“TechWoman50” awards interview with Baironess Joanna Shields OBE
Kiran Rai the London Post Reporter of Daily Mail 24 who has covered more than 50 events and interviewed Baironess Joanna shields the superwoman in tech and top 5 most powerful woman. Since September 2017, “WeAreTechWomen” has been searching the UK for the best female tech talent in the country.
The “TechWomen50” awards are the first of their kind to focus solely on the female tech talent pipeline and to also recognize the impact of champions, companies, and networks that are leading the way for the future generations of tech talent.
In its inaugural year, the awards received over 500 nominations from across the UK and Northern Ireland. The awards were judged by a panel of 20 leading industry figures. Over 15,000 public votes of support were received for the 100 shortlisted nominees. In October, the shortlist was judged once more to help us identify our “TechWomen50” winners.
We are delighted to invite you to celebrate the achievements of these remarkable women who are not only role models for the industry, but who are our future leaders of tomorrow. We do hope you can join us to celebrate their success and toast their achievements.
Alongside the individual “TechWomen50” category, we are also pleased to announce the winners of the “TechWomen50” Champions, Company of the Year and Network of the Year.
Agenda
Champagne & canapé reception
Welcome from Vanessa Vallely, Managing Director, “WeAreTheCity”
Welcome from our sponsors, Tanya Channing, Worldpay
Opening address from Baroness Joanna Shields OBE
Awards presentations
Closing remarks from Amali de Alwis, CEO, Code First: Girls
Celebration reception and networking
This event will be facilitated by Julia Streets, Streets Consulting.
About our Speakers
Baroness Joanna Shields OBE, Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Internet Safety
Joanna Shields is a British-American technology industry veteran and parliamentarian who served as UK Minister for Internet Safety and Security from 2015-17. Previously Digital Advisor to David Cameron, she was made a Baroness in 2014. In 2016, she was appointed the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Internet Crime and Harms.
An early pioneer in digital technology, before joining the government, Joanna spent over 25 years building some of the world’s best-known technology companies. In 1997, she took on her first CEO role at Veon, developing video streaming technology and leading the company to a successful acquisition by Philips. Post-acquisition Joanna became VP International at “RealNetworks” in London. Joanna then joined Google as MD of syndication network (AdSense) and partnerships in EMEA, growing revenue to over US $1 billion and leading technology and content acquisition teams for Google Video (YouTube), Books, Maps, and Commerce.
In 2006, Joanna was recruited to run social networking start-up, Bebo. In less than 2 years she grew the network to 50 million users and developed Bebo Originals; an Internet production company that released the BAFTA-nominated “Kate Modern”, viewed 85 million times online. Joanna then served as President of AOL’s newly created People Networks division, overseeing all social and communications products including AIM, AOL Instant Messenger, and ICQ. She then joined Facebook as Vice President and Managing Director for EMEA, responsible for building the largest team outside the US.
In 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron asked Joanna to help build the UK into a tech powerhouse and she became CEO and Chair of Tech City UK. Here she catalyzed the digital economy, launching a number of successful initiatives, including TechNation, the Digital Business Academy, Future Fifty and HQ-UK during her tenure.
During her time at Downing Street, Joanna led a task force established by President Obama and David Cameron to combat online child abuse and exploitation, founding the “WePROTECT” initiative, now supported by 63 countries, law enforcement agencies, NGOs, civil society and tech industry leaders. Its mission is to eradicate online child abuse and exploitation. Her responsibilities include combating online extremist recruitment and radicalization, eradicating harmful online crimes, including child abuse, exploitation, and cyber hate, and ensuring safe and open access to the Internet for everyone.
Julia Streets, Founder & CEO of 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 Project.
Vanessa Vallely, Managing Director, WeAreTheCity
At the height of her successful 25-year career in the financial services, Vanessa launched the award-winning WeAreTheCity.com in 2008 as a vehicle to help corporate women connect and grow professionally and personally. WeAreTheCity.com now has over 120,000 members and in 2013 launched a sister site in India.
Vanessa is also the founder of UK wide diversity forum Gender Networks. Gender Networks (formerly The Network of Networks) brings together diversity leaders from over 120 firms to share best practice.Vanessa is the author of the book “Heels of Steel: Surviving and Thriving in the Corporate World” which tracks her career and shares 13 chapters of tips to succeed in the workplace.
Over the past seven years, Vanessa has been named Women in Banking and Finance’s Champion for Women, Financial News Top 100 Rising Star, The International Alliance for Women Top 100 Women globally & Brummells Top 30 London Entrepreneurs. In 2015 Vanessa was in GQ UK’s Top 100 Connected Women and the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners. Vanessa is a regular guest on TV and radio and also sits on the Government Digital Services advisory board.
Tanya Channing, Chief of Staff to CIO and Deputy Chief HR Officer
Tanya Channing is Chief of Staff to the CIO and Deputy Chief HR Officer at Worldpay, an FTSE 100 global leader in payments processing technology and solutions, processing over 13 billion transactions a year globally. Tanya has international experience in digital and agile transformations, operating model strategy, and design, organization culture and effectiveness. She has held a number of executive positions in change management in a wide range of sectors including Fintech, FMCG, and Retail.
Amali de Alwis, CEO, Code First: Girls
Amali de Alwis is CEO of Code First: Girls, a multi-award winning social enterprise that works with companies and women directly to increase the proportions of women in tech and entrepreneurship. They do this by running free and paid coding courses for women and men, by advising companies on tech talent, and by running a community of 5500+ women who are interested in tech. Over the past 3 years, they’ve provided £2.5 million+ worth of free tech education and taught 5000+ women how to code. They are the largest provider of free in-person coding courses for women in the UK.
Amali previously worked as a consultant at PwC, which included a secondment to the World Economic Forum. Prior to this, she was a senior research and strategy consultant at TNS Global.
Outside of the day job, Amali is on the stereo at Tech Talent Charter, a Commonwealth First mentor, Chair of BIMA Diversity panel, and a fellow at the RSA.
