Most Influential Women in UK Tech: The 2020 longlist

“Who are the most influential women in UK tech?” is a question we ask every year as we seek out to name the top 50 most influential women in the UK’s tech sector.

Each year, the number of nominations grows as the industry tells us who it thinks should be considered for the top 50 list.

As part of its commitment to shining a light on the female technology role models throughout the UK, Computer Weekly started publishing the longlist in 2017 when the number of nominations exceeded 160.

This number has grown year-on-year from 360 in 2019 to more than 430 women this year, each of which has made a significant contribution to the technology sector.

When Computer Weekly launched its list of influential women in UK IT in 2012, it only featured 25 women. It was later expanded to include 50 women to ensure as many as possible are recognised each year.

Each year, we aim to ensure the nominations for the 50 Most Influential Women in UK Technology are as diverse and inclusive as possible, regardless of age, disability, race, religion or sexual orientation, including trans women and those who identify as non-binary.

The shortlist of 50 names chosen by our expert judges will be published soon, allowing readers to vote on who they think should be chosen as the Most Influential Woman in UK Technology 2020 to help the judges make their final decision – but we also wanted to reveal all of the nominees who were considered. Congratulations to all.

The 2020 Most Influential Women in UK Technology longlist (in alphabetical order):

• Abadesi Osunsade, founder and CEO, Hustle Crew
• Abbie Morris, CEO and co-founder, Compare Ethics
• Abi Mohamed, programme manager, Tech Nation; co-founder/tech lead, Community Growth Ventures
• Abigail Rappaport, global business leader, Workplace by Facebook
• Adah Parris, storyteller, director and producer of L&D experiences, The House of Griots
• Adizah Tejani, digital innovations and partnerships, HSBC
• Agnes Gradzewicz, co-founder and CMO, Smarty Software
• Alex Depledge, founder and CEO, Resi
• Alexa Greaves, CEO, AAG IT Services
• Alexa Marenghi, senior programme manager – global talent acquisition, Microsoft; founder of Codess
• Alexandra Deschamps Sonsino, director, Designswarm; founder, The Good Night Lamp
• Alexandra Gillon-Livesey, vice-president, digital innovation, JP Morgan
• Alexandra Margarint, mid-weight front-end developer, Vodafone UK
• Alice Bentinck, co-founder of Entrepreneur First
• Alina Timofeeva, advanced analytics and cloud, KPMG UK
• Alison Vincent, fellow, Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET); technical adviser, Cybertonica; BCS fellow
• Ana Perez, senior director consulting, Oracle Ltd; chair, Oracle Women in Leadership
• Angela Morrison, experienced CIO; non-executive director, HM Land Registry
• Angela Yu, A&E doctor; founder and managing director of London App Brewery
• Ania Kubow, software engineer, Eurostar; co-founder, Whistle + Bango
• Anna Barsby, founder and managing partner, Tessiant
• Anna Holland-Smith, co-founder and board member, Recode
• Anne Boden, CEO, Starling Bank
• Anne Currie, tech ethics (contract), Container Solutions; founder, Coed Ethics Conference
• Anne Marie Neatham, commercial director for the office of the CTO, Ocado Technology
• Anne Rose, associate and co-head of blockchain group, Mishcon de Reya
• Anne Stokes, CEO, Streamwire Group
• Anne-Marie Imafidon, CEO, Stemettes
• Annika Small, co-founder and director, CAST (Centre for Acceleration of Social Technology)
• Anushka Sharma, founder, Naaut
• Ariane Gadd, lead DevOps engineer, Fiit
• Avril Chester, founder and CEO, Cancer Central; interim executive director, data and tech, RIBA
