Everywoman announces 2026 tech awards finalists
The finalists for the 2026 Bupa Everywoman in Technology Awards have been announced prior to the awards ceremony in March.
For the 16th year on a row, Everywoman has announced more than 80 shortlisted finalists for its Everywoman in Technology awards with the aim of showcasing outstanding female talent in the technology sector.
Chosen by expert judges from hundreds of nominees, these shortlisted women and male allies represent some of the hardest working role models in tech.
Nicole Goodwin and Sophie Catto, joint managing directors of AllBright everywoman, said: “The tech industry is fundamental to the UK economy, and these awards celebrate the remarkable women who are delivering innovation and growth in this pivotal sector. The inspiring stories of our exceptional finalists will showcase their groundbreaking projects and highlight viable pathways for the next generation of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).”
The lack of women in the UK’s technology sector has been an ongoing issue, with the number of women in the technology sector increasing by on 3% in the last five years, according to figures from BCS.
Ensuring young people and women outside of the sector have access to tech role models is one way to encourage them to consider a tech career, as they become more aware of the opportunities open to them.
Everywoman’s finalists range from teens to senior leaders across a range of areas in tech including AI, renewable energy and the development of vaccines.
The finalists for the 2026 Everywoman in Tech Awards are as follows:
AI Champion – sponsored by ARM Ltd
- Hana Abdi, CEO, Hanacodes (Multiverse)
- Nausheen Basha, research associate, Imperial College London
- Hannah Brown, senior data scientist, UK Hydrographic Office
- Duygu Cakmak, R&D director, Creative Assembly (SEGA)
- Luna Guglietta, principal data scientist, Markerstudy Insurance
- Malini Jeyachandran, lead software engineer, Lloyds Banking Group
- Nichola Roberts, data scientist – technical lead, ConnexAI
- Sarah Topping, principal lead for intelligent automation and conversational AI, Ciklum
Apprentice Award – sponsored by SSE
- Yasmeen Bey, IT cyber security apprentice, Volkswagen Group UK
- Filipa Chambel, software engineer, Elanco
- Naamua Dodoo, software development engineer, Tesco
- Kelly Howes, junior software engineer apprentice, Compare The Market
- Adebusiola Ola-Adebomi, apprentice, PA consulting
- Feng Shen Foo, application engineer, Siemens EDA
Cyber Security Award
- Eirini Anthi, senior lecturer in data science and cybersecurity, School of Computer Science & Informatics, Cardiff University
- Temi Onanuga, group head of IT, Aventum Group
- Rebecca Phelps, senior cyber lead, BAE Systems
- Vanessa Santos, senior security consultant, LRQA
- Sabah Suhail, research fellow, MTU
CTO/CIO of the Year Award – sponsored by Accenture
- Pooja Bagga, group CIO, Guardian Media Group
- Charlotte Chambers, chief digital officer, StepChange Debt Charity
- Nicola Emsley, CIO, Mortgages, Savings & Insurance (BUK), Barclays
- Melissa Proxenos, CTO, Debtrak
- Cristina Sabau, chief technology and operations officer, The National Heart Clinic
Digital Star Award
- Louise Edwards, vehicle specialist, 165 Regiment RLC, from Plymouth
- Orla Mulvenna, analytics engineering manager, Guardian Media Group
- Christina Vincent, product owner, Lloyds Banking Group
Digital Transformation Leader Award – sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group
- Kerry Casey-Foulkes, director of transformation enablement, Virgin Media O2
- Dora Chatzinaki, software engineering manager, Capital One
- Kiranpreet Chawla, solutions architect, Amazon Web Services
- Debolina Guha Majumdar, associate partner, Infosys Consulting
- Anupama Hatti, head of programme delivery, NHS Blood and Transplant
- Karen Medhat, account technical leader, IBM
- Marta Velasco Fernandez, principal solutions engineer & AI champion, Atlassian
- Kirsty Wallace, SO2 intelligence capabilities, Ministry of Defence
Software Engineer Award – sponsored by NatWest
- Thulasi Bomma, head of software development, Tesco
- Kasia Dutch, software engineer, Starling Bank
- Chiamaka Okenwa, software engineer, Monzo
- Mary Tulokas, IT engineering director, Elanco Animal Health
Entrepreneur Award – sponsored by AWS
- Bobbie King, CEO and co-founder, SQEPtech
- Hilary O’Shea, co-founder and chief corporate officer, Otonomee
- Fiona Roach Canning, co-founder and CEO, Pollinate
Innovator Award
- Amrita Aurora, senior software engineer, WhatsApp
- Hannah Leese, reader in chemical engineering, University of Bath
- Stephanie Griffiths, data exploitation head of department, Royal Navy
- Ganna Pogrebna, professor and David Trimble chair and executive director at AI and Cyber Futures Institute, Queens University Belfast
- Maryna Rybalko, product manager, Paydock
- Geethu Suresh, senior AI engineer, Version 1
- Faith Xu, senior manager, product management, Amazon
Leader Award – sponsored by HSBC
- Kaj Bansal, software engineering manager, Capital One
- Alison Bates, portfolio & applications leader, UN PRI
- Angela Bates, senior project manager, Discover
- Aji Bawo, head of commercial product, Tesco
- Lara Beers, vice-president global sales, Kraken
- Mollie-Louise Brentnall, UKI IT director, Crawford
- Jane Cubbidge, head of mobile and online banking technology, NatWest Group
- Julia Whetlor, IT director, client-side services, Elanco Animal Health
Male Agent of Change Award – sponsored by Reward Insight
- Mark Davis, head of enterprise architecture, Arup
- Benjamin Hardiman, release manager, SSE plc
- Tim Ibell, dean of the Faculty Of Engineering & Design, University of Bath
- Matt Storey, director of information security, Guardian Media Group
- Nick Tyson, senior solutions architect & co-founder, AWS Cloud Women Manchester, AWS
One to Watch Award – sponsored by Computacenter
- Aritri Kumar
- Nina Kumar
- Saskia Hanson
- Vasiliki Panagopoulou
Rising Star Award – sponsored by Booking.com
- Sayo Agunbiade, data specialist, RS Group
- Catherine Jonan, strategic finance associate, LinkedIn
- Olivia Mendel-Portnoy, process simplification analyst, Royal Mail
- Danita Samuel Prakash, IT deskside engineer, HCL Tech
- Arushi Singh, GenAI engineer, AJ Bell
- Tara Spasojevic, analytics engineer, Virgin Media O2
- Jenny Zhou, solutions architect, AWS
Tech For Good Award
- Adepeju Deborah Bello, cyberfraud R&D analyst, Barclays
- Anna Haley, software engineer II – security research, Rapid7
- Rachel Irabor, Dynamics 365 CRM developer, KPMG
- Oluwaseun Okunola, vice-president, World Humanitarian Support Foundation
- Yasmin Mohamud, mentor, KastanTech AI
- Despina Moschou, associate professor and associate dean for culture and inclusion, University of Bath
- Aroma Rodrigues, technologist
Team Leader Award – sponsored by Haleon
- Ruth Pearson, software engineer manager, IRIS
- Helen Stanton, UK lab leader and senior manager, IBM Research, IBM
- Bethany Fernandes, head of web, Make Agency
- Sherifat Akintunde-Shitu, UKI master data management capability lead, Accenture
- Rachel Davis, programme manager, Royal Mail
- Kripa Balachandran, head of product, Mission Zero Technologies
- Linda Newnes, professor of cost engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath
- Shama Hamid, senior software engineering manager, Capital One