. 

Gill loves giving back and helping people find their own purpose and values. Gill also supports public and private sector organisations in their journey to become more inclusive workplaces.

Professor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nottingham, Vince has mentored 1000s spanning the whole career lifecycle from school to university, executive and board level, and made it his mission in life to inspire and mentor future generations into STEM, Engineering, Tech, and Energy careers.

His other pillars around which he has built his portfolio are education, the energy transition and equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Vince has 40+ years of relevant, global business experience incorporating executive management and board positions in blue chip companies including ExxonMobil, Suez, V. Ships, Nalco, and P&G and with a boutique executive search firm, Preng & Associates, that specialises in executive and board recruitment for companies in the energy sector.

Today he manages a diverse portfolio that incorporates career mentor to undergraduates, graduates and alumni at the University of Nottingham, energy sector career mentor to students and alumni at several prestigious UK business schools including London Business School, Imperial, Oxford, Cambridge and Chicago Booth, and holds Trustee and Non-Executive positions on several boards.

He won the prestigious Chairman’s Award as global General Manager of the year at Suez for outstanding performance, and recently the Davidson Medal 2024 from the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) for global leadership in mentoring and the TechWomen100 2024 Award for Gender Balance.

Vince is a Trustee/Non-Executive Board member and Ambassador for various organisations including Male Allies UK, the Women in Engineering Society, Female Leaders in STEM Subjects, POWERful Women, MyBigCareer, a charity providing career guidance to students from disadvantaged backgrounds and the South Shropshire Multi-Academy Trust. Vince is also a member of the Progressiya 2024 initiative and mentors top businesswomen from Ukraine, and is also a mentor for the Cajigo group where he inspires women in tech.

He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of several organisations including the IChemE, Energy Institute, Women’s Engineering Society, and the Chartered Management Institute. He is a Group Partner of Circklo start-up and a member/volunteer of Graduate Mentor, UN Women UK, the Career Development Institute and European Women on Boards.

Rav Bumbra is a multi award-winning diversity consultant, advisor to organisations and an international speaker. She is established as an expert on mentorship and is highly recognised within the industry for her work in the space of “Women in Technology” addressing the gender gap and underrepresentation of women across industries. She has been showcased as one of the Most Influential Women in UK Tech since 2017, inducted into the Computer Weekly Hall of Fame in 2022 and awarded the Tech Woman of the Year at the European Diversity Awards 2023. 

With a 25-year background in technology and consulting, Rav mentors senior leaders and advises businesses on building winning strategies that attract and retain talent, turning their organisations into engines of growth and transformation. 

She is also Founder of Cajigo, a social enterprise and app building the confidence and careers of women in tech. Cajigo has provided tech education and mentoring to thousands of women across 26 countries, supporting their entry into the tech workforce and progression to senior levels. Rav is also driving a mission in UK schools to upskill and engage 20,000 girls into technology. 

Rav is a board director at Women of the Year Lunch and Awards and an advisory board member at Tech Southwest.

Faith Ruto is an exceptional role model, triple-certified Executive Coach, and International Keynote Speaker, specialising in female leadership development and partnering with organisations to help retain and advance diverse talent. She is the author of Transform Within – 7 Strategies for professional growth and resilience and the CEO & Director of Transformation21st. 

Faith has over 20 years of global experience in Personal Development, Marketing, IT and Business Transformation. Coaching is delivered one to one, in groups, in-person and online. Transformation21st has partnered with global brands such as Shell, NHS, British Red Cross, Climate Strategies, Chainvine, Imperial College, Montreal Associates, and start-ups to provide solutions that foster a culture of belonging for all. 

She has spoken at global conferences, including the One Tech World Conference, the Great British Business Woman and Natwest Business, International Women’s Day, DEI and Black History Month corporate events. 

Faith holds an Executive MBA from Imperial College Business School, a BSc honours degree in Business and Technology from Kingston University and recently completed Professional Certificate in Executive Coaching at Henley Business School. 

Faith has been shortlisted for numerous awards and has gained recognition for her philanthropic work mentoring students and women and advocating for equality for all. Outside work, Faith is the public speaker ambassador for Eve Appeal (a gynaecological cancer charity), a mom of two, a keen runner, and an amateur golfer.

Dr Vanessa Vallely OBE is one of the UK’s most well-connected women and a leading authority on gender equality. 