• Bea Karol Burks, director of explorations, Nesta
• Beckie Taylor, CEO, co-founder, TechReturners
• Becks Armstrong, CEO, Clarity
• Beeban Kidron, founder and chair, 5Rights Foundation
• Belinda Parmar, CEO, The Empathy Business
• Bethany Koby, CEO and co-founder, Technology Will Save Us
• Bindi Karia, advisor
• Bingqian Gao, data science lead, TrueCue
• Cait O'Riordan, chief product and information officer, Financial Times
• Camille Baker, reader, interface and interaction, School of Media and Performing Arts; lecturer, MA Games Design, University for the Creative Arts
• Carina Namih, general partner, Episode 1
• Carly Kind, director, Ada Lovelace Institute
• Carmina Lees, managing director, Financial Services Technology Consulting at Accenture
• Caroline Carruthers, CEO of Carruthers and Jackson
• Caroline Dinenage, digital minister
• Caroline Hargrove, CTO, Babylon Health
• Caroline Plumb, founder and CEO, Fluidly
• Carrie Anne Philbin, director of education, Raspberry Pi Foundation
• Casey Calista, senior account director, Hill + Knowlton Strategies
• Cath Goulding, chief information security officer, Nominet
• Catherine Breslin, director, solutions architect, Cobalt Speech & Language
• Catherine Knivett, head of operations, AWO
• Cathy McCabe, CEO, Proximity Insight
• Charlene Hunter, CEO and founder, Coding Black Females
• Charlotte Kirby, vice president, global strategic relations at Salesforce.org
• Charlotte Light, CIO, Channel 4
• Charlotte Robertson, co-founder, Digital Awareness UK
• Charlotte Zhao, director, codebar; co-founder and CEO, AViD FM
• Check Warner, co-founder, Diversity VC; partner, Ada Ventures
• Cheryl Stevens, deputy director identity, trust and fraud, and error prevention, DWP
• Chetna Arora, manager, Iqvia
• Chiara Pensato, CMO, Cutover
• Christina Scott, chief technology officer, News UK
• Christine Ashton, CIO advisor
• Cindy Rose, CEO, Microsoft UK
• Claire Agutter, director, Scopism; director and lead tutor, IT Training Zone Ltd
• Claire Burn, software engineer, Rapid7; global ambassador, Women Who Code Belfast
• Claire Cockerton, former CEO, Plexal
• Claire Davenport, CEO, notonthehighstreet.com
• Claire Edmunds, founder and CEO, Clarify
• Claire Morris, head of design, Founders Factory
• Claire Novorol, co-founder and chief medical officer, Ada Health
• Claire Vyvyan, senior vice-president, UK & Ireland commercial business, Dell EMC
• Clare Gilmartin, CEO, Trainline
• Clare Joy, expansion strategy manager, Onfido
• Clare Sutcliffe, director and co-founder, She Wins
• Cynthia Davis, CEO and founder, BAME Recruitment Ltd; chair, the board of directors at Pop Up Projects
• Daljit Bamford, social media advocate, The Trussell Trust
• Daniela Menzky, co-founder and COO, Angoka
• Daryn Edgar, vice-president, global alliances, WorkFusion
• Davina Sirisena, founder and CEO at Difference Digital
• Debbie Garside, CEO of GeoLang Limited
• Debbie Green, vice-president applications, Oracle UK&I
• Debbie Wosskow, co-founder, AllBright; former CEO, Love Home Swap
• Deborah Okenla, founder and CEO, Your Startup, Your Story (YSYS)
• Deborah Vickers, channel director, MoneyGuru.com
• Depika Koria, global product owner - voice assistants, HSBC
• Devika Wood, co-founder, Vida Care; proposition owner-enhanced doctor at hand, AXA PPP Healthcare
• Devon Edwards Joseph, senior data engineer, Soho House
• Diana Biggs, global head of innovation, HSBC Private Banking
• Diana Kennedy, vice-president strategy, architecture and planning, BP
• Dimple Dalby, lead cloud platform engineer, Compare the Market
• Doniya Soni, programme strategy and operations manager, WhiteHat
• Dupsy Abiola, head of global innovation, International Airlines Group
