A quick reminder — I haven’t done a ‘top ten’, as I wouldn’t know where to start in trying to rank them. They are just 10 cool women in London who I found inspirational and I’m sure you all will too. If there’s anyone else who deserves a mention, that’s what the comments section at the bottom is for. Enjoy!
PS: Make sure to check out Part 1 if you haven’t already.
Tabitha Goldstaub
Artificial Intelligence that benefits everyone #AIforGood – CoFounder @cognition_x @FutureGirlCorp and Rightster (2008-15)
Tabitha is the Co-Founder of CognitionX a Market Intelligence Platform for All Things Artificial Intelligence enabling people and companies to educate themselves and get community-led recommendations on how to deploy AI.
She believes “AI has a tremendous opportunity to dramatically increase productivity but there is an urgent need to set out the ethical issues AI poses.” Read about Tabitha’s work getting more women into AI here: cognitionx.com/why-women-in-ai/
Outside of CognitionX Tabitha is the Co-Founder of Future Girl Corp, she’s an advisor to The Princes Trust and on the Marketing Council for Founders 4 Schools. Tabitha enjoys sharing her experience and can often be found speaking at high-profile events such as DLD in January this year. She’s been recognised, in amongst other lists, The Media Week 30 under 30 and the Evening Standard Silicon Sixty and profiled in the Guardian.
Her career started while at The London College of Communication, when she joined, t5m an online-first production company. This is where Tabitha co-founded and spun out the distribution software platform – Rightster. As the Co-Founder, Tabitha took on many roles and is well-versed the needs of rights holders and publishers worldwide.
Follow Tabitha: @tabithagold
Magdalena Krön
GeekGirl @ggmUK | Heading up Rise London @ThinkRiseLDN & Open Innovation @Barclays | Connecting brilliant people to brilliant opportunities is what I like to do
Magdalena is an innovation consultant creating value through connecting entrepreneurs, innovators and corporates. Currently working withRise (Barclays Fintech platform) Barclays’ global innovation programme, she is focusing on value creation and product development for financial services. Magdalena is passionate about advocating gender diversity in the technology industry and she actively promotes more women to showcase themselves through the Geek Girl Meetup UK community which she also co-founded in 2012
“I head up Rise London, Barclays open innovation space in Whitechapel. My role is constantly evolving but the essence has three parts to it. Firstly I focus on building the Rise ecosystem of startups in London and Europe. This includes shaping, implementing and positioning our Rise initiatives and to invite startups to engage with us. Rise is looking to help startups scale by providing resources, establishing partnerships and becoming their customer.”
Secondly, I go out to source and identify startups that can help Barclays solve some of our major challenges and facilitate introduction, establish collaboration opportunities through ideation sessions and match making activities.
Thirdly, I am being a driver to change the innovation culture internally by showcasing startups and inviting and engaging colleagues to participate in our open innovation initiatives“
Magdalena is also co-founder of Geek Girl Meetup UK. Follow @ggmUK to find out when they are planning their next event in London and you may meet her
Follow Magdalena: @MyKron
Claire Cockerton
CEO of Plexal, Founder of ENTIQ & Innovate Finance, Co-Creator of Level39, Techbiker – Loves IoT, FinTech, Smart Cities, Design & Boldness in humans
Claire Cockerton is a serial entrepreneur having founded and successfully exited businesses in the fields of financial services, technology innovation & sustainable architecture. She is a specialist in tech clusters, innovation services and startup eco-systems.
Founder and CEO of Entiq, a leading innovation delivery, new venture development and ecosystem creation firm. ENTIQ has just launched Europe’s largest Innovation Centre based at Here East on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The centre will house innovative companies, big and small, and provide a wide range of services to support new product development, business growth, and collaboration.
Claire, founding CEO of Innovate Finance, backed by City of London and Canary Wharf Group. Led transformation of banking for choice and societal benefit. Co-Creator of Level39, Europe’s top tech accelerator for fin-tech, retail, and smart cities, driving innovation programs like Cognicity – a global smart city pilot in Canary Wharf.
An Imperial College MBA alumni, Claire specialised in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Design, and helped establish the business model for Virgin’s ‘Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship’. She advised the Guardian Media Group on their ‘Digital First’ transformation strategy. Claire founded, grew and sold (2009) ‘Aesthetic Earthworks’, a multi-million dollar sustainable architecture firm based in Toronto, Canada before moving to the UK. Claire is an active member for Women in Tech, Tech London Advocates and is a member of the Mayor’s London Tech Ambassador Group
Love #startup culture and building relationships? Interested in working with Claire at Plexal? They have an exciting opening for a business development executive.
Follow Claire: @clairecockerton
Sarah Luxford
Proudly changing the world of tech through people @NexecLeaders. Driving actions for diversity as lead @TLAWomeninTech + building @CroydonTechCity
An innovator, connector, business founder and Advisory board member with a passion for tech, talent and community.
Director of Nexec Leaders (Executive Search + Talent Development) Sarah has been privy to building some of the fastest growing tech firms, continually fascinated and inspired by the people behind the tech. An international headhunter, Sarah works across Board, C-Level, VP & strategic roles, matching incredible people with incredible opportunities.
Passionately committed to workforce diversity mirroring society, Sarah challenges norms, advising public and private sectors. She co-founded Tech London Advocates Women in Tech (2000+ members), collaborating with tech influencers for best practices and actions.
Recognising the need to support the tech ecosystem as a whole, particularly scale-ups, Sarah is driving change as Co-Founder of Croydon Tech City – the Capital’s fastest-growing tech cluster. This community-led initiative focuses on inspiring, promoting and networking the community for economic development.
Sarah – Top 50 Influential Women in UK Tech, Top 25 Smith & Williamson Power 100 (entrepreneur support) and Ambassador for London Tech Week. On advisory boards of Tech London Advocates, Founders4Schools Diversity Committee, and Tech Talent Charter. SMB Commission and Good Employment Charter Advisory Board.
Follow Sarah: @SarahRecruiter and watch her in a Thought Leader interview along with Nikki Watkins at Tech London Advocates Women in Tech event
Sarah Wilkinson
CEO, NHS Digital. ex UK Government & Finance Industry CIO. Proud Mum, avid tech-o-phile and faithful supporter of the viticulture industry…
NHS Digital recently hired Home Office chief digital, data and technology officer (CDDTO) Sarah Wilkinson as CEO in June 2017
Sarah has led an ambitious transformation programme at the Home Office and is responsible for transforming its technology capability and outcomes, she is also responsible for redesigning the IT department so that it is more closely aligned to Home Office business units. She also transformed the infrastructure and platforms, moved the department increasingly to agile development approaches and introduced best-practice DevOps capability.
At NHS Digital she will be at the helm of delivering a paperless NHS by 2020, which includes a large portfolio of programmes at national and local level focused on making effective use of information, technology and data. NHS Digital chair Noel Gordon said in a statement that he was “delighted” to have Wilkinson on board
Sarah is leading a speaking line up at the Tech Leaders Summit on 14th September, where 500 IT executives explore the biggest trends driving innovation, transformation and disruption in businesses.
Follow Sarah: @SarahFWilkinson
About the author
Claire Donald VP of Engineering, Moo
