Shortlist announced for the Women in IT Awards Canada 2022

Read on to find the shortlist for the Women in IT Awards Canada 2022, happening in person on the 25th October

Bringing a perfect opportunity to network, reconnect and celebrate with colleagues and peers across the tech industry, this year’s Canada edition of the Women in IT Summit and Awards will be the first to take place in person since 2019, commencing at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto.

The ceremony will be the fourth of five awards events happening this year, the UK and Asia editions having happened in February and June respectively, while WIT Awards USA will commence in September, and Ireland in December 2022.

This will be presented on the same day as the Women in IT Summit Canada 2022.

The Women in IT Summit and Awards Series has been raising awareness of the contributions and successes of women in tech since 2015, while recognising the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The full shortlist of exceptional women and allies participating in the Women in IT Awards Canada 2022 is as follows:

Advocate of the Year

Alma Barranco-Mendoza, Infogenetica Solutions Ltd

Cinzia Bazzo, Workday

Frincy Clement, Women in Artificial Intelligence Canada, TELUS Business

Helen Knight, H. Knight Non-Profit IT Consulting Inc.

Kate Manolis, Plenty of Fish

Margarita Simonova, ILoveMyQA

Nasheen Liu, The IT Media Group Inc.

Sana Abou Shaaban, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)

Santa Di Stefano, Pythian Services Inc.

Shiyamali Paranirupasingam, Women in Artificial Intelligence (WAI)

Ally of the Year

Annayah Jean Fernandez Rivera, Accenture

Marie-Christine Legault, Cprime

Marvin Wong, SECURE Energy

Rhonda Rudnitski, SECURE Energy

Chief Information Technology Officer of the Year

Amanda Jane Preece, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Claire Lam, Loopt

Kristine Middlemiss, Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies

Michelle Joliat, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

Data Leader of the Year

Andrea Niu, General Motors

Delsie Sequeira, ICF Consulting Canada

Diana Esparza, Export Development Canada (EDC)

Ferial Sheybani, Colliers

Kasia Wakarecy, Pythian Services Inc.

Megha Narayanan, SpotHero

Parisa Lak, Manulife

Penka Bocheva, EPAM

DEI Initiative of the Year

Accenture Technology and I&D Recruitment Team, Accenture

Neurodiverse Professional Services Partnership, Salesforce

Women in Identity

Women in Technology Group, Loblaw Technology & Analytics

Digital Transformation Leader of the Year

Darya Abdollahzadeh, realtor.com

Elaine Oei, Cineplex Entertainment Ltd

Elysia Douillard, JOEY Restaurant Group

Ferial Sheybani, Colliers

Galia Forouzesh Far, Midfield Interactive

Marlene Ross, Oak Valley Health

Michelle Joliat, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

Natasha Gilani, Accenture

Sumika Singh, Home Trust Company

Thanuja Karunamoorthy, Equitable Bank

Diversity Lead of the Year

Constance Frenette, Bell Canada

Farzia Khan, TD Bank

Sophia Dhrolia, Toronto Region Board of Trade

Employer of the Year

Equitable Bank

Greenlight Consulting

JOVACO Solutions

Pythian Services Inc.

ThoughtExchange

Entrepreneur of the Year

Caitlin MacGregor, Plum

Cindy Gordon, SalesChoice Inc.

Elena Sinelnikova, Metis

Lisa Loud, FLUIDEFI

Innovator of the Year

Alison Menary, Embross/Toronto Public Library

Dr Chandana Unnithan, Lifeguard Digital Health

Garima Bajpai, Capital Carbon Consulting

Jenny Lemieux, Vivid Machines

Lisa Loud, FLUIDEFI

Malgosia Green, Plenty of Fish

Stephanie Law, Greenlight Consulting

Xiaomei Wang, InsightZen

IT Team of the Year (led by a woman)

Colliers, led by Ferial Sheybani

Opendoor, led by Heather Natour

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, led by Lisa Schiraldi

SEDNA, led by Lakshmi Baskaran

ILoveMyQA, led by Margarita Simonova

RBC, led by Melissa Carvalho

Professional Engineers Ontario, led by Michelle Wehrle

Walmart Canada, led by Michon Williams

Eduplan Solutions, led by Nathalie Myara

Accenture, led by Jennifer Jackson

Next Generation Leader of the Year

Alexandra Sunderland, Fellow

Doris Qian, Government of Canada, Environment and Climate Change

Elena Grigoras, Loblaw

Ellis Odynn, EY Digital Finance Institute

Farzia Khan, TD Bank

Garima Bajpai, Capital Carbon Consulting

Jacqueline Do, Accenture

Stephanie Long, dentalcorp

Outstanding Contribution of the Year

Beth Gerritsen, Primary Care -Independent

Brenda Okorogba, Momentswithbren Consulting

Jenny Alfandary, Westario Power Inc.

Marijana Zuvela, McDonald’s

Natalia Bakhtina, BFL Canada

Sustainable Tech Award of the Year

Jenny Lemieux, Vivid Machines

Rachel Hor, CarbonTerra

Tas Damen, Connected Canadians

Woman of the Year

Amanda Jane Preece, Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Claudette McGowan, TD Bank

Constance Frenette, Bell Canada Inc.

Jenny Alfandary, Westario Power Inc.

Julieann Esper Rainville, PointClickCare

Malgosia Green, Plenty of Fish

Maria Bolovis, eStruxture Data Centers

Michelle Wehrle, Professional Engineers Ontario

Santa Di Stefano, Pythian Services Inc.

Winnie Ye, Carleton University

To find out more about the Women in IT Awards Canada 2022, click here.

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Aaron Hurst

Aaron Hurst is Information Age's senior reporter, providing news and features around the hottest trends across the tech industry.