• Edel Creely, managing director, Arkphire Services
• Edel McGrath, partner, group head of technology, Knight Frank
• Edwina Dunn, chairperson, Starcount; non-executive director, Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation; commissioner, Geospatial Commission
• Eileen Burbidge, partner, Passion Capital; government special envoy for fintech
• Eileen Jennings-Brown, head of technology, Wellcome Trust
• Elaine Bucknor, group CISO and group director of security, Sky
• Elaine Warburton, founder and non-executive director, QuantuMDx
• Elena Novokreshchenova, vice-president of international, Remitly
• Elena Sinel, Founder, Acorn Aspirations and Teens in AI
• Eli Schutze Ramirez, web engineer, Monzo
• Eliana Vanekova, head of business development and e-learning, Global Digital Week
• Elin Ng, co-founder, Salve Technologies
• Elisabetta Zaccaria, founder, Secure Chorus Ltd
• Elizabeth Denham, information commissioner, ICO
• Elizabeth Eastaugh, senior director, technology – development platform and infrastructure, Expedia
• Elizabeth Varley, co-founder and CEO, TechHub
• Elizabeth Vega, group CEO, Informed Solutions
• Ella Schofield, engineering manager, Bloom & Wild
• Ellie Yell, founder and CEO, Fledglink
• Elly Zhang, director of partnerships, Heliocor; co-founder and CEO, Buzzmi
• Elspeth Finch, CEO and founder, IAND
• Emily Brooke, founder and chair, Beryl.cc
• Emily Forbes, founder, Seenit
• Emma Cerrone, executive director, agile and digital fitness lead, global digital accelerator, MSD
• Emma Fryer, associate director datacentres, TechUK
• Emma Lacy, Nordics business operations leader, Oracle
• Emma McGuigan, senior managing director, Microsoft Business Group, Accenture
• Emma Mulqueeny, consultant and advisor
• Emma Robertson, co-founder, Digital Awareness UK
• Emma Sinclair, co-founder, Enterprise Alumni
• Emma Woodman, UK&I ServiceNow practice lead, Accenture
• Emma Wright, partner, Kemp Little; founder and director, Institute of AI
• Erika Brodnock, founder, Extend Ventures; founder, Karisma Kidz and Kami
• Erika Federis, legal counsel, Wirex
• Erin Platts, head of EMEA and president of the UK branch, Silicon Valley Bank
• Estelle Johannes, director, member communities UK, CompTIA
• Fanny Corlosquet, DevOps engineer, The Economist Newspaper Ltd
• Farah Kanji, global talent director, Founders Factory
• Farida Gibbs, chief executive, Gibbs Hybrid
• Fatimat Gbajabiamila, software engineer, Apolitical
• Faye Holland, founder and director, Cofinitive
• Fiona Hudson Kelly, CEO, Smart Assessor; CEO, Smart Apprentices
• Flavilla Fongang, managing director, 3 Colours Rule; founder, TLA Black Women in Tech
• Flora Tasse, head of CV/AI research, Streem
• Fran O’Leary, co-founder and director of client services, Lodestone
• Francesca Carlesi, co-founder and CEO, Molo Finance
• Funmi Adewodu, IoS engineer, Yoyo Wallet
• Gabi Wagenhofer, head of global solutions and data services, BP
• Gail Jones, managing director, UKFast
• Gem Hill, senior test for voice and AI, BBC
• Gem Young, founder, Women of FinTech; founder, DiversiTech Hub
• Gemma Moore, founder and director, Cyberis
• Genevieve Leveille, CEO and principal founder, AgriLedger
• Georgia Hanias, founder, Ecology Media
• Georgina Owens, SVP IT services, DAZN
• Ghislaine Boddington, co-founder and director, Women Shift Digital
• Gillian Lamela, CIB technology cloud and engineering transformation programme manager and Women In Technology UK regional lead, Barclays
• Grace Chang, software engineer, Twitter
• Grace Stuart, marketing manager, Revolut
• Hadley Beeman, chief technology adviser to the secretary of state, Department for Health and Social Care; acting CTO NHSX
• Hannah Dawson, co-founder and CEO, Futrli
