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UKtech50 2025: The most influential people in UK technology

Computer Weekly has announced the 15th annual UKtech50 – our definitive list of the movers and shakers in the UK tech sector

Lis Evenstad

Published: 15 Jul 2025 20:00

Computer Weekly has announced the 15th annual UKtech50, our definitive list of the movers and shakers in UK technology – the CIOs, industry executives, public servants and business leaders driving the role of technology in the UK economy.

For the first time in UKtech50’s 15 years, this year’s winner has been crowned the most influential person in UK technology once before. However, the judges were unanimous in their decision, which was also reflected by the readers’ votes, as Demis Hassabis, co-founder and CEO of Deepmind, came in first.

In a new world order where artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming embedded in our everyday lives, Hassabis has long been known for being at the forefront of its development, and in 2024 won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his AI model, AlphaFold2.

Our aim was to identify the 50 most influential leaders in UK IT. An expert judging panel representing every aspect of the IT profession helped to decide the results, along with a reader vote, to determine who holds the most influence over the future of the UK tech sector – and of IT professionals across the country.

While Hassabis took the coveted top spot, the rest of the list also reflects the incredibly hard work of organisations and individuals during a year where – despite challenges – technology is flourishing.

The judges’ selection of the top 50 was influenced by several important tech trends – not least the growth and development of AI. The judges were keen to promote diversity in the tech community, in terms of gender, ethnicity, geography, industry sector and company size.

This year saw a record number of nominations, which made the judging tough, with all nominees being of high quality with long lists of achievements.

Our thanks to the team at Nash Squared for their support with this year’s UKtech50.

Here is the list of the 50 most influential people in UK technology for 2025:

1. Demis Hassabis, founder and CEO, Google DeepMind

Demis Hassabis founded artificial intelligence firm DeepMind in 2010. The company, which was bought by Google in 2014 for about £400m, is involved in several AI projects across sectors, including the NHS. In 2024, Hassabis won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his AlphaFold2 AI model. Before founding DeepMind, he completed a PhD in neuroscience at UCL. Hassabis is a previous UKtech50 winner.

2. Daljit Rehal, chief digital and information officer, HM Revenue and Customs; president, BCS

Former Centrica IT chief Daljit Rehal was appointed chief digital and information officer at HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in September 2020. He is responsible for a budget of more than £1bn and oversees some of the highest-profile IT systems in government, such as taxes, national insurance and the customs applications at the UK’s complex post-Brexit borders. Rehal is also the deputy president of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

3. Zahra Bahrololoumi, CEO, Salesforce UK

As CEO of Salesforce in the UK and Ireland, Bahrololoumi is responsible for the workforce in these regions across all industries and functions, particularly focused on ensuring its customers are ready for digital transformation. She sits on several boards, including Seeing is Believing, Movement to Work and Cancer Research UK Corporate Partnerships, and is an independent non-executive director on the TSB board. In 2023, she was awarded a CBE for services to the information technology sector.

4. Anne Keast-Butler, director, GCHQ

Keast-Butler joined GCHQ as its director in May 2023, becoming the first woman to lead the organisation, succeeding Jeremy Fleming. Prior to joining GCHQ, Keast-Butler served as the MI5 deputy director general, and has a long history as an intelligence expert. In her role at MI5, Keast-Butler led on the agency’s operational, investigative and protective security work, including its response to Russia’s war on Ukraine. She has also previously spent time seconded to GCHQ as head of counter-terrorism and serious organised crime.

5. Peter Kyle, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, UK government

Kyle became the secretary of state at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in June 2024, following the election. He is responsible for overhauling digital government, launching the government’s digital strategy in January this year.

6. Alan Bates, Post Office scandal campaigner; chair, Justice for Subpostmasters Alliance

Former subpostmaster Bates fought for decades to expose the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, before spearheading a group litigation against the Post Office in 2020, finally proving the subpostmasters were right. Bates continued to push for a public inquiry and was successful, revealing the truth and scale of the scandal. Bates was also the hero of ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, and was last year’s UKtech50 winner.

7. Matt Clifford, chair, Advanced Research and Invention Agency

Matt Clifford is the chair of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, which was set up by the government in February 2021 to support high-risk research that has the potential to make a high impact on society. Clifford is also the co-founder and CEO of Entrepreneur First, a pre-seed investor in deep technology startups.

