Influential Women in Tech

Influential women in tech have a vital role to play in the advancement of the economy. Despite this, women in tech are chronically underrepresented and that is a problem. Firstly because more diverse businesses are more successful. Secondly because there is a chronic shortage of tech skills in the western world and that shortage is holding back innovation, technological advancement and economic growth. If we are serious about addressing that skills shortage, we must find a way to make tech a more desirable career choice for women.  Find out how we get more women in tech in our blog post. 

The importance of female tech role models

A study by Microsoft found that 52% of young women who had female role models in tech were interested in technology, compared to just 32 % who did not. So just having a female tech role model increased young women’s interest in tech by more than half. We need more successful women in tech, and we need them to be visible to young people. It is vital that influential women in tech are highlighted, celebrated and talked about. 

On first thoughts, you might be forgiven for assuming that there aren’t many influential women in tech. But when you take a closer look, you’ll discover so many inspirational women. For some reason women in tech tend not to shout as loud about what they are doing as some of the very prominent men. So let’s focus on influential women in tech. Let's shine a spotlight on some of the amazing women we have in the tech world. 

Influential Women in Tech

1. Anne Boden MBE, Starling Bank Founder and CEO

Anne Boden is a Welsh tech entrepreneur and the CEO and founder of Starling bank. Anne got sick and tired of the way banks worked, so she decided to start her own. Starling has won best British Bank for the last 3 years running. Apparently betrayed by her business partner, Tom Blomfield, who left her and took the Board with him to set up Monzo, Anne bounced back in serious style. Anne says '“I’m a woman. I’m 5ft tall. I’m Welsh. I’m middle-aged. I’m from a very ordinary background and I’m the sort of person who’ll chat to somebody in the ladies! Fintech start-ups are all young white guys with goatees – usually with rich parents. People did think I was crazy, that no one ‘starts a bank’, especially people who looked like me, but I’d reached the stage where I was prepared to fail. I was 54 and confident enough not to care if somebody said I was stupid.” Anne has received an MBE for services to financial technology. She is an inspiration to all tech leaders, not just women.

Anne has some interesting and enlightening theories on women in senior positions: in her recent book she explains that in FTSE businesses, the small number of women around the Board table seem to most often be from other countries. Her theory is that women from a different country are less likely to remind men of their mothers, and therefore are better tolerated by them. It is great to see the issue of women in senior positions being brought into the spotlight.

2. Susan Wojciki, YouTube CEO

Susan was Google’s 16th employee. She started as Google’s Marketing Manager and moved on to head all marketing and commerce at the company. She became CEO of YouTube in February 2014, after it was bought in 2006 by Google for $1.65 billion dollars. It is currently estimated to be worth $90 billion. Susan is also a mother to 5 children, helping to disprove that myth that women who have children leave their careers and therefore aren’t worth promoting. 

3. Ginni Rometti, IBM CEO

Starting at IBM in 1981 and rising through the ranks, Ginni has made cognitive computing a focus for the organisation. She drives IBM to lead the AI space. She is a huge champion of the IBM artificial intelligence platform Watson, an intelligence system used to analyse data for hospitals, universities and businesses. Ginni takes every opportunity to advance AI and calm concerns that it will displace human workers, seeing it as a way to find solutions for the worlds most unsolvable problems. Ginni is a true tech visionary and advocate

4. Whitney Wolfe, Bumble CEO and Founder 

Whitney was named as Forbe’s youngest self made billionaire on the Forbes Billionaires List in 2021. She founded Bumble in 2014 to solve what she saw as a gender balance problem - where society expected men to make the first move, which she was self-professedly sick of. So she set out on a mission to create a dating app with a culture that empowered and encouraged women to make the first move. And she ended up making herself super successful and crazy rich in the process! Whitney has become one of the most successful and influential women in tech. 

There are so many influential women in tech. We will be adding to this list as we progress. If you think we’ve missed anyone, get in touch to let us know, or tell us in the comments below.

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Volanto is on a mission to democratise digital. We are a strategic growth consultancy specialising in digital transformation and tech enabled growth. Contact us now to see how we can unleash your potential. We are female founded, and passionate about bringing more women into tech. Highlighting influential women in tech is an important part of closing the tech-gap. Discover some female tech founders in our recent post. If you know an inspiring tech woman or female founder, get in touch.