Magazine roundup: Top 100 women in technology 2023

Technology Magazine takes a look back at its Top 100 women in the industry for 2023.

In a field often dominated by male leaders, it is refreshing to shine the spotlight on leading women who are continually committed to transforming the digital world. Not only are these women continuing to make a huge impact on the industry, but are also advocating for diversity and serving unheard voices, making them role models around the world.

Below, we round up the top 10 women honoured in the list for 2023. For the full list, follow the link HERE.

10: Barbara O’Neill, Global Chief Information Security Officer, EY

Barbara O’Neill is EY’s Global Chief Information Security Officer, a role in which she provides strategic direction for all matters relating to information security.

She joined EY in 1997 as the Director of Information Security for Ernst & Young LLP in the US, assuming responsibility for the Americas Region in 1999. Barbara then accepted the EY Global Chief Information Security Officer role in 2002.

Prior to EY, she was the Vice President of Information Technology for a human resource and benefits solutions provider. With plenty of experience in information security management, IT strategy, governance, and audit, O’Neill has also held various IT positions with a leading telecommunications company.

9:  Rowena Yeo, Chief Technology Officer & Global Vice President, Technology Services at Johnson & Johnson

In her current role, Rowena Yeo is responsible for overseeing the global technology services organisation by delivering global infrastructure, application support, application development and technology services. Yeo is also responsible for technology architecture and development, on top of delivering new levels of technology innovation and operational excellence to Johnson & Johnson’s businesses, enabling digital transformation to serve its patients, customers and stakeholders.

Yeo has previously spent a number of years at Cargill, with her most recent role being dual as both Global Group CIO for Cargill's Agriculture Trading & Processing Enterprise and the Asia Pacific CIO.

8: Jae Sook Evans, Chief Information Officer, Oracle

Jae Sook Evans has spent more than 20 years building and leading global technology teams that deliver world-class, highly available, scalable and secure cloud infrastructure and services.

At Oracle, she is responsible for launching and operating Oracle Cloud Infrastructure regions to support the cloud service needs of customers and developers around the world. She also works to accelerate Oracle’s own cloud transformation, in addition to improving its company employee productivity and user experience.

Passionate about bringing diversity and inclusion to the workplace, she is also the Executive Sponsor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) for OCI.

7: Penelope Prett, Chief Information, Data & Analytics Officer, Accenture

As Chief Information Officer for Accenture, Penelope Prett leads the company’s global IT operations, including the infrastructure, services and applications that enable Accenture staff to work anytime, regardless of location, serving clients in more than 120 countries.

During a career of more than 25 years with Accenture, Prett has held many leadership roles across its client and technology organisations, including several key industries. 

She is also active in Accenture’s inclusion and diversity efforts, working on a range of programmes surrounding LGBTQ+ initiatives as well as the integration of veterans and other non-traditional talent into the workforce.

6: Jaskiran Bhatia, Partner and Global Technology Leader, Deloitte

A technology and transformation leader, Jaskiran Bhatia is currently Partner and Global Technology Leader at Deloitte.

Bhatia is an engineer who’s been leveraging technology to solve complex business problems while building businesses for more than 25 years. Her key focus area has been new-age technologies and how they can enable change to transform complex business problems.

In previous roles throughout her career, Bhatia was instrumental in setting up and running the Data and Analytics Practice for KPMG in India, before which she spent five years working for IBM.

5: Kathryn Guarini, Chief Information Officer, IBM

Note: As of September 2023, after this list was published, Kathryn Guarini has commenced a new role as a member on the board of directors at biotechnology company Regeneron.

Kathryn Guarini is a highly influential and widely regarded digital transformation leader and, outside of her positions with some of the world’s largest companies, is an exceptional innovator in her own right.  

Guarini has a PhD from Stanford University in Applied Physics and owns more than 63 US patents. Her technical research has also been recognised by numerous industry awards and she has authored more than 60 technical publications. 

Her popular blog – ‘Mother of Invention’ – details everything from her insights into science and technology to her perspectives on family life.

4: Sam Kini, Global Chief Information Officer, Unilever

Unilever’s Global Chief Information Officer, Sam Kini, has 20 years of experience in IT-focused executive roles. With Unilever, she is responsible for enterprise architecture, applied technology and the development and delivery across all business platforms.

Prior to joining Unilever in 2020, Kini was the Chief Data & Information Officer at EasyJet, where she was accountable for all IT, data, digital, cybersecurity operations, portfolio, and transformation delivery across the EasyJet Group.

Kini also previously spent three years at Belgian cable broadband provider Telenet Group, where she was responsible for IT, Digital, data capabilities, systems and services. She has also worked with British telecommunications company Virgin Media and the multinational telecommunications company Liberty Global.

3: Lakshmi Hanspal, Global Chief Security Officer, Amazon Devices & Services

Note: As of October 2023, after this list was published, Lakshmi Hanspal now works as a member of the board of directors at the University of California, Merced.

Lakshmi Hanspal leads Trust, Security, and Safety for Amazon Devices and Services, which is a role that encompasses consumer electronics, autonomous vehicles and satellites. Her career spans more than 23 years in information security and risk management. 

Prior to joining Amazon, Hanspal was the Global Chief Security Officer at Box, where she led Box's Trust Office with accountability for building trusted products, operating trusted environments, and Advocacy of Trust to customers and partners. Earlier in her career, she was the Global Chief Security Officer at SAP Ariba, in addition to leadership roles at PayPal and Bank of America.

2: Renee Lo, Partner CTO, APAC Regional Director, Google

As Partner and CTO at Google, Renee Lo thrives on optimising products, businesses, and experiences to maximise impact on the end-users and partners, as well as the bottom line.

Lo’s career began as a software engineer, which then quickly progressed through marketing to business development. Here, she gained more insight into customers, partners and the inner workings of a business. Over the last 20 years, her work has ranged from coding to core product management to partner strategy, sales enablement and go-to-market strategies. She now focuses on building teams that put people at the forefront and unlock business impact beyond the sum of individual parts.

As regional director, Lo leads the partner technology organisation across APAC to empower and grow Google's partner ecosystem. Leveraging Google Cloud's tech stack, her team helps partners deliver digital transformation and innovative solutions.

In her previous role, Lo was General Manager of Data and AI for Asia at Microsoft, before which she spent four years at Amazon.

1: Kate Maxwell, Partner, General Manager and Industry Lead, Microsoft Worldwide Education, Microsoft

Note: Kate Maxwell’s role at Microsoft changed after the publication of the Top 100 list and the above headline has been edited to reflect her new position.

Kate Maxwell is an accomplished technology leader and strategist serving defence and intelligence customers around the globe. Having formerly worked as Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer, Defense and Intelligence, Worldwide Public Sector (2020-2023), Maxwell is passionate about leveraging the intersection of people, technology, and culture to advance organisations, missions and multinational alliances.

A sought-after author, storyteller, and keynote speaker with expertise in Public Sector digital transformation, unmanned systems, space mission management and innovation leadership, Maxwell is a tireless advocate for STEM outreach and diversity across the technology sector.

Prior to this, she spent 17 years in the aerospace and D&I community “as a civilian”, using her training in computer science and systems engineering to understand the frontline of defence technology, principally working for the defence contractor Raytheon Technologies.

“Innovation is all about speed,” she said in an interview with Technology Magazine. “How do we cultivate a diverse, growth-oriented, fail-forward environment in which to create new mission capabilities for the defence community? And that's similarly the name of the game for digital transformation.”

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Other magazines that may be of interest - AI Magazine | Cyber Magazine | Data Centre Magazine

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