• Hannah Sutcliffe, relationship manager, Moonhub
• Hayaatun Sillem, CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering
• Hayley Sudbury, co-founder and CEO, Werkin
• Hazel Moore, chairman and co-founder, FirstCapital
• Heather Black, CEO and founder, Supermums
• Heather Delaney, founder and managing director, Gallium Ventures
• Heather Picov, CEO, Apps for Good
• Heather Savory, non-executive director UK Parliament Information Authority, House of Lords
• Heba Bevan, CEO and founder, Utterberry
• Helen Fraser, software developer, Morgan Stanley
• Helen Kelisky, senior vice president, cloud sales, UK and Ireland at Salesforce
• Helen Lamb, vice-president, strategic pursuits unit, global delivery group, Fujitsu
• Helen Meek, agile coach and consultant, RippleRock
• Helen Milner, chief executive, Good Things Foundation
• Helen Mitchell, director and co-founder, Blukudu Ltd; director, digital innovation programmes, Standard Industries
• Helen Wollaston, CEO, Wise
• Helene Panzarino, associate director, Centre for Digital Banking and Finance, The London Institute of Banking and Finance
• Hephzi Pemberton, founder and CEO, Equality Group
• Hilary Leevers, CEO, EngineeringUK
• Indra Joshi, director of AI, NHSX
• Inês Teles Correia, co-founder and CEO, DWYL
• Iris Lapinski, founder and chair, Apps for Good
• Irra Ariella Khi, CEO and founder, Zamna (formerly VChain Technology)
• Isabel Fox, co-managing partner and co-founder, Luminous Ventures
• Isabel Lewis, senior technology associate, Publicis Sapient
• Ivana Bartoletti, technical director – privacy, Deloitte; co-founder, Women Leading in AI Network
• Jackie Bell, senior teaching fellow in equality, diversity, outreach and public engagement, Imperial College
• Jacqueline Abernethy, AVP of customer success EMEA, BounceX
• Jacqui Taylor, CEO, Flying Binary
• Jane Silber, chair, Diffblue
• Jane Turner, CEO, Centtrip
• Janet Coyle, managing director business, London & Partners
• Janna Bastow, CEO, ProdPad; co-founder, Mind the Product
• Jaycee Cheong, cloud infrastructure engineer, Bryter
• Jeni Tennison, vice-president and chief strategy adviser, Open Data Institute
• Jennifer Arcuri, founder, InnoTech Network and Hacker House
• Jennifer Opal, DevOps engineer, BT Group
• Jennifer Rigby, COO, Lloyd’s of London
• Jenny Griffiths, founder and CEO, Snap Vision
• Jess Gosling, senior international policy officer, Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport; co-founder, Growth & Grace Collective
• Jess Wade, postdoctoral research associate, Imperial College London
• Jessica Falk, software engineer, Improbable
• Jessica Sapick, DeepMind marketer, Google
• Jia-Yan Gu, head of equities technology transformation, HSBC
• Jo Eckersley, CEO and founder, Bubbl
• Jo Graham, CIO, Boohoo
• Jo Haslam, design director, Snap Finger Click
• Jo Twist, CEO, UKIE
• Joan Lei, senior data scientist, Revolut
• Joanna Davinson, chief digital, data and technology officer, Home Office
• Joanna Montgomery, founder, Little Riot
• Joanne Hannaford, head of EMEA technology and global head of quality assurance engineering, Goldman Sachs
• Joanne Smith, founder and CEO, Recordsure; chair, CBI SME Council
• Jots Sehmbi, director of Innovation & Technology Solutions (CIO & CTO), University of Essex
• Joy Foster, CEO, TechPixies
• Joyeeta Das, CEO and founder, Gyana
• Jude Ower, founder and CEO, Playmob
• Julie Bretland, CEO, owner and founder, Our Mobile Health
• Julie Parmenter, chief financial officer, nDreams
• Julie Watling, managing director, Communications Solutions
• Julie Woods-Moss, chair, Dunnhumby; CMO, Thoughtworks
• Juliet Bauer, UK managing director, LIVI/KRY
• June Angelides, VC, Samos Investments
• Justine Roberts, founder and CEO, Mumsnet and Gransnet