8. Alex Kendall, CEO, Wayve

Kendall is the CEO and co-founder of Wayve, the UK startup using AI to build a next-generation autonomous driving system. Under Kendall’s leadership, Wayve has quickly grown from a small startup to a genuine competitor and disruptor in the autonomous vehicle industry.

9. Helen Milner, CEO, Good Things Foundation

Milner is founder and CEO of not-for-profit the Good Things Foundation (formerly the Tinder Foundation), having founded the charity in 2011 to help the digitally excluded become comfortable using digital and online technologies. Most of her work is focused on building tech inclusion for digitally excluded people. Milner was previously a specialist government adviser of digital engagement for the Public Accounts Committee, named digital leader of the year in 2017, and awarded an OBE in 2015 for services to digital inclusion.

10. Melanie Dawes, CEO, Ofcom

Melanie Dawes has headed up Ofcom since 2020, following her previous role as permanent secretary at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as many other roles across the civil service. She has previously been a trustee at Patchwork Foundation, which aims to encourage under-represented young people to participate in democracy, and a non-executive director of consumer group Which?

11. David Knott, government chief technology officer, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology

Knott joined the Central Digital and Data Office in 2023, taking on the role as government chief technology officer (CTO). His role includes ensuring that departments make better technology choices, the government leads on engineering standards and digital services are secure and resilient, as well as work on commercial strategy. Prior to joining the government, he was an expert partner at Boston Consulting Group.

12. Laura Gilbert, senior director of AI, Tony Blair Institute; head of AI for government, Ellison Institute of Technology

AI and data science expert Laura Gilbert first joined government in 2020, and spent nearly five years heading up the 10 Downing Street incubator for AI. She now works as the head of AI for government at the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford. As part of her role, she works on secondment to both the Tony Blair Institute and the government. Gilbert holds a doctorate in particle physics and computing from the University of Oxford. She is also a visiting professor at LSE.

13. Richard Horne, CEO, National Cyber Security Centre

Horne was appointed CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in 2024. He joined from PwC UK, where he chaired the organisation’s cyber security practice. He is also a GCHQ board member.

14. Mustafa Suleyman, CEO, Microsoft AI

Mustafa Suleyman was announced as Microsoft’s head of AI in March 2024. The newly created Microsoft AI focuses on advancing the Copilot family of generative AI assistants and other consumer AI products and research at Microsoft. Prior to joining Microsoft, Suleyman co-founded Google Deepmind, as well as another AI company, Inflection AI.

15. James Clements, CIO, Francis Crick Institute

Clements was appointed Francis Crick Institute CIO, where he is responsible for the institute’s IT services, in October 2024, after serving in various roles since joining in 2017. Prior to this, he worked for UCL for 13 years.

16. Danielle George, chief scientific advisor for national security, GCHQ; professor and vice-dean at the University of Manchester

George was appointed scientific advisor for national security in the beginning of 2025 and took on the role in April. She plays a crucial role in providing advice and supporting delivery of science and technology for the UK intelligence community.

17. Audrey Mandela, chair, Women in Telecoms & Technology; investor; consultant; mentor

Audrey Mandela is an entrepreneur, consultant, board director and angel investor. She chairs networking group Women in Telecoms & Technology, and works as a board director for several tech startups, as well as Wedu, a charity that mentors and supports young women leaders from underserved communities in Southeast Asia. Mandela sits on the advisory board of Angel Academe, and is a member of the TEDx Council. She was co-founder of Multimap, one of the world’s leading online mapping providers, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2007. Mandela was also previously international senior vice-president for the Yankee Group.

Top five female founders

Helen Milner, CEO, The Good Things Foundation
Sarah Turner, CEO and co-founder, Angel Academe
Beckie Taylor, CEO and co-founder, Tech Returners
Anne-Marie Imafidon, CEO, Stemettes
Lopa Patel, founder, Asians in Tech; chair, Diversity UK

18. Angela McLean, chief scientific adviser, UK government

McLean assumed the mantle as the government’s first female chief scientific adviser in 2023, coming from the Ministry of Defence, where she spent four years, also as its first female chief scientific adviser. She is also the head of the government science and engineering profession. Before taking on her latest role, McLean was a professor of mathematical biology in the Department of Zoology at Oxford University and a fellow of All Souls College.

