The Women in IT Awards today reveals the finalists for its fourth annual ceremony in London, which will convene over 1,100 business and technology leaders on 31 January to further the cause of improving diversity and inclusion in the IT industry.

The awards programme, organised by Information Age in partnership with Amazon Web Services, is the leading initiative among extensive efforts from the tech world to rectify a gender imbalance that means women occupy just 17% of IT roles in the UK.

The 2018 ceremony, hosted in Grosvenor House Hotel’s prestigious Great Room venue on Park Lane, will be the largest tech-related diversity event ever staged, pipping last year’s audience of 1,000 and bringing together the industry’s top stakeholders.

The Women in IT Awards is the flagship event in an ongoing Information Age campaign to tackle technology’s diversity problems. Information Age has also launched a US edition of the event in New York, 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.

Through a series of 19 awards, the Women in IT Awards showcases the achievements and innovation of women in technology and identifies new role models for girls, who made up less than 10% of those who studied A-level computing last year.

>See also: Nominations open for Future Stars of Tech, unveiling IT’s female rising stars 

Joining Amazon Web Services as sponsors of the Women in IT Awards 2018 are premium sponsors Salesforce and Yoox Net-A-Porter Group, diversity partner BMC Software, recruitment partner Frank Recruitment Group, as well as Accenture Security, Ada College, Auto Trader, Barclays, Bluewolf, Ciena, DocuSign, Expedia, Informed Solutions, KPMG, NFU Mutual, RBS, Rolls-Royce, SAP, Schroders, and Sky Betting & Gaming. Supporting partners include BCS, 30% Club, Tech Partnership, techUK, Tech Talent Charter and TeenTech.

This year’s awards attracted over 700 nominations. The keynote speaker will be Baroness Lane-Fox, who co-founded Lastminute.com and now sits on the board of Twitter as well as chairing Doteveryone, a charity that fights for a fairer internet.

“Since launching the Women in IT Awards we have been blown away by people’s passion and enthusiasm for this cause, driving the event to an incredible size of over 1,100 attendees in just a few years,” said Ben Rossi, founder of the Women in IT Awards and editorial director at Vitesse Media, publisher of Information Age.

“This year we received over 700 nominations, showcasing an amazing array of talent across the UK’s technology industry. All of the finalists deserve a massive congratulations for the achievements that have resulted in them being shortlisted for an award. We can’t wait to welcome everyone for one of the biggest nights in technology on 31 January.”

Click here to book your place at the Women in IT Awards 2018 in London, and here to view the winners of last year’s Women in IT Awards.

Women in IT Awards – 2018 finalists

ADVOCATE OF THE YEAR

• Dinah Barrett, Amazon Web Services
• Jacqueline de Rojas, techUK
• Emma Feltham, National Trust
• Debbie Forster, Tech Talent Charter
• Sue Griffin, DWP Digital
• Lauren Langdell, Trust in Soda
• Claire Noble, Lloyds Banking Group
• Sarah Sanders, GSMA
• Natasha Sayce-Zelem, Sky
• #YouEqualTech, Mortimer Spinks

BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR

• Elsa Chen, Entanet
• Lisa Coleman, Worldline
• Tamara Littleton, The Social Element
• Sam Mudd, Phoenix Software
• Heather Richards, Transversal
• Tristan Smith, Egencia
• Camilla Sood, Mansion House Consulting
• Angela Townsend, Sharp
• Lorraine Twigg, Ciena
• Abbie Walsh, Fjord

BUSINESS ROLE MODEL OF THE YEAR

• Sheridan Ash, PwC
• Kasia Bochenek, Ordnance Survey
• Sally Bogg, Leeds Beckett University
• Kate Collins, Chicago Bridge & Iron Company
• Sally Eaves, Forbes Technology Council
• Eileen McLaren, Cognitive Geology
• Julie Sadler, O2
• Melinda Seckington, FutureLearn
• Claire Stead, Smoothwall
• Sarah Tulip, aql

CIO OF THE YEAR

• Monique Breen, BP
• Alison Davis, The Francis Crick Institute
• Rachel Dunscombe, NHS Digital Academy
• Alison FitzGerald, London City Airport
• Shirine Khoury-Haq, Lloyd’s of London
• Elena Kvochko, Barclays
• Jane Moran, Unilever
• Cait O’Riordan, Financial Times
• Claire Priestley, City, University of London
• Joanna Smith, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust

DATA LEADER OF THE YEAR

• Caroline Carruthers, Lowell Group
• Cat Jones, Unruly
• Emily Mackay, TAB
• Di Mayze, Acceleration
• Georgia Prothero, Schroders
• Ann Rooney, Northern Ireland Housing Executive
• Jennifer Rostenne, Tullow Oil
• Jen Shorten, MarkLogic
• Katia Walsh, Vodafone
• Lyndsay Weir, Nestlé

DIGITAL LEADER OF THE YEAR

• Caron Alexander, Department of Finance (Northern Ireland)
• Arabel Bailey, Accenture Digital
• Avril Chester, Scope
• Chris Marsters, First Utility
• Clodagh Moriarty, Sainsbury’s
• Rachel Murphy, NHS Digital
• Rachel Neaman, Corsham Institute
• Leigh Smyth, Lloyds Banking Group
• Hélène Stanway, XL Catlin
• Jo Wickremasinghe, News UK

E-SKILLS INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR

• Acorn Aspirations
• Apps for Good
• Code First: Girls
• Digital Mums
• Marialena Zinopoulou, DMA
• Next Tech Girls, Empiric
• Frank Recruitment & Microsoft’s Returnship Programme
• Good Things Foundation
• Code For Life, Ocado Technology
• Get into Tech, Sky

