10 MOST POWERFUL WOMEN IN TECH AND THEIR TWITTER NAMES!
10 most powerful women in tech
The tech world is fast-moving, highly competitive and male-dominated. But not always completely male-dominated. Some of the most prestigious and best-remunerated roles are held by females.
Carolyn Leighton, founder and chairwoman of Women in Technology International, identifies the 10 most powerful women in tech and they are
Ursula Burns
Starting as an intern in 1980, Ursula Burns is now chair of Xerox, a $23 billion global business with almost 140,000 employees. She became CEO in 2009 and company chair the following year, at the tail end of a decade that saw the company restructuring to meet changing needs, moving from photocopying into digital technologies. One of her first moves was the $6.4 billion dollar acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services -- the company's largest purchase.
Burns is also a board director of American Express, works with community initiatives including the National Academy Foundation, MIT, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, and is a founding board director of Change the Equation, an organisation that seeks to improve the U.S.'s science, tech, engineering and math education. She is the first African-American woman to lead a major U.S. corporation, and the first female CEO to succeed another woman, according to Bloomberg.
"Ursula's story is inspirational and epitomizes the true American success story. Her dedication to mentoring, encouragement of girls and women, and her commitment to advocacy are remarkable. Ursula often credits her mother's influence and belief that education, confidence and hard work can change everything. This is a message that bears weight in every tech community the world over," said Carolyn Leighton.
Sandy Carter
@sandy_carter
Sandy Carter is Vice President, Social Business Evangelism at IBM, where she is responsible for directing the company's social business initiatives, and working with clients to develop best practices. (Social business is the application of social media tools and techniques to a company's internal and external processes, in order to connect clients, partners, citizens and employees). Since joining the company in 1989, Carter has also been a VP of IBM's Service Oriented Architecture, which achieved 70% market share under her management.
She is fluent in eight programming languages; has travelled to more than 60 countries; has authored three books about business and social media, and is one of IBM's top bloggers and tweeters, winning MarCom awards for her communities.
"Sandy Carter uniquely combines extraordinary expertise in the worlds of business and technology, traveling the world to evangelize the use of social media to help strengthen communication and revenue in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer strategy. She is a passionate, committed advocate and supporter of young women and girls achieving their greatest possible success," says founder and chairwoman of Women in Technology International (WITI), Carolyn Leighton.
Cher Wang
As co-founder and chairwoman of HTC Corporation, Taiwan's leading tech business, Cher Wang has overseen the development of smartphone and mobile technology, partnering with Google and Microsoft on Windows-compatible smartphones and PDAs primarily sold in the U.S. and Europe. With her husband, Wang is also chairwoman and cofounder of VIA Technologies, which supplies PC processor platforms. Wang represents Taiwan on the APEC Business Advisory Council and HTC is an industry partner of the World Economic Forum.
A devout Christian, she was ranked the 276th richest person in the world, with an estimated personal wealth of $4 billion, by Forbes Magazine, which describes her as "the most powerful woman in wireless."
"Her impetus for starting HTC was to develop hardware products that foster easier, more efficient communication. She's led HTC in approaching development from the perspective of creating a holistic experience with a focus on personal choice, observing and listening to create products that cater to a perceived consumer desire," says Leighton.
Deborah Estrin
Deborah Estrin is a professor of computer sciences at UCLA, and director of its multidisciplinary $40 million Center for Embedded Networked Sensing, which pioneers new technologies for collecting information from the physical world, and processing and communicating that information in useful ways. The idea is that, embedded with networked microprocessors, environments (buildings, buoys, ecosystems) could report and perhaps even correct in real-time their own faults.
She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineers and was inducted to the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 2008.
"Deborah and Judy (her sister -- see previous box) hail from a strong family of successful technologists. Both their parents -- their mother Thelma, a WITI Hall of Fame winner as well -- set these remarkable women on an inevitable path to success, which was accomplished through encouragement and their own merits in their fields of study," says Carolyn Leighton.
Susie Wee
@susiewee | Blog
Susie Wee is VP and CTEO (Chief Technology and Experience Officer) of Collaboration and Communication at networking giant Cisco Systems -- a role that she says reflects her passion for combining user experience and technology. From Palo Alto, California, Wee manages a team of 90 user experience designers, researchers and technologists, working on collaboration products.
Wee came to Cisco in April last year after 15 years at Hewlett Packard, where she oversaw cloud strategies for personal computing products, and founded HP's Experience Software Business which employs 100 people in five countries.
"Like her Cisco colleague Padma Warrior, Susie's exemplary leadership and outright enthusiasm for her work encourages the brightest ideas from the brightest talent in tech. Susie's energy is strong, fair and infectious. She effectively communicates the 'fun' in technology, while teaching us to think differently about the practical applications for various types of technology. She is also a committed advocate for her fellow women in technology," says Leighton.