She has delivered keynotes for over 600 companies, inspiring more than 50,000 women globally. A sought-after consultant, Vanessa advises both government bodies and corporations on strategies to attract, develop, and retain female talent. 

In June 2018, she was awarded an OBE by King Charles for her contributions to women and the economy, and in 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Science from Warwick University. 

In 2008, at the peak of her 25-year career in banking and finance, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity, a platform designed to support women’s career development. Its sister organisation, WeAreTechWomen, together with WeAreTheCity, has grown to a membership of over 80,000, offering resources, conferences, awards, and job opportunities to women worldwide. To date, Vanessa has helped over 50,000 women gain new skills and expand their networks. In 2024, she launched the first-ever National Women in Tech Week, which offered more than 50 free events across the UK to women in the tech sector. Vanessa is also the founder of several prestigious awards programs, including Rising Stars, TechWomen100, Trailblazer50, Pioneer20 and Themis20, collectively raising the profile of over 2,500 extraordinary women and men. 

She is the author of the acclaimed book Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World, which chronicles her journey from a council estate in East London to the C-suite. Her next book is set for release in 2025. Over the past 20 years, Vanessa has earned 26 industry accolades, including Women in Banking & Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News' Top 100 Rising Stars, and The International Alliance for Women's Top 100 Women globally. 

She has also been recognised as one of Brummell’s Top 30 London Entrepreneurs and was recently inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame as an icon for women in tech. Additionally, Vanessa has been featured in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. A regular media contributor, she has appeared on Sky News, BBC, Talk London, and Radio 4.

Saiba is a Management Consulting Analyst at Accenture, working in Digital Transformation and Change Advisory. She is passionate about empowering companies to navigate, adapt, and capitalise on digital transformation opportunities, keeping people at the heart of change. With a Master's in Strategy and Leadership alongside a diverse portfolio spanning project management, change management, business analysis, and process optimisation, Saiba delivers a strategic and results-driven approach to every client engagement. 

In 2024, Saiba was honoured with the prestigious WeAreTheCity Rising Star Diversity Award, highlighting her commitment to fostering equitable workplaces.

Cinny is a second-year Software Engineer Degree Apprentice, currently working as a Full-Stack Engineer Apprentice, specialising in Node.js, Next.js, and AWS. She began her career in technology through an unexpected journey, initially planning to pursue medicine before discovering her passion for coding during the pandemic.

She started her career at Accenture, where she worked on automating manual processes using Power Automate, building solutions such as email parsers, applicant vetting tools, and data migration systems. She later transitioned into full-stack development, working with modern technologies to build scalable applications.

Beyond her technical work, Cinny is passionate about diversity in tech, social impact, and community building. She has played a key role in organising Black History Month initiatives at Accenture UKI and is an active member of the African Caribbean Network committee.

Krusha is a Software Engineer with over two years of experience, specializing in Front End Development for large-scale projects in the public sector. Her curiosity for technology led her to study computing and mathematics at A Levels, and ultimately culminating in a First Class Master’s degree in Computing from the University of Sheffield.

Joining Accenture as a graduate, she quickly immersed herself in the world of software development, gaining invaluable experience on complex public sector projects. Over the past years, Krusha has developed both technically and professionally, now leading teams to deliver innovative solutions. She focuses on fostering creativity and pushing boundaries while maintaining a commitment to excellence.

With a solid background in both theory and practice, Krusha brings a unique blend of technical expertise and problem-solving skills to every project. Her ambition is to continue driving innovation and evolve into a creative technologist, using technology to positively impact individuals and communities.

Beyond her professional role, Krusha is deeply committed to advocating for women in STEM. During university, she led the university’s nationally acclaimed Women in Engineering society, reaching hundreds of young girls to inspire them about careers in STEM. At Accenture, she continues this mission by leading impactful initiatives like the UK’s first ‘Girls in AI Summit’ in partnership with Tech She Can. This initiative provides a platform to inspire and educate young girls, helping them build the confidence and skills needed to shape the future of technology.

Rhea is a data scientist at Valtech with over 3 years of experience, specialising in data-driven innovation, advanced algorithm analysis, and generative AI initiatives across industries. 

She is passionate about creating ethical, data-powered solutions and is a regular speaker at panel talks and workshops, focusing on knowledge-sharing and empowering women in data. 

