Women in IT Awards USA – winners revealed

The inaugural Women in IT Awards USA brought together 550 industry leaders last night for a stunning ceremony in New York’s Gotham Hall.

The awards, organised by Information Age, serve to showcase the achievements and innovation of women in technology and identify new role models in a sector where female representation stands at alarmingly low figures.

Diane Bryant, Google Cloud’s chief operating officer, delivered the evening’s keynote speech, emphasising the importance of diversity in driving innovation across America’s tech sector.

Diane Bryant, chief operating officer at Google Cloud, delivering her speech at the inaugural Women in IT Awards USA
Diane Bryant, chief operating officer at Google Cloud, delivering her speech at the inaugural Women in IT Awards USA

She said that for women the ‘the ability to demonstrate confidence in the face of doubt is a key and critical skill’.

Investing in building an inclusive business environment is ‘the right thing to do,’ Bryant continued. ‘CIOs know that the lack of women in tech is hindering them. We can’t afford to overlook 50% of the population.

‘Diversity heightens business reputation, but allies are needed,’ she concluded.

The awards were held in Gotham Hall on Broadway in New York and were hosted by Eva Saha, professional emcee, moderator and presenter, who revealed 16 winners chosen from over 400 nominations. Lawrence Gosling, editorial director at Vitesse Media, opened the event by referencing the much-publicised mistreatment of women across multiple industries in the last year.

The Women in IT Awards USA is the first international event in an ongoing Information Age campaign to tackle technology’s diversity problems. Information Age has also launched an Asia edition of the event for 2019, and runs two further diversity events in the UK: Tomorrow’s Tech Leaders Today, a careers fair for female university students, and Future Stars of Tech, which identifies and promotes the industry’s top female career climbers.

The Women in IT Awards USA are sponsored by premium sponsor T-Mobile, diversity partner BMC Software, as well as AT&T, Bluewolf, BP, Deloitte, Equinix, FireEye, Frank Recruitment, Google Cloud, Investment News Women to Watch, Neustar, Rolls-Royce, SheSays and Zayo.

WINNERS

ADVOCATE OF THE YEAR – sponsored by AT&T Business Operations.

Ronni Eloff, Women in Technology International

Highly commended: Delisa Alexander of Red Hat

e-SKILLS INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Investment News Magazines, Women to Watch Series

Tracey Welson-Rossman, TechGirlz

YOUNG LEADER OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Deloitte

Karen Parisi, Oodi

FUTURE CIO OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Bluewolf

Tracy Vo, Bank of the West

DIGITAL LEADER OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Equinix

Monica Caldas, GE Transportation and Melissa Stevens, Fifth Third Bank

BUSINESS ROLE MODEL OF THE YEAR – sponsored by BMC Software

Margaret Dawson, Red Hat

BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Zayo

Paula Hunter, NFC Forum

INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Roll-Royce

Veena Gundavelli, Emagia Corporation

RISING STAR OF THE YEAR – sponsored by FireEye

Annie Eaton, Futurus

Highly commended: Velvet Johnson of Accenture

SECURITY CHAMPION OF THE YEAR – sponsored by T-Mobile

Monica Jain, LogicHub

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Neustar

Jennifer Kyriakakis, MATRIXX Software

Highly commended: Autumn Manning of YouEarnedIt

EDITOR’S CHOICE – sponsored by Information Age

Winnie Cheng, Io-Tahoe

DATA LEADER OF THE YEAR – sponsored by SheSays

Jacquelin Speck, U.S. Navy

Highly commended: Valerie Logan from Gartner

TRANSFORMATION LEADER OF THE YEAR – sponsored by BP

Kelly Switt, Citi

Joint CIO OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Google Cloud

Sherry Aaholm, Cummins and Janice Withers, TD Bank

WOMAN OF THE YEAR – sponsored by Frank Recruitment Group

Mayumi Hiramatsu, Infor

Highly commended: Dianne Dain of the United Nations

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Nick Ismail

Nick Ismail is a former editor for Information Age (from 2018 to 2022) before moving on to become Global Head of Brand Journalism at HCLTech. He has a particular interest in smart technologies, AI and...