The tech world is fast-moving, highly competitive and male-dominated. But not always completely male-dominated. Some of the most prestigious and best-remunerated roles are held by females.
Carolyn Leighton, founder and chairwoman of Women in Technology International, identifies the 10 most powerful women in tech and they are
Ursula BurnsStarting as an intern in 1980, Ursula Burns is now chair of Xerox, a $23 billion global business with almost 140,000 employees. She became CEO in 2009 and company chair the following year, at the tail end of a decade that saw the company restructuring to meet changing needs, moving from photocopying into digital technologies. One of her first moves was the $6.4 billion dollar acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services -- the company's largest purchase.
Burns is also a board director of American Express, works with community initiatives including the National Academy Foundation, MIT, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, and is a founding board director of Change the Equation, an organisation that seeks to improve the U.S.'s science, tech, engineering and math education. She is the first African-American woman to lead a major U.S. corporation, and the first female CEO to succeed another woman, according to Bloomberg.
"Ursula's story is inspirational and epitomizes the true American success story. Her dedication to mentoring, encouragement of girls and women, and her commitment to advocacy are remarkable. Ursula often credits her mother's influence and belief that education, confidence and hard work can change everything. This is a message that bears weight in every tech community the world over," said Carolyn Leighton.
Sandy Carter @sandy_carter
Sandy Carter is Vice President, Social Business Evangelism at IBM, where she is responsible for directing the company's social business initiatives, and working with clients to develop best practices. (Social business is the application of social media tools and techniques to a company's internal and external processes, in order to connect clients, partners, citizens and employees). Since joining the company in 1989, Carter has also been a VP of IBM's Service Oriented Architecture, which achieved 70% market share under her management.
She is fluent in eight programming languages; has travelled to more than 60 countries; has authored three books about business and social media, and is one of IBM's top bloggers and tweeters, winning MarCom awards for her communities.
"Sandy Carter uniquely combines extraordinary expertise in the worlds of business and technology, traveling the world to evangelize the use of social media to help strengthen communication and revenue in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer strategy. She is a passionate, committed advocate and supporter of young women and girls achieving their greatest possible success," says founder and chairwoman of Women in Technology International (WITI), Carolyn Leighton.
Cher WangAs co-founder and chairwoman of HTC Corporation, Taiwan's leading tech business, Cher Wang has overseen the development of smartphone and mobile technology, partnering with Google and Microsoft on Windows-compatible smartphones and PDAs primarily sold in the U.S. and Europe. With her husband, Wang is also chairwoman and cofounder of VIA Technologies, which supplies PC processor platforms. Wang represents Taiwan on the APEC Business Advisory Council and HTC is an industry partner of the World Economic Forum.
A devout Christian, she was ranked the 276th richest person in the world, with an estimated personal wealth of $4 billion, by Forbes Magazine, which describes her as "the most powerful woman in wireless."
"Her impetus for starting HTC was to develop hardware products that foster easier, more efficient communication. She's led HTC in approaching development from the perspective of creating a holistic experience with a focus on personal choice, observing and listening to create products that cater to a perceived consumer desire," says Leighton.
Deborah EstrinDeborah Estrin is a professor of computer sciences at UCLA, and director of its multidisciplinary $40 million Center for Embedded Networked Sensing, which pioneers new technologies for collecting information from the physical world, and processing and communicating that information in useful ways. The idea is that, embedded with networked microprocessors, environments (buildings, buoys, ecosystems) could report and perhaps even correct in real-time their own faults.
She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineers and was inducted to the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 2008.
"Deborah and Judy (her sister -- see previous box) hail from a strong family of successful technologists. Both their parents -- their mother Thelma, a WITI Hall of Fame winner as well -- set these remarkable women on an inevitable path to success, which was accomplished through encouragement and their own merits in their fields of study," says Carolyn Leighton.
Susie Wee@susiewee | Blog
Susie Wee is VP and CTEO (Chief Technology and Experience Officer) of Collaboration and Communication at networking giant Cisco Systems -- a role that she says reflects her passion for combining user experience and technology. From Palo Alto, California, Wee manages a team of 90 user experience designers, researchers and technologists, working on collaboration products.
Wee came to Cisco in April last year after 15 years at Hewlett Packard, where she oversaw cloud strategies for personal computing products, and founded HP's Experience Software Business which employs 100 people in five countries.
"Like her Cisco colleague Padma Warrior, Susie's exemplary leadership and outright enthusiasm for her work encourages the brightest ideas from the brightest talent in tech. Susie's energy is strong, fair and infectious. She effectively communicates the 'fun' in technology, while teaching us to think differently about the practical applications for various types of technology. She is also a committed advocate for her fellow women in technology," says Leighton.
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