At a glance, the IT industry seems dominated by men. But there are some great female role models who have broken through the glass ceiling to use their business smarts to influence the tech world.
Click through to see the women who are shaping and shifting the IT industry…
Name:
Julie Meyer
Occupation:
CEO of Ariadne Capital
Previous tech occupations:
Founder – First Tuesday
Consultant – 3Com
Consultant – Hewlett Packard
Influential pull:
After arriving in London in 1998, Meyer helped to set up a networking group for tech start ups: the now much revered First Tuesday. The scheme has gone on to help fund successful online brands such as ClickMango.com, Firebox.com and Moveover.com.
Off the back of First Tuesday, her influence now extends beyond technology into the wider business world. Entrepreneur Country, party of her investment firm Ariadne Capital, makes start-ups discoverable by corporate who seek to build new digital revenues, acquire digital start-ups and enhance their strategy. In 2009 she massively elevated her public profile by becoming a ‘digital dragon’ on the online version of the BBC’s Dragon’s Den.
Name:
Jamie Miller
Occupation:
SVP and CIO – General Electric
Previous tech occupations:
SVP – WellPoint
Influential pull:
General Electric is a leader in technology fields varying from healthcare diagnostics and aircraft engines to NBC television and Universal motion pictures. Since being appointed senior vice president and chief information officer, Jamie Miller has had an influence over all these areas. Her biggest drive however has been in marrying GE’s engineering and software development teams. "Collaboration is where the power is," Miller told the Wall Street Journal. "IT can’t drive anything by itself."
Name:
Sheryl Sandberg
Occupation:
COO – Facebook
Board roles:
Director – Facebook
Previous tech occupations:
VP global online sales and operations – Google
Influential pull:
As a leading force in the world’s most popular social network, there is no questioning Sheryl Sandberg’s influence in the tech world. She became the first woman to serve on Facebook’s board and has used this as a driving force to encourage other women to muscle their way to the top. Her book ‘Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead’ has become something of a manifesto to professional women.
Name:
Meg Whitman
Occupation:
President and CEO of Hewlett Packard
Board roles:
Director – Zaarly
Director – ArcSight
Director and member of Innovation & Technology Committee – Procter & Gamble
Previous tech occupations:
CEO – eBay
Influential pull:
As CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Meg Whitman stands as one of the most powerful people, male or female in the corporate IT world. While she has been criticised for her decision to focus on HP’s PC business, which has consequently seen the company’s stock under perform by 30 percentage points since Whitman took the position, she is still held in high esteem for her ability to drive a company forward.
This is evident from her work with eBay, where during her 10 years with the company, she oversaw its annual revenue grow from $4m to $8bn and become the most popular online marketplace on the internet.
Name:
Marissa Mayer
Occupation:
President and CEO – Yahoo!
Previous tech occupations:
VP search and user experience – Google
VP – Local, Maps and Location Services – Google
Board roles:
Director – Yahoo!
Advisor – Minted
Advisor – Airtime
Advisor – Square
Influential pull:
Marissa Mayer has always been at the forefront of technology, ever since she was ’employee number 20′ at Google and its first female engineer. During her time with Google, she helped turn the search engine into the tech juggernaut we know today as she contribute to search, images, news, maps, iGoogle and Gmail services.
Since joining Yahoo! Mayer has become known for her aggressive stance to turn the company around, including banning telecommuting and a harsh performance review system. She also led the acquisition of Tumblr in an attempt to expand Yahoo!’s online horizon.