Outside of work, Rhea enjoys reading, staying active through running and football, and dancing to a good beat.

I’m Anastasiia, a Data Scientist with five years of diverse experience, from R&D in healthcare to advanced analytics and AI in the luxury sector and AI adoption strategies in operations. I’m passionate about making data insightful and leveraging AI to drive business solutions. I focus on bridging complex concepts with practical applications, especially in the evolving landscape of GenAI. 

Outside of work, I’m a proud dog mom and enjoy balancing my technical side with activities like dancing, practicing yoga, and traveling to recharge my energy levels.

Darshna is the Chief AI Officer at Elastacloud (Data Science and Cloud consultancy), where she leads strategic development of AI accelerators across Finance, Legal, Sustainability and Security. Darshna has a PhD in Neuroscience, specialising in neuronal network dynamics in drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy from which her passion for Data and AI stemmed. 

During the last few years she has established herself as a speaker and mentor, having given talks at Tech(K)now, Microsoft conferences (Future Decoded, Build, Ignite), DPS Days, Cloud Brew, UK Azure meetup, SQL Bits as well as co-organising and leading the monthly Data Science London meetup group to bring together a community of over 10,000 members together to discuss and learn about the latest AI developments. https://www.meetup.com/Data-Science-London/.

Lara is a Launchpad Developer with a strong interest in AI, working across backend, frontend, and cloud technologies to build scalable and efficient systems. She has contributed to projects that automate workflows, improve efficiency, and leverage AI-driven solutions to enhance user interactions. Always eager to learn, she enjoys working in dynamic environments and finding ways to use technology to solve real-world problems.

Kasia is the Head of Culture, Innovation, and Engagement at Diversity Atlas, a world-pioneering SaaS platform that provides insight into cultural and demographic diversity within an organisation. With two decades of experience in technology and professional services, Kasia has dedicated her career to fostering innovation and promoting diversity. Her extensive background in these industries highlights her expertise and commitment to driving meaningful change through data-driven insights.

Jo Stansfield is CEO and founder of Inclusioneering, an expert consultancy in inclusive innovation. She is also a Trustee of BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT, co-chair of BCS Women, and board member of the AI ethics charity ForHumanity. 

Originally an engineer, developing enterprise software for sectors like power and aerospace, Jo pivoted to the human dimensions of technology, earning an MSc in Organisational Psychology with research focused on gender and racial diversity in technology teams. In her work she supports tech and engineering organisations with diversity, equity and inclusion, and responsible adoption and development of AI products.

Bola is a seasoned technologist, trailblazing thought-leader, public speaker and an award-winning advocate in a career spanning over 25 years across public sector, investment banking, insurance and investment management. She is the Managing Director at Bola Adesina consulting where she combines her technical expertise and people skills to help senior leaders adopt ethical and inclusive AI practices.

Emma is a Director in the Rotational Leadership Program at Comcast. She holds an MBA from London Business School, where she was named both a BK Birla Scholar and Forte Women’s Scholar for professional excellence. Emma has 5 years of experience leading product management at Blackstone, where she championed digital and cloud transformation efforts.

In her current role, Emma has spent time working on Strategy and Operations with the Universal Destinations and Experiences group, as well as driving AI Strategy and Transformation at Comcast. Her focus areas include industry and competitive research, strategic analysis, and internal AI use case and solution development.

Emma is also a stand-up comedian, and former student of improv comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City. She values using humour and levity to motivate her teams and foster a collaborative and productive work environment.

Cecile Boyeka is a financial strategist driving innovation at the intersection of finance and technology. With extensive experience in digital transformation, she has led consulting projects for major organizations, specializing in AI, data analytics, and emerging technologies. 

A dedicated advocate for diversity and leadership, Cecile mentors at Microsoft’s Women in AI and is a member of 100 Women in Finance and Women in ETFs. She is a frequent speaker at global industry events on finance and technological disruption. Previously, as Paris Director of Women in Big Data, she spearheaded initiatives to empower women in data-driven industries. 

Cecile holds an Executive Master’s in Finance from ESSEC Business School and an MBA in Marketing, along with other industry-recognized qualifications.