• Kadine James, chair, Women in 3D Printing and Hobs 3D
• Kanta Dihal, postdoctoral researcher, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge
• Karen McCormick, chief investment officer, Beringea
• Karen Price, executive director, Tech Partnership Degrees
• Karimah Campbell, EMEA customer success manager, Relativity
• Kate Beaumont, director of innovation, Technology and Services Strategy, Samsung UK&I
• Kate Bohn, Innovation and Strategy – Incubator and Accelerator lead, Lloyds Banking Group
• Kate Craig-Wood, MD and co-founder, Memset
• Kate Rosenshine, head of Azure Cloud Solution Architecture, Microsoft
• Katie Koschland, senior software engineer, The Financial Times
• Kavita Kalaichelvan, software engineer, Appear Here
• Kayla Shapiro, production engineer, Facebook
• Keeley Crockett, reader in computational intelligence, Manchester Metropolitan University
• Kerensa Jennings, director of digital impact, BT Group
• Kerry Baldwin, managing partner, IQ Capital; vice-chair, BVCA
• Kike Oniwinde, co-founder, BYP Network
• Kim Nilsson, co-founder and CEO, Pivigo
• Kiran Bhagotra, CEO and founder, ProtectBox
• Kiran Uppal, VP projects, Unruly
• Kirsten Connell, MD, CyLon
• Kirstin Duffield, CEO, Morning Data
• Kit Collingwood, chief digital officer, LB Greenwich
• Kriti Sharma, vice-president product, GFK; founder, AI for Good UK
• Lamorna Short, co-founder, Blue Elvin
• Lara Sampson, product director, Universal Credit, DWP
• Larissa Suzuki, machine learning practice lead, Google
• Laura Weston, Java developer, Sky
• Lauren Kisser, director, Alexa Info International, Amazon
• Lauren Stewart, founder, Invigorate
• Leanne Bonner-Cooke, founder and chair, Evolve-IT; founder and CEO, e-Bate
• Leeann Monk-Ozgul, co-founder and co-CEO, Elemental – The Social Prescribing Company
• Liane Katz, CEO, MAMA.codes
• Liat Moss, developer, Anthony Nolan
• Libby Kinsey, head of technology and lead technologist for machine learning and artificial intelligence, Digital Catapult; co-founder, Project Juno
• Lilybeth Go, IT director for artificial intelligence, BP
• Lisa Hammond, CEO and co-founder, Centrix Software
• Lisa Jacobs, UK managing director, Funding Circle
• Lisa Ventura, CEO and founder, UK Cyber Security Association
• Liz Ashall-Payne, CEO, Orcha
• Liz Rice, VP open source engineering, Aqua Security
• Liz Whitefield, director, Hippo Digital
• Liz Williams, CEO, FutureDotNow
• Lou Cordwell, CEO, magneticNorth
• Louise McCarthy, CIO advisor
• Louise Stokes, director, Digital Leaders
• Lucinda Carney, founder and CEO, Actus Software
• Lucy Hall, CEO, Digital Women
• Lucy Ireland, MD, BCS Learning & Development
• Lyn Grobler, group CIO, Hyperion Insurance Group
• Lynn Collier, global programme director – customer success, Hitachi Vantara
• Magdalena Kron, Rise Global FinTech platform director, Barclays; co-founder, Geek Girl Meetup UK
• Maggie Van’T Hoff, vice-president of IT transformation and value, Shell
• Mala Mawkin, digital medicine innovation lead, Imperial College London
• Malika Malik, data and AI cloud solution architect, Microsoft; Adviros, APPG on AI
• Mandy Chessell, distinguished engineer, IBM
• Margaret Ross, professor of software quality, Southampton Solent University
• Maria Axente, responsible AI and AI for good lead, PwC UK; advisory board member, APPG for AI
• Maria McKavenagh, COO, Verv (Green Running)
• Mariarosaria Taddeo, senior research fellow and deputy director of the Digital Ethics Lab of the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
• Marieke Flament, CEO, Mettle
• Marija Butkovic, founder and CEO, Women of Wearables
• Marily Nika, senior AI/machine learning product manager (Speech), Google
• Marta Krupinska, head of Google for Startups UK.
