20 in Data & Tech reveals female industry role models

Senior professionals from Facebook, IBM, Direct Line Group and GoCompare are among the leading industry figures to be named in this year’s “20 in Data & Technology”, an initiative designed to showcase outstanding stories of female achievement in data science across the UK.
The programme was launched last year through a partnership between The Female Lead, a not for profit organisation set up by Edwina Dunn, and Women in Data UK (WiD UK), a group launched by Roisin McCarthy and Rachel Keane, managing consultants at data recruitment firm Datatech Analytics, and chaired by Payal Jain.
This year’s “20 in Data & Technology” was unveiled at the Women in Data event which was attended by over 1,000 delegates. It has once again been spearheaded by Jain and Dunn and is designed to showcase the wealth and diversity of data-led career paths that women are successfully pursuing in the UK today and inspire the next generation of data science leaders.
Dunn said: “Role models are so important to the development of today’s female data talent, and the next generation of leaders. The Fifties was the age of advertising and Madmen. This is a new era of Mathmen … and women.”
To read the individual portraits and in-depth interviews with each of the “20 in Data & Technology”, simply click on their name:
Nicky Klein, chief data officer, Direct Line Group
Verity Gill, marketing science agency lead, EMEA Facebook
Natalie Jakomis, group head of data, GoCompare
Maxine Mackintosh, PhD, Alan Turing Institute
Diana Akanho, customer insights manager, Upper Streets Events
Helen Louwrens, director of intelligence, Care Quality Commission
Jackie Ronson, global customer & digital Director, Hive
Barbara Fusinska, machine learning strategic cloud engineer, Google
Magda Piatkowska, head of data science solutions, BBC
Liz Moorcroft, senior data scientist, Aviva
Caroline Carruthers, partner and chief data officer, Carruthers & Jackson
Tess Merkulova, lead performance analytics, Captify
Anthea DeSyllas, chief solutions officer, Polymatica
Helen Crooks, chief data officer, Lloyds of London
Lara Izlan, advertising data and technology specialist
Helen Hunter, group chief data officer, Sainsbury’s
Imogen Heap, recording artist and technologist, Mycelia
Michelle Wong, senior marketing analytics manager, FarFetch
Lindsay Pellow, head of member data and insight, The Co-op
Clare Mortimer, executive partner, UK cognitive and analytics leader, IBM UK
More information is available on the Female Lead website >