EDITOR’S CHOICE

• Nadia Arab, Havant & South Downs College
• Kayleigh Bateman, WeAreTheCity
• Hazel Freeman, Pulsant
• Sarah Porter, Inspired Minds Media
• Marta Raper, NHS Digital
• Shwetal Shah, Onepoint Consulting
• Debbie Venn, asb law
• Denise Willett, Achievers
• Pip Wilson, amicable
• Nicole Yershon, Lab For Hire

EMPLOYER OF THE YEAR

• Bluewolf
• Compass Point Business Services
• Deloitte
• dxw
• Epos Now
• FDM Group
• J.P. Morgan
• Morning Data
• News UK
• Ocado Technology

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

• Loubna Bouarfa, OKRA Technologies
• Julie Chakraverty, Rungway
• Sophie Deen, Bright Little Labs
• Stina Ehrensvard, Yubico
• Stacey Howard, Reco Group
• Kim Nilsson, Pivigo
• Elena Sikorsky, Ink Mills
• Inês Teles, DWYL
• Imogen Wethered, Qudini
• Debbie Wosskow, Love Home Swap

FUTURE CIO OF THE YEAR

• Emma Chorley, Core
• Katie DeLay, Rolls-Royce
• Sarah Ford, Barclays
• Lisa Hawker, Ark Schools
• Karen Jones, NFU Mutual
• Floriana Molone, London School of Economics
• Jessica Reyneke, Posterscope
• Melinda Seckington, FutureLearn
• Helen Slater, Dyson
• Beccy Weeks, Citation Professional Solutions

GLOBAL LEADER OF THE YEAR

• Erna Arnesen, ZL Technologies
• Bonnie Butlin, Security Partners’ Forum
• Mar Cabra, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
• Julie Fergerson, Ethoca
• Pooja Gada, Qventus
• Yasaman Hadjibashi, Citi Global Consumer Bank
• Jeanne Hopkins, Ipswitch
• Lindy Ledohowski, EssayJack
• Mansa Manjunath, Gensuite
• Barbara Massa, FireEye

GRADUATE OF THE YEAR

• Sarah Binney, Softwire
• Melissa Guthrie, Department for Work and Pensions
• Elizabeth Hill, NHS Digital
• Elizabeth Irvine, Lloyds Banking Group
• Mazvita Javangwe, FDM Group
• Avneet Mudhar, Salmon
• Gwyn Rees, Kingfisher IT Services
• Laurie Rutter, Deloitte
• Dominique Tan, J.P. Morgan
• Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool, Ocado Technology

INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

• Marjella Alma, Datamaran
• Stephanie Alys, MysteryVibe
• Stacey Anklam, autoGraph
• Shahrzad Bahari, ELCIES
• Leanne Bonner-Cooke, Evolve-IT Consulting
• Rachel Carrell, Koru Kids
• Joyeeta Das, Gyana AI
• Leanne Kemp, Everledger
• Anne-Laure Le Cunff, Lysa
• Dr Claire Royston, Four Seasons Health Care

RISING STAR OF THE YEAR

• Anna Abrell, Qubit
• Lisa Goldsmith, London Youth
• Janette Isiguzo, Rackspace
• Stephanie Jones, Purchase Direct
• Catrin Markx, The Chartered Banker Institute
• Emelia Morton, MWR InfoSecurity
• Beverley Newing, Oxford Computer Consultants
• Ruth Sutton, Aspire Achieve Advance
• Aleksandra Vangelova, Badoo
• Jessica White, Oakbrook Finance

SECURITY CHAMPION OF THE YEAR

• Rebecca Angwin, IBM
• Kiran Bhagotra, ProtectBox
• Naina Bhattacharya, Deloitte
• Emily Biggs, Digital Shadows
• Helena Fearon, Auto Trader
• Jane Frankland, Cyber Security Capital
• Emma Leith, BP
• Lesley Marjoribanks, RBS
• Zuzana Skrinarova, Yoox Net-a-Porter Group
• Elisabetta Zaccaria, Secure Chorus

TRANSFORMATION LEADER OF THE YEAR

• Collette Clayton, Newell Brands
• Valerie Gleeson, McKesson
• Nikki Greenway, Legal Ombudsman
• Sathya Nandakumar, Argos
• Nabina Shrestha, Morgan Stanley
• Susan Sutherland, FINkit
• Bethan Timmins, Equal Experts
• Sarah Trickett, HMRC
• Mel Unsworth, Yoox Net-a-Porter Group
• Sangeeta Vishwanath, Heathrow Airport

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

• Sabah Carter, News UK
• Lyndsey Charlton, Daisy Group
• Melissa Di Donato, SAP
• Anna Doherty, J.P. Morgan
• Melissa Dunn, Argos
• Sheila Flavell, FDM Group
• Louise McCarthy, HSBC
• Emma McGuigan, Accenture
• Sharon Pursey, SafeToNet
• Debbie Vavangas, IBM

YOUNG LEADER OF THE YEAR

• Pauline Dufour, Salesforce
• Samantha Hamilton, IBM
• Claire Lamb, Yoox Net-a-Porter Group
• Diana Marsh, Morgan Stanley
• Nicoleta Raportaru, Atos Consulting
• Chloe Seddon, Accenture Digital
• Manprit Taank, Heathrow Airport
• Michelle Tackie, Clarasys
• Kerry Townsend, PXtech
• Tara Walker, Belcan