• Martha Moniz, engineering manager, Intercom
• Maxine Mackintosh, postdoctoral research associate, The Alan Turing Institute; co-founder One HealthTech
• Meha Nelson, co-founder and CTO, Predina; product and operations manager, Minica Automation
• Mel Unsworth, global head of technology, Yoox Net-A-Porter
• Melinda Nicci, founder and CEO, Baby2Body
• Melinda Roylett, general manager UK and Ireland, Uber
• Melissa Di Donato, CEO, SUSE
• Melissa Morris, CEO, Lantum
• Meri Williams, CTO, Healx
• Merici Vinton, co-founder and CEO, Ada’s List
• Merve Taner, software engineer, Zencargo
• Mevish Aslam, founder, Sprinters
• Michelle Senecal de Fonseca, area vice-president, Northern Europe, Citrix
• Michelle Seng Ah Lee, AI ethics lead, Deloitte UK
• Misa Ogura, research software engineer, BBC; co-founder and CTO, Women Driven Development
• Mridula Pore, co-founder and CEO, Peppy
• Mursal Hedayat, co-founder and CEO at Chatterbox
• Nabila Salem, board member,Tenth Revolution Group; president, Revolent Group
• Nadia Abouayoub, founder, Aifinai
• Nadine Thomson, global chief technology officer, MediaCom
• Nadira Hussain, director of leadership development and research, Socitm
• Nancy Fechnay, co-founder, BedrockX
• Naomi Timperley, interim chair, FutureEverything; co-founder of Tech North Advocates
• Natalie Gammon, digital and cybersecurity Advisor
• Natalie Massenet, founder and executive chair, Net-a-Porter Goup
• Natasha Sayce-Zelem, head of technology, Sky
• Neeta Patel, CEO, Centre for Entrepreneurs
• Neha Rajesh, head of account-based and partner marketing, Temenos
• Nicky Tozer, VP, EMEA, Oracle NetSuite
• Nicola Blackwood, chair, Genomics England
• Nicola Graham, director of infrastructure and support services, NHS Ayrshire & Arran
• Nicola Mendelsohn, managing director, Facebook Europe
• Nicola Whiting, chief strategy officer, Titania
• Nicole Eagan, chief strategy and AI officer, Darktrace
• Nicole Fu, consultant, Nav.Marketing
• Niki Trigoni, chief technology officer, Navenio; Professor in Computer Science, head of Cyber Physical Systems Group, University of Oxford
• Nikki Kelly, SVP public sector and health, Atos
• Nina Tumanishvili, founder, HelloHub
• Nneka Abulokwe, founder and CEO, MicroMax Consulting
• Noor Shaker, founder and CEO, Glamorous AI
• Norma Dove-Edwin, chief information officer, Places for People Group
• Olga Kravchenko, CEO, Musemio
• Pamela Maynard, CEO, Avanade
• Pat Saini, head of immigration, Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP
• Payal Jain, chair of Women in Data UK
• Pearl Noble-Mallock, head of product and cyber security, BAE Systems
• Perrine Farque, founder, Inspired-Human
• Phoebe Chibuzo Hugh, founder and CEO, Brolly
• Phoebe Greig, co-founder, Women Driven Development; co-director, Lesbians Who Tech, London; senior software engineer, Citi Innovation Lab
• Phoebe Thacker, programme specialist for neuroscience, Google DeepMind
• Pip Jamieson, founder and CEO, The Dots
• Pippa Malmgren, co-founder, H Robotics
• Polly Barnfield, founder and CEO, Maybe
• Poppy Gustafsson, CEO, Darktrace
• Poppy Rainer, co-founder and CTO, Thrift+
• Pravina Ladva, chief technology and operations officer, Swiss Re
• Priya Guha, Venture Partner, Merian Ventures
• Priya Lakhani, founder and CEO, Century Tech
• Rachel Murphy, CEO, Difrent Group
• Rachel Neaman, non-executive board member, advisor, mentor
• Rachelle Mills, chief executive officer, KareInn
• Rahel Tesfai, founder and CEO, FroHub
• Rashada Harry, co-founder and managing director, Your Future, Your Ambition