19. Mike Hyde, chief technology officer, Trainline

Hyde joined Trainline as its chief data officer in October 2021, before taking on the role as CTO in March this year. Prior to joining Trainline, he was the director for data science at Workplace by Meta. He also spent several years as global head of data, analytics and insight at Skype.

20. Sue Black, professor of computer science and technology evangelist, Durham University

Black has been a professor of computer science and technology evangelist at Durham University since 2018. She founded BCSWomen, the British Computer Society’s specialist women’s group, in 2001, and has been a champion of women in technology and digital inclusion her entire career. She is also an adviser to the government, and was awarded an OBE for services to technology in 2016.

21. Feryal Clarke, minister of state for AI and digital government, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Parliamentary under-secretary Feryal Clark was appointed when Labour won the election in July 2024. As part of her role, she is in charge of AI strategy, such as the government’s AI regulation and the AI Security Institute. She is also responsible for the Digital Centre of Government and digital identity policy.

22. Sonia Patel, chief technology officer, NHS England

Patel joined government as the CIO of NHSX in 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, she became the system CIO of NHS England, before taking on the role of CTO in April 2024. In her role as CTO, she is leading the technology strategy for the NHS, and has oversight of digital controls and assurance for NHS technology.

23. Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web inventor; director, Open Data Institute

Undoubtedly the most famous UK computer scientist, Tim Berners-Lee has taken a high-profile global role as an advocate for the open web, net neutrality and online privacy, and an outspoken critic of government internet surveillance policies. As well as his evangelising of the web, he advises the government on open data as a director of the Open Data Institute.

24. Greg Jackson, CEO, Octopus Energy

Jackson founded and launched Octopus Energy in 2016. The company’s green tech platform sits at the heart of its success, and the company has gone from strength to strength over the years. Octopus Energy is now the largest energy provider in the UK.

25. Sarah Turner, CEO and co-founder, Angel Academe

Turner founded Angel Academe, a pro-women and pro-diversity angel investment group focused on technology, of which she is currently CEO. Until 2023, Turner was also an advisory board member of tech recruiter Spinks, and in 2007 co-founded consultancy Turner Hopkins, which helps businesses create digital strategies. Previously, Turner was an external board member and chair of the investment committee for the Low Carbon Innovation Fund, and a board member of the UK Business Angels Association, the trade association for early stage investment.

26. Julian David, CEO, TechUK

Julian David is the CEO of technology trade association TechUK. He was appointed as the director general of Intellect in March 2012, and led its transformation to TechUK in November 2013. David has spent more than 30 years in the technology industry, mostly working for IBM in various roles, including vice-president for small and medium business in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Africa, and then for five years as vice-president for public sector in the UK, Ireland and South Africa.

27. Chris Johnson, chief scientific adviser, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Johnson became the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s chief scientific adviser in July 2024, where his role is to provide scientific and technical advice on policy and engage with the scientific community. He has previously helped lead the Department for Transport’s review of UK airports, airlines and air traffic, and set up cyber security labs for the UK Civil Nuclear Industry. Prior to joining government, Johnson was the pro vice-chancellor for engineering and physical science at Queen’s University, Belfast. He also spent six years as head of computing science in Glasgow University.

28. John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner

New Zealand’s former privacy commissioner, John Edwards was selected by the UK government to succeed Elizabeth Denham as information commissioner when she stepped down from the post in October 2021. Edwards, who served two five-year terms in New Zealand, was appointed to that post in 2014, and oversaw the introduction of the country’s 2020 Privacy Act. He was also chairman of the Global Privacy Assembly – previously the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners – from 2014 to 2017.

29. Ilan Gur, CEO, Advanced Research and Invention Agency

Ilan Gur is CEO of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, which was set up by the government in February 2021 and aims to support high-risk research that has the potential to make a high impact on society. Gur also has a PhD in materials science and engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and was founder and CEO of non-profit organisation Activate, a US organisation that supports scientists and engineers bringing research to market.

