Dr Eleni Meletiadou | London Metropolitan University
Dr Eleni Meletiadou, Director of the Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Research Group, Senior Lecturer in Equality Diversity and Inclusion, researcher, and Course Director of the BA Business Management and HRM Course, is a fervent advocate for gender equality supporting women in the academy.
Her research aims to increase the visibility of inequalities faced by Female Young Researchers and Innovators (FYRIs) from a gender perspective and to promote a sustainable dialogue between FYRIs and stakeholders in the research ecosystem at the systemic level and at the institutional level.
Alanna Lee | Morgan Stanley
I am a Managing Director in the Legal and Compliance Division at Morgan Stanley.
I am the European head of legal coverage for Morgan Stanley’s Prime Brokerage business.
I have been a lawyer for 29 years and practised law in Vancouver, Canada; Tokyo; and London. Before joining Morgan Stanley, I was the European Head of Legal for the Lehman Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate, General Counsel for a European hedge fund and a partner at Allen & Overy (a global law firm). I an the Chair of the trustee for the Morgan Stanley UK pension fund and a trustee of the Temple Grove Schools Trust (a charitable organisation with a focus on primary school education). I am also a member of the Morgan Stanley Diversity Action Counsel and an active mentor (both informally and formally, including with the Firm’s programme with the Social Mobility Foundation and as the MD Sponsor for the Morgan Stanley Trainee Solicitor programme). I also co-sponsor the Firm’s Net East Asia network and the Step In Step Up Foundations in Finance programme. I live in London with my daughter, whom I adopted from Russia in 2010 (as a single parent).
Theresa Yurkewich Hoffmann | Policy & sustainability lead specialist | Microsoft
I am a global advisor in technology, working at Microsoft to help businesses envision innovation and navigate regulation – everything from cloud technologies to carbon tracking.
I have a JD and a BA, and completed innovation programmes through Cambridge and Oxford. I have lived in Canada, the Netherlands, and the UK.
I started my career path as a lawyer working in civil litigation , where I wrote several articles on the intersection of technology and regulation. After several years, I pivoted careers and began working as an account director in public affairs, specialising in fintech and other tech start-ups. It was here that I gained global exposure to clients across EMEA including Germany, the UK, Nigeria, and South Africa. I also started advising the OECD’s public governance unit on court modernisation and digitalisation projects, combining my legal background with my technology experience to support people-centred justice. Over the last few years, I’ve spent my career working at the centre of policy and innovation – both for the City of London Corporation (in delivering the first Digital Sandbox as well as our lawtech programs), and now, at Microsoft as a regulatory and sustainability specialist. I am passionate about current events and thinking about how we can solve global challenges in a practical way.
Outside of my career, I enjoy being active in my communities. I've been a Global Shaper, a board member of Jus Gentium, a Young Diplomats of Canada delegate, and a mentor for those looking to enter the technology space.
Priya Mistry | Marketing and Sales Technology Consulting Manager | Ernst & Young
Manager in the EY Experience Platforms Team within Technology Consulting specialising in Marketing and Sales Technologies with a focus on Customer.
Currently working on large scale transformations across the TMT, CPR and Pharma sectors to enable enhanced customer experiences. Key focus areas include the focus on reducing inequality of women in technology resulting in position as the internal user acquisition lead on the roll out of the EY STEM app across the UK, active contributions to the women in tech community and founder of the technology mentoring programme for all of technology consulting within EY.
Preeti Singh | Team Lead | Bloomberg
I come from a very small village in India. I did most of my schooling in boarding school as there were no good schools for females.
Since childhood I was focused on my studies as looking at other girls/women in my village, I knew education is my only way out if I want to change my future and be a role model for other female in my village.
I started my career in July 2008. This was not the best time to start the work and the company (Agilent Technology) I was in, closed it's R&D division just 10 months after I joined them. About 150 people lost the job. It wasn't the best year to start the career in IT with the market meltdown at it's peak.
My second company was Manhattan Associates, a product based on the Warehouse Management. Here I got an opportunity to visit Atlanta in USA to work for a client Walmart. The work was more client facing and I missed the hands-on. After about 22 months of being in this company I decided to change my job.
Year 2011 was the turning point when I applied for the Goldman Sachs. GS gave me the exposure to the business world and this is where I got opportunity to shine. However, this was a bit of struggle as this industry was male dominated and it was hard sometime to make your voice heard. In 2016, I joined Bloomberg and I love working here.
Nina Still | Service Improvement Lead, Markets Pre-Trade | Barclays
Nina joined Barclays as a Technology apprentice in 2019 after obtaining a degree in Fashion Promotion at university, going into fashion and beauty PR and realising it was not for her.
Being placed on the trading floor of the bank was daunting at first, and she was the only woman on the team for 2 years – a contrast to coming from the fashion industry. By the time she completed her apprenticeship, she took on as lead of the Credit projects for the trading floor support team, part of Group Technology Service Management (GTSM) department.
