Technology Magazine's Top 100 Women 2023: The Top 10

Diversity and inclusion is rightly on every employer’s agenda in 2023, but there is still more to be done, with the 2023 Women in Tech Survey showing that women make up just 26% of people working in IT.

But despite these challenges, women in technology are breaking down barriers and proving their value in the industry. Technology Magazine looks at 10 of the women who are breaking the glass ceiling.

10: Barbara O’Neill, Global Chief Information Security Officer, EY

Barbara is EY’s Global Chief Information Security Officer, a role in which she provides strategic direction for all matters relating to information security.

She joined EY in 1997 as the Director of Information Security for Ernst & Young LLP in the US, assuming responsibility for the Americas Region in 1999. Barbara then accepted the EY Global Chief Information Security Officer role in 2002.

Prior to EY, she was the Vice President of Information Technology for a human resource and benefits solutions provider.

Seasoned in information security management, IT strategy, governance, and audit, Barbara has also held various IT positions with a leading telecommunications company.

9:  Rowena Yeo, Chief Technology Officer & Global Vice President, Technology Services at Johnson & Johnson

In her current role, Rowena Yeo is responsible for overseeing the global technology services organisation, delivering global infrastructure, application support, application development, and technology services. Yeo is also responsible for technology architecture and development, on top of delivering new levels of technology innovation and operational excellence to J&J's businesses, enabling digital transformation to serve its patients, customers, and stakeholders.

She previously spent a number of years at Cargill, her most recent role being a dual one as both Global Group CIO for Cargill's Agriculture Trading & Processing Enterprise and Asia Pacific CIO.

8: Jae Sook Evans, Chief Information Officer, Oracle

Jae Sook Evans has spent more than 20 years building and leading global technology teams that deliver world-class, highly available, scalable, and secure cloud infrastructure and services.

At Oracle, she is responsible for launching and operating Oracle Cloud Infrastructure regions to support the cloud service needs of customers and developers around the world. She is also responsible for helping accelerate Oracle’s own cloud transformation, in addition to improving its own employee productivity and user experience.

Passionate about bringing diversity and inclusion to the workplace, she is also the Executive Sponsor of DE&I for OCI.

7: Penelope Prett, Chief Information, Data & Analytics Officer, Accenture

As Chief Information Officer for Accenture, Penelope Prett leads the company’s global IT operations, including the infrastructure, services, and applications that enable Accenture staff to work anytime, anywhere serving clients in more than 120 countries.

During a career of more than 25 years with Accenture, Prett has held many leadership roles across its client and technology organisations, including several key industries. 

She is also active in Accenture’s inclusion and diversity efforts, working on a range of programmes surrounding LGBTQ+ initiatives as well as the integration of veterans and other non-traditional talent into the workforce.

6: Jaskiran Bhatia, Partner and Global CTO, Deloitte

A technology and transformation leader, Jaskiran Bhatia is currently Partner and Global CTO at Deloitte.

Bhatia is an engineer who’s been leveraging technology to solve complex business problems while building businesses for more than 25 years. Her key focus area has been new-age technologies and how they can enable change to transform complex business problems.

In her previous roles, Bhatia was instrumental in setting up and running the Data and Analytics Practice for KPMG in India, before which she spent five years working for IBM.

5: Kathryn Guarini, Chief Information Officer, IBM

Kathryn Guarini is a highly influential and widely regarded digital transformation leader and, outside of her positions with some of the world’s largest companies, is an exceptional innovator in her own right.  

Guarini has a PhD from Stanford University in Applied Physics and holds more than 63 US patents. Additionally, her technical research has been recognised by numerous industry awards.

She is the author of more than 60 technical publications, and her popular blog – ‘Mother of Invention’ – details everything from her insights into science and technology to her perspectives on family life.

4: Sam Kini, Global Chief Information Officer, Unilever

Unilever’s Global Chief Information Officer, Sam Kini, has 20 years of experience in IT-focused executive roles.

Before joining Unilever in 2020, Kini was the Chief Data & Information Officer at EasyJet, where she was accountable for all IT, Data, Digital, Cyber Security Operations, Portfolio, and Transformation Delivery across easyJet group.

She previously spent three years at Belgian cable broadband provider Telenet Group, where she was responsible for IT, Digital, data capabilities, systems and services, with time at British telecommunications company Virgin Media and the multinational telecommunications company Liberty Global.

3: Lakshmi Hanspal, Global Chief Security Officer, Amazon Devices & Services

Lakshmi Hanspal leads Trust, Security, and Safety for Amazon Devices and Services, a role that encompasses consumer electronics, autonomous vehicles, and satellites.

Prior to joining Amazon, Hanspal was the Global Chief Security Officer at Box, where she led Box's Trust Office with accountability for building trusted products, operating trusted environments, and Advocacy of Trust to customers and partners. Before Box, Lakshmi was the Global Chief Security Officer at SAP Ariba. She has also held leadership roles at PayPal and Bank of America. Her career spans over 23 years in information security and risk management.

2: Renee Lo, Partner CTO, APAC Regional Director, Google

As Partner and CTO at Google, Renee Lo thrives on optimising products, businesses, and experiences to maximise impact on the end-users and partners, as well as the bottom line.

Lo’s career began as a software engineer and quickly progressed through marketing to business development to gain more insight into customers, partners, and the inner workings of a business. Over the last 20 years, her work has ranged from coding to core product management to partner strategy, sales enablement, and go-to-market strategies. Now, she focuses on building teams that put people at the forefront and unlock business impact beyond the sum of individual parts.

As regional director, Lo leads the partner technology organisation across APAC to empower and grow Google's partner ecosystem. Leveraging Google Cloud's tech stack, her team helps partners deliver digital transformation and innovative solutions.

In her previous role, Lo was General Manager of Data and AI for Asia at Microsoft, before which she spent four years at Amazon.

1: Kate Maxwell, Chief Technology Officer, Defense & Intelligence, Worldwide Public Sector, Microsoft

Kate Maxwell is an accomplished technology leader and strategist serving defence and intelligence customers around the globe, who is passionate about leveraging the intersection of people, technology, and culture to advance organisations, missions, and multinational alliances.

A sought-after author, storyteller, and keynote speaker with expertise in Public Sector digital transformation, unmanned systems, space mission management, and innovation leadership, Maxwell is a tireless advocate for STEM outreach and diversity in tech.

Previously, she spent 17 years in the aerospace and D&I community “as a civilian”, using her training in computer science and systems engineering to understand the frontline of defence technology, principally working for the defence contractor Raytheon Technologies.

“Innovation is all about speed,” she said in an interview with Technology Magazine. “How do we cultivate a diverse, growth-oriented, fail-forward environment in which to create new mission capabilities for the defence community? And that's similarly the name of the game for digital transformation.”