Yemurai is a dynamic and influential figure in the technology sector, making waves as a Senior Cybersecurity Associate within Investment Banking, Cybersecurity social media influencer and keynote speaker.

Armed with a First Class degree in Chemistry, Yemurai has seamlessly transitioned into the tech industry, where she has quickly established herself as a leading voice in cybersecurity. She has been nominated for awards such as "Most Inspiring Women in Cyber" , "Tech Influencer of the Year" , and was a finalist for "Rising Star" Black Tech Awards.

Her impact on the tech community is profound, with a social media presence that boasts over 56,000 followers and 1.1 million likes across her cybersecurity content. Yemurai’s ability to resonate with her audience is evident in the success of her content, including two tech apprenticeship videos that went VIRAL (Apple X Makers - Software Engineering Apprenticeship and Makers X Government DevOps Apprenticeship) collectively garnering over 800,000 views. These achievements underscore her role as a pivotal figure in educating and inspiring the next generation of tech professionals and has led her to partner with organisations such as Cyber4Her, INCO Academy, and Rewriting the Code.

Offline, Yemurai is a passionate public speaker who has addressed over 500 people on topics such as:

• Addressing the Cybersecurity skills gap.
• Is AI an opportunity or threat within Cybersecurity.
• We've Overcomplicated Cybersecurity. Let's Go Back to the Basics.
• Non-linear Careers are the New Norm and Why Lifelong Learning is Important Navigating the Imposter Monster.

She has spoken at prestigious tech events, including Institute of Engineering and Technology, Skyscanner, Devoxx, and UK Cyber Week, as well as at secondary schools, where she works to demystify careers in cybersecurity and encourage both students and experienced professionals to explore opportunities in the industry.

Ima-Abasi is a passionate and dedicated QA Engineer with a strong focus on improving software quality through collaboration and innovation. 

With expertise in manual testing and agile methodologies, Ima-Abasi is known for working closely with developers to deliver high-quality products. Over the years, Ima-Abasi has developed a proven track record in identifying and resolving software defects, ensuring smooth functionality, and enhancing the user experience. 

Always eager to learn and adapt, Ima-Abasi stays updated with emerging technologies and continuously seeks to improve software testing processes to drive excellence in product quality.

Helly Torres is a seasoned leader with a Master of Engineering and 15 years of experience across engineering, operations, security, and social impact.

As the head of the Security Response Department at HP, she leads efforts to identify and mitigate security risks, applying her expertise in both technical and leadership roles.

Throughout her journey at HP, Helly has guided high-performing teams and contributed to shaping the company’s strategic security initiatives.Beyond her corporate role, Helly is passionate about driving social change, particularly in advancing gender equity. She is the founder of a non-profit dedicated to empowering young women and girls in STEM, offering mentorship, scholarships, and resources to help them succeed in these fields.

As a woman who has navigated the challenges of a male-dominated industry, Helly is deeply committed to making STEM more accessible and inspiring future generations of female leaders.

In addition to her corporate and philanthropic work, Helly is an accomplished entrepreneur with multiple streams of income, including real estate investments, stock portfolio management, and public speaking. Her diverse experiences have enriched her leadership approach and broadened her understanding of entrepreneurship. A passionate advocate for continuous learning, Helly also authored a STEM children's book to encourage young girls to explore engineering and technology.

Ramya Prabhakar is a Lead Product Manager at Nutanix leading the launch of core data and storage services to cloud native containerized applications as part of the Core Acropolis Operating Systems group. 

She focuses on bringing enterprise applications seamlessly to containers on Kubernetes while maintaining all the enterprise-grade application requirements around data protection, cost-efficiency and performance. She has more than a decade of experience in building and launching B2B enterprise storage products, in companies like Netapp, EMC and Box. 

he has a doctorate in Computer Science from Pennsylvania State University. She is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Gultan Asgarli is a dynamic project manager and business analyst with a proven track record of delivering impactful results in complex, fast-paced environments. 

Holding an M.A. in Innovation and Technology Management from the University of Tartu and a B.Sc. with Honors in Computer Science, Gultan’s educational foundation combines technical expertise with a deep understanding of strategic innovation. 

Her professional journey includes roles in leading organizations where she has successfully implemented agile methodologies, optimized project workflows, and ensured alignment with organisational goals. With experience in Lean Six Sigma practices, software product management, requirements engineering, and business process management, Gultan excels in utilising modern tools and practices to deliver value. 