30. Nicola Hodson, UK and Ireland chair, IBM; deputy president, TechUK

Nicola Hodson joined IBM in January 2023 as its UK and Ireland CEO. Prior to joining IBM, she spent 14 years at Microsoft in various roles – most recently as vice-president of global sales, marketing and ops for field transformation. Hodson is also the deputy president of TechUK.

31. Zoe Kleinman, technology editor, BBC News

Kleinman has been technology editor at BBC News since September 2021. She has been covering technology news for nearly 20 years on both radio and television.

32. Joe Baguley, EMEA chief technology officer, Broadcom

Joe Baguley has been the CTO at Broadcom (formerly VMware) since 2011. He has sat on several advisory boards at the European Commission, and was a founding member of the BCS datacentre specialist group. Baguley is also a member of TechUK’s cloud leadership board.

33. Katie Gallagher, managing director, Manchester Digital

Gallagher has been the managing director of Manchester Digital since 2011. As the leader of the independent tech trade body, she works closely with municipal leaders, MPs and tech leaders to develop Manchester as a leading European tech hub. She is also chair and founding board member of the UK Tech Cluster Group.

34. Beckie Taylor, CEO and co-founder, Tech Returners

Taylor co-founded Tech Returners, where she is currently CEO, to give skilled individuals who have had a career break the opportunity to connect with firms and help them back into mid-level and senior-level tech roles. She is also co-founder of The Confidence Community, which aims to provide resources, training information and events to give people more career confidence. Taylor is co-founder of community WIT North and co-founder of ReframeWIT. In 2024, she launched community platform Voices in Tech to help connect speakers with event opportunities.

Top five public sector leaders

1. Daljit Rehal, Chief digital and information officer, HM Revenue and Customs; BCS President
2. Anne Keast-Butler, Director, GCHQ
3. Peter Kyle, Secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, UK government
4. Matt Clifford, Chairman, Advanced Research and Invention Agency
5. Melanie Dawes, Chief executive, Ofcom

35. Gaia Marcus, director, Ada Lovelace Institute

Marcus joined the Ada Lovelace Institute as its director in June 2024. Prior to joining the institute, she worked at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, where she was the deputy director for advanced analytics and local capabilities. She previously headed up the National Data Strategy for the then Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

36. Charles Forte, CIO, Ministry of Defence

Forte became CIO at the Ministry of Defence in January 2018. Before taking on the role, Forte spent six months as interim CIO at Thames Water. Previously, he was CEO of group IT services at Prudential from March 2015 to the end of 2016, and before that, deputy group CIO and CIO of global operations at BP.

37. Michael Taylor, IT director, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team

Taylor joined the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team in 2015, and worked as its head of digital technology before taking on his current role. He has been involved in the IT behind Formula One for more than 20 years, after beginning his career in local government.

38. Clare Barclay, chair, Industrial Strategy Council; enterprise and industry president, Microsoft EMEA

Barclay has been with Microsoft for more than 10 years, holding several roles including director of SMB, general manager of small and mid-market solutions and partners, chief operating officer, and CEO in the UK. In November 2024, she became president of enterprise and industry for Microsoft in the UK. She is chair of the industrial strategy advisory council for the Department for Business and Trade, volunteers as a board member for the British Heart Foundation and, until recently, was a non-executive director at CBI.

39. Allison Kirkby, CEO, BT Group

Kirkby joined BT Group as its CEO in February 2024, succeeding Philip Jansen. Kirkby, who is the first woman to hold the job of BT chief executive, came to the firm from Swedish telecoms provider Telia, where she also served as CEO. She has been on the board of BT Group as a non-executive director since 2019.

40. Paul Hardy, EMEA innovation officer, ServiceNow

Hardy became the EMEA innovation officer at ServiceNow in June 2024. He has more than 25 years in the technology industry under his belt, and prior to joining ServiceNow, he worked at Informa for more than a decade.

41. Anna Brailsford, CEO, Code First Girls

An entrepreneur and co-founder, Brailsford joined Code First Girls as CEO in 2019, where she works to encourage more women into the tech sector by providing software development skills and education. Prior to her work at Code First Girls, she co-founded and was CEO of performance management firm Frisbee, which was part of venture capital fund Founders Factory. Until summer 2024, she was a board member for the Institute of Coding, where she focused specifically on diversity and inclusion. She is also a self-employed commercial and strategy consultant.

