See who’s in with a chance of being crowned a role model in US tech
The shortlist for the Women in IT Awards – USA edition has been announced. Whittled down from an impressive 230 nominations across 21 categories, this year’s entry standard was exceptionally high, spelling hope for the future of IT in the post-pandemic world.
The final winners will be announced at the first in-person awards ceremony since 2019, which will take place on Wednesday, September 14 2022, at the Pier 60, New York.
After over two years of business disruption due to COVID-19, the forthcoming awards will undoubtedly be a time not just for inspiration but for attendees to reconnect and network with other women industry leaders.
It goes without saying that the Woman of the Year category is a cornerstone of the awards, with the judges describing contenders as; “a woman who has demonstrated the highest degree of IT excellence, innovation and leadership over the last two years, and shone a light on the great things women in IT can achieve. Candidates should have demonstrated outstanding business – or technology-focused achievements and given examples of how they have actively sought to bring more diversity into the technology industry. ”
The full shortlist of exceptional women and supporters of women is below:
Advocate of the Year
Errika Moore, National STEM Funders Network
Gavriella Schuster, Gavriella Schuster, LLC
Jocelyn DeGance, FirstBoard.io / CBT / Holberton School of Software Engineering
Nancy Wang, Advancing Women in Tech (AWIT)
Sonja Jones, Mindpoint Group and Risk-q
Ally of the Year
Barry Shurkey, NTT Data Services
Eugina Jordan, Parallel Wireless
Gavriella Schuster, Gavriella Schuster, LLC
Helen Figge, MedicaSoft / NYS HIMSS
Board Director of the Year
Jocelyn DeGance, Holberton School of Software Engineering
Niloofar Razi Howe, Pondurance
CIO of the Year
Beatriz Copelli, Reynolds American Inc.
Suchita Nagale, Syntellis Performance Solutions
CTO of the Year
Barbara Bickham, Trailyn Ventures, LLC
Mary Kotch, Core Speciality Insurance
Data Leader of the Year
Ananda Gowri Karthikeyan, Equinix
Chitra Balasubramania, CircleCI
Jigyasa Grover, Twitter
Kelli Pircio, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
DEI Initiative of the Year
Advancing Women in Tech (AWIT)
GN Women’s Network, GN – Jabra
GRC for Intelligent Ecosystems (GRCIE)
Learning2Work Pathfinders Apprenticeship Program, Pearson
NTT Inclusive Programs, NTT DATA Services
Product Specialists, JLL Technologies
Race and Ethnic Diversity Affinity Group (RED), Morgan Stanley
The Accelerator Hub, Positive Planet US
The Great Connect, AvidXchange
Unleash Your Leadership Potential (UYLP), Broadcom
Digital Transformation Leader of the Year
Alla Gogerman, Pacific Gas & Electric
Carolyn Ortega, Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Crystal Crayton, Reynolds Consumer Products
Debra Doyle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Prajakta Surve, Trane Technologies
Sandhya Sridharan, JP Morgan Chase
Tiffany Miller, Fidelity Investments
Employer of the Year
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Joyce Durst, Growth Acceleration Partners
Entrepreneur of the Year
Chaitra Vedullapalli, Women in Cloud
Joyce Durst, Growth Acceleration Partners
Nataliya Anon, Svitla Systems Inc.
Srii Srinivasan, Chargeback Gurus
Stacia Nelson, Pivot Strategies
IT Team of the Year (led by a woman)
Elynne Koay, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Jo-Anne Dressendofer, Slice Wireless Solutions
Laura Macca, Eisner Advisory Group, LLC
MacKenzie Durnovich, Bank of America
Melissa Ahrendt, Perrigo Company
Merry Anne Hetrick, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Tami Frederick, Perrigo Company
Next Generation Leader of the Year
Rikki George, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group
Xiang Ying (Shar) Shuai, Barclays
Outstanding Contribution of the Year
Ann-Marie Yap, Stanford Health Care and School of Medicine
Barbara Hewitt, Texas State University
Ewa Kleczyk, Symphony Health (an ICON plc Company)
Krista Peryer, The Geek Foundation
Monica Eaton-Cardone, Chargebacks911
Radhika Aasoori, Morgan Stanley
Security Leader of the Year
Cynthia Hetherington, Hetherington Group
Kavya Pearlman, XR Safety Initiative (XRSI)
Keavy Murphy, Starburst
Nancy (Zhengnan) Wang, Alert Logic by HelpSystems
Rikki George, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME Group)
Woman of the Year
Carolyn Ortega, Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Cindy Couyoumjian, Cinergy Financial
Irma Olguin, Bitwise Industries
Kathleen Pai, N-able
Kavya Pearlman, XR Safety Initiative (XRSI)
Krista Peryer, The Geek Foundation
Priyanka Sharma, Cloud Native Computing Foundation
To find out more about the Women in IT Awards USA 2022, click here.
