Key Facilitator – Kate Russell, Journalist, Tech Report and Author

Kate Russell (BBC Click) is a journalist, reporter, and author who has been writing about gaming, technology and the Internet since 1995. Best known for weekly appearances on the BBC’s technology programme she frequently appears on TV radio and in magazines as a technology expert, and also has regular columns in National Geographic Traveller and the BBC’s Focus magazines. She is the author of two books Working the Cloud, a guide to using the internet in business; and Elite: Mostly Harmless, Kate’s debut science fiction novel set in the gaming world of Elite, which achieved over 400% of its funding goal on Kickstarter. In addition, Kate speaks regularly at technology events and conferences, and in schools and universities, inspiring the next generation of technologists. She is also very involved in UK and global policy meetings to help shape the way the internet is governed.

Jacqueline de Rojas, Executive, Sage, President of techUK

A believer in smart partnering & tech that makes life easy. A champion for women in tech.  Jacqueline is an executive at Citrix, a blue-chip enterprise software company which delivers apps and data securely. She believes that work is not a place, it is where you are. Jacqueline has been employed throughout her career to accelerate growth by pulling teams together which can operate under pressure and extend their reach through smart partnerships.

Jacqueline is the president of techUK and focuses on the ambition for the UK to seize its position as a digital nation of significance.  She serves as non-executive at Home Retail Group, a board advisor @digileaders and supports the technology group of the 30% Club to encourage more women on boards. She believes that we can increase the talent pool of women in the tech industry by offering flexible working to #workhardanywhere

Named Computer Weekly’s most influential women in UK IT 2015 & included in the #Debretts500 2016 people of influence.

Dr Sue Black OBE, Author, Saving Bletchley Park, Government Digital Services Advisor

Dr Sue Black left home and school at 16, married at 20 and had 3 children by the age of 23. A single parent at 25 she went to university, gained a degree in computing then a PhD in software engineering. She set up the UK’s first online network for women in tech BCSWomen and led the campaign to save Bletchley Park.

Sue is now a social entrepreneur, writer and public speaker who has won numerous awards including being one of the “50 most inspiring women in European tech’. Her current startup #techmums teaches mums tech skills enabling them to become tech savvy. Sue now has 4 children and has recently become a grandmother. Her first book Saving Bletchley Park is published by Unbound.

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[gdlr_tab title=”Maggie Philbin, Radio & Television Personality, Founder of Teen Tech”]

Maggie has worked in radio and television for over 30 years on a wide range of science, medical and technology programmes. She is co-founder and CEO of TeenTech CIC, an award winning organisation helping young people, their parents and teachers understand more about the real opportunities in Science and Technology.

In 2012 she was awarded an honorary doctorate in Technology from De Montfort University recognising her “outstanding contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of the nation and region” and for “bringing about a greater understand of and interest in science and technology”. She is a popular and entertaining speaker at conferences, bringing a unique and insightful perspective on technology.

 

Stephanie Daman, CEO of Cyber Security Challenge UK

Stephanie is CEO of Cyber Security Challenge UK which runs national online competitions and raises awareness of cyber learning opportunities and careers. It is designed to excite, inspire and help talented people, of any age, to follow a career in cyber security. From 2003 – 2011 she was Head of Group Information Risk at HSBC where she designed and implemented a new pre-employment and supplier screening policy; incorporated information risk assessments into existing risk assessment process and was a founder member and creator of Get Safe Online.Prior to that Stephanie was Director, European Security at Level 3 Communications where she gained senior management support for newly created department strategy and objectives showing that security provided a value added service to a company and its customers.

Other previous roles included working for the think tank RAND, and from 1983 – 2000, MOD, where she tackled a variety of roles culminating in department head with particular focus on appropriate information protection.

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[gdlr_tab title=”Julia Streets, Founder & CEO, Streets Consulting”]

Julia is CEO of Streets Consulting, the UK and US business development, marketing and communications FinTech consultancy.  Prior to founding Streets Consulting in 2008, Julia was global head of communications at NYSE Technologies and European head of marketing and sales development at Instinet.  In 2013, Brummell Magazine named Julia one of their 30 Inspirational Women on Boards and in 2014 one of their 30 Inspirational Women Entrepreneurs.  Last year Innovate Finance listed Julia one of their 100 Women in FinTech and SWIFT named her one of their Power Women in FinTech.  Julia is proud to serve as a trustee of the charity ‘Children in Crisis’ and is a Fellow of the British American

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[gdlr_tab title=”Eileen Brown, CEO, Amastra”]

Eileen Brown is CEO of Amastra and specialises in social media consultancy collaboration and online branding. After spending 10 years in the Merchant Navy as Shell Tankers first female Deck Officer, Eileen managed a fleet of ships in a container shipping company.  Eileen then moved in to IT support, then training and subsequently management at a training provider in London where she provided technical consultancy.  She later worked at HP and Microsoft where she managed the IT Pro Evangelist team.