• Rav Bumbra, founder, Structur3dpeople; founder, Cajigo
• Rebecca George, managing partner, Government and Public Services, Deloitte
• Rebecca Kemp, director of customer journey, Citizens Advice
• Rebecca Pope, director - data science andeEngineering, KPMG UK; data science strategy lead, Great Ormond Street Hospital (voluntary secondment)
• Regina Moran, enterprise director at Vodafone
• Reshma Sohoni, partner and co-founder of Seedcamp
• Rioch Edwards-Brown, founder, So You Wanna Be In Tech?
• Roberta Lucca, co-founder, chief brand officer and board director, Bossa Studios; creative director and host, Beta Lucca YouTube Channel
• Ronda Zelezny-Green, global head, training and e-learning; Internet Society
• Ros Delderfield, customer experience manager, BP
• Rosie Sherry, founder, Ministry of Testing
• Roxane Heaton, digital and innovation director, Morrisons
• Rubi Kaur, solutions architect, Vodafone Group
• Ruth Wandhofer, partner, Gauss Vantures
• Sabrina Castiglione, chief financial officer, Tessian
• Safia Barikzai, associate professor, London South Bank University; academic lead, Digital Grid Partnership
• Samantha Payne, co-founder and chief operating officer, Open Bionics
• Samantha Smith, head of digital and IT, 3C Shared Services; strategic IT lead, Cambridgeshire County and Peterborough City Councils
• Sana Khareghani, head of UK government Office for Artificial Intelligence
• Sandra Taylor, head of digital and ICT services, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
• Sandra Wachter, associate professor, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
• Sara Sharkey, head application services and DevOps, Defence Digital
• Sarah Armstrong-Smith, chief security advisor, EMEA, Microsoft
• Sarah Atkinson, director, corporate social responsibility, global, Micro Focus
• Sarah Burnett, partner, Emergence Partners; chair, BCS Women
• Sarah Curran-Usher, EMEA managing director, True Fit
• Sarah Hunter, director of global public policy, X (Google moonshots)
• Sarah Luxford, director, Global Resourcing; co-founder TLA Women in Tech
• Sarah Porter, founder and CEO, Inspired Minds
• Sarah Rench, director of AI and industry solutions, Avanade
• Sarah Shields, vice-president central and north Europe channel, Dell Technologies
• Sarah Turner, CEO and co-founder, Angel Academe
• Sarah Wilkinson, CEO, NHS Digital
• Sarah Winmill, CIO, business functions, Ministry of Defence
• Shaheen Sayed, senior managing director, Accenture
• Shalini Khemka, founder and CEO, E2Exchange
• Sharmadean Reid, founder, Beautystack and WAH Nails
• Sharon Moore, CTO for public sector, IBM UK
• Sharon Russell, senior software engineer, Comparethemarket.com
• Sheeza Shah, founder and CEO, UpEffect
• Shefali Roy, COO and CCO, TrueLayer
• Sheila Flavell, COO, FDM Group
• Sheree Atcheson, head of diversity and inclusion, Monzo
• Sheridan Ash, technology and investments director, women in technology leader UK, PwC
• Sherry Vaswani, group CEO, Xalient
• Sian John, EMEA and APJ director, Cybersecurity Strategy, Microsoft
• Siobhan Baker, software crafter, 8th Light
• Sonia Patel, CIO, NHSX
• Sonya Barlow, founder, LMF Network CIC
• Sophie Deen, CEO at Bright Little Labs
• Sophie McGrath, partner, Tech & Life Sciences, Goodwin
• Stephanie Itimi, founder and CEO, Seidea
• Stephanie Phair, chief customer officer, Farfetch
• Sue Daley, associate director technology and innovation, TechUK
• Suki Fuller, founder, Miribure
• Susan Morrow, head of R&D, Avoco Secure
