Top Fifty Most Inspirational Women In European Tech Revealed

Inspiring Fifty has revealed its top fifty most inspirational women in European technology for 2016.

The highlighted top fifty female leaders were chosen from across the sector – including influencers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics and policy makers.

Inspiring Fifty is a not-for-profit organisation, identifying and showcasing women in leadership positions within the technology sector.

This year’s list features 11 European countries with almost of half (23 finalists) of the group chosen from the UK: 

Professor Mary Aiken, Professor at Cyber Psychology Research Centre;

Laura Jordan Bambach, co-founder of SheSays; creative partner at Mr President;

Alice Bentinck, co-founder of Entrepreneur First, co-founder of Code First: Girls;

Dr Sue Black OBE, advisor to UK Government Digital Services;

Eileen Burbidge, partner at Passion Capital;

Judith Clegg, founder and CEO of Takeout Consulting and The Glasshouse;

Sherry Coutu, former CEO and angel investor who serves on the boards of companies, charities and universities;

Nancy Cruickshank, founder and CEO of MyShowcase;

Sonali De Rycker, general partner at Accel;

Dame Wendy Hall, professor of computer Science at Univeristy of Southampton;

Karen Hanton, founder and chairman at Top Table;

Martha Lane Fox, founder and executive chair, doteveryone.org.uk;

Avid Larizadeh Duggan, general partner at Google Ventures, UK lead at Code.org;

Nicola Mendelsohn, vice president EMEA at Facebook;

Jane Moran, global CIO Unilever;

Belinda Parmar, founder of Little Miss Geek, CEO of Lady Geek;

Kathryn Parsons, co-founder and co-CEO of Decoded;

Maggie Philbin, founder and director of TeenTech CIC;

Justine Roberts, founder and CEO of Mumsnet and Gransnet;

Baroness Joanna Shields, Minister for Internet safety and security;

Reshma Sohoni, co-founder and partner at Seedcamp;

Elizabeth Varley, founder and CEO TechHub;

Sarah Wood, co-founder and co-CEO of Unruly.

“Looking at the Inspiring Fifty of this year really makes me proud” said Janneke Niessen, co-initiator of Inspiring Fifty.

“These fifty women are the best-of-the-best, with truly inspirational careers. The ultimate aim of Inspiring Fifty is to address the gender imbalance in tech, so the more women we can celebrate and showcase, the more we can demonstrate to young girls and women that a career in tech is one of the most rewarding paths you can choose.

“We look forward to working with these brilliant women to help us do just that.”

The announcement of the fifty follows a public nomination process during which hundreds of nominations were received.