Beyond her professional work, Gultan is passionate about personal and professional growth. She runs a blog on Instagram, blending product management principles with actionable career advice to help individuals systematically improve their lives. Through her unique perspective, she inspires her audience of young professionals, career switchers, and growth seekers to achieve structured self-improvement.

Strategic data leader, Judge, Mentor, and Speaker with 16+ years of experience in designing and scaling enterprise-grade data platforms and integrating Generative AI solutions. 

Expertise in aligning technical strategies with business objectives, driving innovation, and mentoring high-performing teams. Proven ability to deliver measurable business outcomes, optimize costs, and foster a culture of excellence.

Ekua is an author, LinkedIn and career coach. She is neurodivergent with Dyslexia and Dyscalculia. She is a LinkedIn Top Voice for Career and Job Search, passionate about working with leaders and organisations to leverage LinkedIn for success using her CASH method. 

She is the author of a motivational self-help book called, Be Your No.1 Cheerleader, which uses the entrepreneurial journey to encourage active positive self-development. 

Ekua started her career as a personal assistant to a Director working in the UK Civil Service, working with numerous Government Departments the Cabinet Office, Home Office and left as an IT Project Manager. 

Whilst working in the Civil Service she founded 2 startups, Layover Adventure and the Hackathon Queen. She’s been an employee, contractor, and is an entrepreneur.

She has led multi-million-pound public sector digital transformations. She was also awarded a ticket to Barack Obama’s acceptance for the nomination to the Democratic party for her campaigning work for the civic voluntary organisation DCVote. She has completed the London Marathon in 2018 was one of the hottest on record! She formerly ran DrinksBot, an on-demand drinks delivery service enabled by a Slack Chatbot. 

She is an advocate for diversity, equality and inclusion in tech. She met the late Queen Elizabeth II twice and is the former Co-vice Chair for GTA Black Women in Tech.

Anne C. Hungate is a visionary executive and entrepreneur recognized for her strategic leadership, innovative problem-solving, and ability to build impactful partnerships that drive organizational success. 

With decades of experience spanning corporate leadership and entrepreneurial ventures, Anne specializes in aligning strategy, technology, and operations to deliver transformative business outcomes.

Anne’s thought leadership in strategy development and technology transformation has made her a sought-after speaker and advisor. She has presented at premier conferences, including the Grace Hopper Conference and NC Women in Tech Summit, sharing insights on leadership, innovation, and organizational change.

Melanie Nichols (Deyle) is an award-winning organizational psychologist with over 20 years of experience as an internal employee, external consultant, trained coach and speaker. 

She is a positive disruptor who believes that the workplace culture transcends the business walls and ripples to the families and communities of everyone who works for and with the business. 

Melanie works with individuals, teams and companies to elevate business outcomes through the workplace culture. Her special power is moving beyond outcomes to achieving sustainably excellent outcomes.

Ekta is a seasoned technology leader with over 25 years of experience delivering impactful business outcomes by driving growth, profitability, and transformative change. A passionate advocate for gender diversity, she was selected as a UN Women UK delegate for the 67th, 68th and 69th sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women. Her industry recognition includes being a TechWomen100 Winner (2022), a finalist for ‘IT Strategy Leader of the Year’ at the Women in Tech Excellence Awards (2023) by Computing.com, and a spot on the 2024 longlist of the Most Influential Women in UK Tech. 

As a leadership and women’s empowerment coach, Ekta has scaled businesses 4x in two years, turned around a division with a four-fold profitability increase, and successfully founded her own consulting firm, scaling three startups in sustainability and AI product development. Her expertise spans strategic planning, digital transformation, and leading divestiture programs. 

Ekta has been instrumental in establishing the Diversity & Inclusion Charter for Wipro UK&I and actively contributes to initiatives like the Impact 100 London, Women of Silicon Roundabout, City Women Network, STEMettes, TechSheCan, and Women of the Future. 

Academically, she holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics, a PGDBM in IT & Marketing, and certifications in Digital Transformation (University of Virginia) and Sustainable Business Strategy (Harvard). 

Her proudest achievement is raising her daughter, an accomplished author, national-level swimmer, and chess player. Ekta remains dedicated to advancing people, planet, and sustainability through her work and advocacy.