• Susanne Chishti, CEO, Fintech Circle
• Suzie Miller, senior cloud solutions architect - Azure, Microsoft
• Sylvia Lu, head of cellular technology strategy, u-blox; board director, CW (Cambridge Wireless); board member, UK5G
• Tabitha Goldstaub, co-founder, CognitionX; chair of government's AI Council
• Tamara Lohan, founder and CTO, Mr & Mrs Smith
• Tamara Rajah, founder, Live Better With
• Tamsin Ashmore, CFO, Ultima Business Solutions
• Tania Boler, CEO and co-founder, Elvie
• Tanya Cordrey, partner, AKF Partners
• Tara Donnelly, chief digital officer, NHSX
• Taylor Semelsberger, founder, Miro Solutions UK
• Tina Götschi, head of teaching and learning, Ada. National College for Digital Skills.
• Tina Howell, cloud practice lead, AND Digital
• Ting Zhang, CEO and founder, Crayfish.io
• Tracy Westall, non-executive director, Department for Transport; NED, West Midlands 5G
• Trudy Norris-Grey, chair of WISE
• Tugce Bulut, CEO and co-founder, Streetbees
• Valerie Moran, head of operations and client relations, PrepaidFS
• Vanessa Vallely, managing director, WeAreTechWomen
• Verena Rieser, professor of conversational AI and head of NLP; Co-Founder at Alana
• Vicki Young, founder and CEO, Nalla Design
• Vicky Brock, founder and CEO, Vistalworks
• Victoria Carr, PhD student, King’s College London; founder, Researc/hers Code
• Vivi Cahyadi, CEO, AltoVita
• Wendy Tan White, vice-president, Moonshots at X; board member, TechNation; member, UK Diogital Economy Council; trustee, Alan Turing Institute
• Yemi Oluseun, business change consultant, The Change Hive
• Yi Luo, head of strategy, Earnd
• Zahra Bahrololoumi, senior managing director, Accenture Technology UK & Ireland
• Zandra Moore, CEO, Panintelligence
• Zara Nanu, CEO and co-founder, Gapsquare
• Zoe Cunningham, director, Softwire

A panel of expert judges used the following criteria to decide which of these women will be included in the top 50 shortlist:

• Influence: What authority or ability does the person have – either through her personal position or the role she holds – to personally influence the development of UK IT, or to influence others in positions of authority?
• Achievements: What has the person achieved in the past 12 months to help the development of UK IT?
• Profile: Is the person recognised as a role model for aspiring leaders? How widely is she acknowledged by her peers as an authority and influence on UK IT?
• Leadership: Does the person demonstrate the skills and experience necessary to be seen as a leader in the development of IT in the UK? Does she have a leadership role and does that help her to develop the role of IT in the UK?
• Potential: How likely is it that the person will have a significant impact on UK IT in the next 12 months? Will her authority and responsibility grow?
• Community: Has the person contributed to the women in technology community? To what extent has she used her influence to help other women progress in IT?

The voting for the 50 women in this year’s shortlist will soon open to allow readers to vote on who they think should be named the Most Influential Woman in UK Technology 2020.

Women considered to have made a lifetime contribution to the technology sector, as well as past winners, have been added to our Hall of Fame, and so do not appear on the annual nominations list.

The winner will be announced at Computer Weekly’s annual diversity in tech event, run in partnership with Spinks, which this year will be held online on 1 October 2020 during National Inclusion Week.