Starting 2022, she began transitioning from projects to application support, training and mentoring a new team member to take over the projects. She has created a presence within the Barclays Women in Tech network and organised her first successful Women in Tech event at their Glasgow campus in January 2023. She is currently transitioning into a new role to launch a people and colleague relations part of GTSM Markets, hoping to promote the incredible work the Markets service management teams do. She will be involved with the on-boarding of new colleagues, including the sizeable expansion in India, by supporting new joiners and creating an exciting and motivating onboarding experience. She hopes to help promote the apprenticeship and graduate schemes as well as encourage more women in Markets to join Women in Tech, more women to join GTSM and help existing colleagues to succeed, transforming experience for colleagues on the trading floors and technology centres in Europe.
Kirstin Kadé | Product Manager | ZOE
As a Registered Associate Nutritionist (ANutr), I have dedicated my career to improving human health through nutrition using technology.
My background in this field has been diverse, from working on the world's largest in-depth study of nutrition and the gut microbiome to date (PREDICT), to being involved in the launch of the ZOE COVID Study app, which has become the world's biggest app-based community epidemiological study into COVID-19.
I am currently working as a Product Manager at ZOE, a personalised nutrition company on a mission to improve the health of millions. In this role, I am responsible for the development and launch of ZOE's core nutrition product.
I bring a unique perspective to this role, having worked across many different areas in marketing and communications and a background in nutrition science.
As a member of the team at ZOE, I am excited to be part of an organisation that is making a real difference in people's lives through personalised nutrition. I am passionate about the work we do and am committed to developing innovative and effective products that help people achieve optimal health.
Karen Medhat | Customer Success Manager | IBM
I am a Customer Success Manager at IBM UKI and the youngest Chair of the IBM Technical Consultancy Group.
I am the youngest IBM thought leader and Open group distinguished technical specialist. I led mega projects for clients around the world in the public and private sectors. I graduated from the faculty of engineering at Cairo university with honors and 9th rank. When I was an undergraduate, I was a Microsoft Student Partner and led several initiatives for the benefit of other students at Cairo University. I worked as a research assistant and a developer in Microsoft along with my MSc part-time study which I continued with my full-time Job at IBM and published 5 publications and a patent. I have been progressing in my career at IBM, being a technical leader, inventor, Redbooks author, and creator of courses in different areas such as Cloud, IoT, AI, and blockchain which have been delivered to thousands of IT professionals, students, and university staff across the world. I joined volunteering initiatives for Women in Tech, engineering students, and mentoring IT professionals. I managed the IBM Digital Nation Africa project which has reached 50K students and professionals in Egypt and 250K in Africa to learn new technologies. Leading different teams and building enterprise applications that made difference for clients. I am the youngest member of the IBM Academy of Technology which is an elite community of top talented technical IBMers globally. I am on the editorial board of different internal journals and conferences.
Holly Rae | Modern Workplace Solution Architect | Corporate Project Solutions
Holly is a true trailblazer, driven by an unrelenting passion for empowering, learning, growing, and excelling within Microsoft 365 technologies.
With over 15 years of experience working in various technical environments and leadership roles, and an impressive set of Microsoft qualifications, Holly has amassed an enviable level of expertise and technological know-how, allowing her to lead and consult others with ease in the art of the Modern Workplace. While working full time, Holly is currently completing a Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeship and is currently on track for a first-class degree and a full membership to the CMI. Her commitment to continuous learning and professional development is something that can inspire and motivate others to do the same, particularly other women in tech who are just starting out in their careers.
Holly Boothroyd | Software Engineer 2 | Microsoft
I am a Microsoft Software Engineer 2 originally from Seattle who has worked on multiple globally released products including Paint 3D, Xbox, Cortana in Windows, the Edge browser's New Tab page, and most recently the File Explorer Home page. My code is used by millions daily world-wide!
Within Microsoft, I lead several initiatives to uplift underrepresented groups in tech, such as spearheading the engineering internship program expansion and co-leading the Women @ Microsoft Professional Development event series.
Motivated to create the change I wished to see, I founded HerHelloWorld – now a 100k-strong online global community of technologists focused on providing tech and career advice. My mission is to educate and empower underrepresented communities to enter and thrive in tech in pursuit of an industry that creates products with everyone in mind.
Alongside collaborating with multiple well-known STEM organizations and producing regular content for Instagram and TikTok, I’ve also created a set of tools designed to help people advance people their careers.
My 100 Days of Code Daily Journals, used by thousands globally, help develop a learning plan, track progress, and stay motivated whilst learning to code and my 60+ page practical Career Guide covers essential career topics to democratize career coaching.
I have a BSc (Hons) in Computing and Information Technology from the University of Surrey, where I was awarded the IBM Prize for Best Final Year Performance, IBM Prize for Excellent Placement Year Performance, and Best Placement Student of the Year for the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Science.