Accenture’s Shaheen Sayed was crowned Woman of the Year at the Women in IT Awards London 2020, last night.
Yoox Net-A-Porter, the online lifestyle, fashion, design and art store, also won big at the prestigious event, securing Future CIO of the Year and e-Skills Initiative of the Year.
Other winners included Niki Trigoni, from Navenio, who won CTO of the Year, Amanda Hamilton, City & County Healthcare Group, who earned CIO of the Year, while the Diversity
Now in its sixth year, the Women in IT Awards London 2020 was held at a gala ceremony in Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, hosted by British televi
The awards, organised by Information Age and DiversityQ (Bonhill Group publications) headline sponsored by Amazon Web Services, serve to showcase the achievements and innovation of women in technology and identify new role models in a sector where female representation stands at only 19% — a level that is still alarmingly low.
Woman of the Year
Shaheen Sayed – Accenture
Shaheen was named Women of the Year by the judges for her ability to “…lead market-leading teams who deliver pioneering solutions with double-digit growth to the health and public sector. She has had a measurable impact on improving diversity in tech, and her sphere of influence runs broad and deep, with a clear focus on developing and influencing the next generation of talent.”
A new chapter for the UK
Opening the awards, Lawrence Gosling, editorial director at Bonhill Group plc, said: “As we start a new chapter in the life of this country is so many ways, the importance of the IT sector to the well-being of society and the economy is irrefutable.
“To achieve the maximum positive outcome, we have to continue to promote, recognise and develop the role of women. Tonight’s event and the others we do around the world are modest contributors to that end. The industry has moved significantly since we started these awards, but there is no room for complacency.”
He continued: “Every year the number and quality of entries increases. The bar is raised so congratulations to everyone who made to this point. A credible awards programme is not possible without the hard work and research of our judging panels, so I’d personally like to thank all them for their diligence and my colleagues at Bonhill for organising the judging process and putting together this wonderful evening.”
Allies
Joining headline partner, Amazon Web Services, as sponsors at the Women in IT Awards London 2020 are premium sponsors — Alix Partners, BMC Software, Frank Recruitment Group, J.P. Morgan, Lloyds Banking Group, Salesforce and Yoox Net-a-Porter Group; our award sponsors — Accenture Security, BP, DAZN, FireEye, Just Eat, Google Cloud, New Relic, Red Hat, Rolls Royce, Sailpoint, UiPath and Veritas, and our event partners — Direct Line Group, HSBC and Oracle.
“We would like to thank all of our sponsors for making the Women in IT Awards London 2020 possible. Without your support and
Diversity Initiative of the Year
Joanne Rewcastle – DWP Digital
DWP’s diversity initiative stood out to the judges, “for not solely focusing on quota attainment but to support women developing their digital skills and knowledge. Though it might be a small initiative it has had an impressively direct impact and that while being on a budget within a tough company culture, not prone to innovate at a quick pace.”
A commitment to driving change
The Women in IT Awards London 2020 is the flagship event in an ongoing Information Age and DiversityQ campaign to tackle the technology industry’s lack of gender diversity.
Now, the Women in IT Awards Series — originating in London — has become a global initiative with annual events now held in New York, San Fransico, Dublin, Singapore, Berlin, Bucharest and Canada.
In the UK, there are two further diversity events: Tech Leaders Today,
Women in IT Awards London 2020 winners
Data Leader of the Year, sponsored by Veritas
Jackie Shears — NHS Digital
e-Skills Initiative of the Year, sponsored by Accenture Security
Federica Romagnoli — Yoox Net-A-Porter Group
Global Leader of the Year, sponsored by Google Cloud
Chandra Dhandapani — CBRE
Digital Leader of the Year, sponsored by DAZN
Laura Hilliger — We Are Open Co-op
Security Champion of the Year, sponsored by Lloyd’s Banking
Felicity March — IBM
Young Leader of the Year, sponsored by AlixPartners
Josie Young — Methods
Entrepreneur of the Year, sponsored by Yoox Net-A-Porter Group
Christine Telyan — UENI Lt
Innovator of the Year, sponsored by Mastercard
Lucy Mullins — StepLadder
Diversity Initiative of the Year, sponsored by J.P. Morgan
Joanne Rewcastle — DWP Digital
Employer of the Year, sponsored by UiPath
Rising Star of the Year, sponsored by New Relic
Anna Zappone — Google
Business Leader of the Year, sponsored by BP
Jenny Davies — M247
Transformation Leader of the Year, sponsored by Just Eat
Karen Hopley — G4S
Advocate of the Year, sponsored by FireEye
Carly Britton — Vualto
IT Team of the Year, sponsored by Rolls-Royce
Juliette French — Lloyds Banking Group
Future CIO of the Year, sponsored by Frank Recruitment
Mel Unsworth, Yoox Net-A-Porter Group
Business Role Model of the Year, sponsored by BMC Software
Naya Giannakopoulou — DMW
CTO of the Year, sponsored by Red Hat
Niki Trigoni — Navenio
CIO of the Year, sponsored by AWS
Amanda Hamilton — City & County Healthcare Group
Woman of the Year, sponsored by Salesforce
Shaheen Sayed — Accenture