Eileen has been working with collaborative technologies for over 20 years. Eileen set up up Amastra to create a social business that energises communities and ignites social commerce and social CRM. Eileen spends most of her time developing social business strategies, customer reach and online branding. Her book, Working The Crowd: Social Media Marketing for Business, is available on Amazon. Eileen is also a regular speaker at conferences around the world.

Eileen is a member and previous chair of the women’s council at tech UK and is also an active member of Worshipful Information Technologists.

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[gdlr_tab title=”Maggie van’T Hoff, CIO, Shell”]

Maggie van’T Hoff is currently the Chief Information Officer at Shell. She joined Shell in 1987 and has spent 27 years in various IT positions including support, development, project management, business development, infrastructure service delivery, business interface, strategy & planning and IT management. She has worked in US, UK and the Netherlands across Downstream, Chemicals, Global Functions, Group CIO Office and Infrastructure. In 2012 she was appointed to GM of Retail IT, where she is focused on driving value out of IT to enable Retail to achieve the ambitious business growth plans.

She is married to Graham, who also works for Shell, and has three young children. She enjoys travelling, snow skiing, sailing and spending time with her family. Maggie works four days per week and is a strong advocate for work life balance, in 2014 was named top 50 most powerful part time workers in the UK. She is President of the Shell Women’s Network in the UK, a former president of Shell Women’s Network in NL and an active mentor inside and outside of Shell.

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[gdlr_tab title=”Christina Scott, CTO, News UK”]

Christina Scott joined News UK as Chief Technology Officer in February, 2016. Scott is responsible for overseeing Technology and Product teams at News UK.

Christina was formerly at the Financial Times, where she held the titles of CIO, Chief Product and Information Officer and Senior Vice President of Technology for the Pearson Professional arm of parent company Pearson. At the Financial Times, she was responsible for driving the paper’s digital transformation, using data insight to drive customer experience.

Christina has more than 20 years experience in the IT industry, having previously worked in technology teams at a number of companies including the BBC, FT and ITV Digital, where she specialised in digital transformation.

In 2016 Scott was awarded the CIO of the Year award in the Women in IT awards and previously has been highly recognised in a number of top technology and female executive rankings.

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[gdlr_tab title=”Naheed Afzal, Co-Founder, Contracts IT Recruitment Consulting”]

Naheed Afzal LLB is bringing women and minorities to the forefront of technology.

Fairness, equality and social innovation have been fundamental to her personal values and she has found a way to extend these values into her business. High-performing organizations recognize that the aim of diversity is not just meeting compliance targets, but tapping into the diverse perspectives and approaches each individual brings to the workplace. She qualified as a solicitor in the early 90’s & practiced human & civil rights.  In 1999 she co-founded Contracts IT which provides tech staffing solutions to a global community. She oversees the recruitment functions of the organisation to include recruiting strategies, providing insights on strategic growth, global trends & HR. She has been fortunate to have forged a successful career doing something which she enjoys and where she feels that she can make a real difference. Having a mission driven purpose in business allows her to satisfy her wider goals of fairness, social innovation, and long term change. A keen supporter of gender diversity and in empowering women. She is actively involved in forums, debates, thought leadership and presents on matters relating to IT recruitment, D&I.

Her Mission: ‘To make a difference in the world of technology recruitment and to drive innovation by promoting diversity of thought.’

Contracts IT is co-founded by a woman, is an accredited diverse supplier & promotes D&I.

Ambassador – Executive Board Ambassador (MSDUK); Vice Chair -Princes Trust Mosaic; Advisory board member -Wonder Women Tech; Enterprise Mentor -Mara foundation Africa

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[gdlr_tab title=”Deborah O’Neil, Principal within Oliver Wyman Labs”]

In her time at global management consultancy Oliver Wyman, Deborah has supported some of the world’s biggest financial institutions and developed a passion around user centricity for business reporting. She recently co-authored an article for the Harvard Business Review entitled “Using Data to Strengthen Your Connections to Customers” and is an alum of Imperial College, London.

Deborah is also engaged in mentoring the next generation of tech experts and is using her role a senior team member in Oliver Wyman Labs to help support the female talent pipeline. The Labs division is focused on making sense of tetrabytes of business data, unearthing the hidden knowledge it contains, and reinventing corporate decision making.

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