42. Colin Birchenall, chief digital officer, Glasgow City Council; chief technology officer, Digital Office for Scottish Local Government

Birchenhall holds many hats in Scottish local government. He has been the chief digital officer for Scotland’s largest local authority, Glasgow City Council, since 2016, and also holds the role of CTO for the Digital Office for Scottish Local Government. Birchenhall also chaired the working group for the development of the Health and Care Data Strategy on behalf of the Scottish government.

43. Martha Lane Fox, digital advisory board chair, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology

Serial entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox was appointed chair of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology digital advisory board in August 2024, with a goal to drive forward the government’s vision for digital and data. She is best known as the founder of Lastminute.com, as well as the Doteveryone project, which aimed to act as a platform to fuel discussion around startups, governments, gender and skills.

44. Anne-Marie Imafidon, CEO, Stemettes

Imafidon is CEO, founder and head stemette at social enterprise Stemettes, which aims to encourage young women to choose careers in science, technology, engineering and maths. She has become a high-profile advocate and campaigner, taking part in racing driver Lewis Hamilton’s commission to encourage a more diverse workforce in engineering, and appeared on Channel 4 game show Countdown while regular mathematician Rachel Riley was on maternity leave. Imafidon was voted the most influential woman in UK technology in 2020.

45. Lopa Patel, founder, Asians in Tech; chair, Diversity UK

Patel founded Asians in Tech in 2015 to help promote Asian talent in the tech sector. She is also the founder and chair of Diversity UK, an equality charity that promotes ideas for improving diversity and inclusion in the UK.

46. Helen Wylie, chief digital and information officer, Department for Work & Pensions

Helen Wylie became chief digital and information officer at the department in November 2024, after spending eight years as part of its digital team in various roles. She has a long-standing career in the sector, having worked in a variety of technology and digital delivery roles in organisations including the Bank of England, Experian and TNT Post Group.

47. Ann O’Neill, co-founder and CEO, Adora Digital Health

O’Neill founded digital health platform Adora in 2021. The platform is designed to support women navigating peri-menopause and menopause, and combines AI-driven personalised guidance with direct access to healthcare professionals, offering support and education to alleviate symptoms and enhance well-being. She is also a member of the McKinsey Digital Health Global CEO Group, where she is committed to redressing the healthcare imbalance that disadvantages women and diverse communities both in life and the workplace.

48. Debbie Weinstein, president, Google EMEA

Weinstein joined Google in 2016, before moving to the UK in 2023, taking over as vice-president of Google’s UK and Ireland business. In December 2024, she became the EMEA president. Prior to working at Google, she was the vice-president of global media at Unilever.

49. Sarah Cardell, CEO, Competition & Markets Authority

Sarah Cardell was appointed the CEO of the Competition and Markets Authority in December 2022, but held the role as an interim from July 2022. Prior to being named CEO, Cardell was general counsel at the authority for eight years.

50. Charmaine Mabika, founder, Tech Redefined

Charmaine Makiba founded the Tech Bae Platform, later rebranded as Tech Redefined, to support diversity in technology through job creation, mentorship and events. She is a speaker on topics such as diversity in tech, career pivots and thriving in male-dominated industries, and has spoken at several leading technology events. Mabika also mentors students through the Hackathon for Schools initiative.

Judging the UKtech50

The judging panel was chosen to represent different perspectives in IT, so each individual acted both as an impartial and expert judge, as well as an advocate for their area of interest. The judges were:

Helen Fleming, executive director of search and specialisms, Harvey Nash
Laura Meyer, investor, Angel Academe; former CIO
James Woodward, director of communications, BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.
Matthew Evans, chief operating officer and director of markets, TechUK
Roy Illsley, chief analyst, Omdia

Our judging panel chose the top 50 candidates based on the following criteria:

Influence: What authority or ability does the person have – either through their personal position or the role they hold – to personally influence the development of UK technology, or to influence others in positions of authority?
Achievements: What has the person achieved in the past 12 months to help the development of UK technology?
Profile: Is the person recognised as a role model for aspiring leaders? How widely are they acknowledged by their peers as an authority and influence on UK tech?
Leadership: Does the person demonstrate the skills and experience necessary to be seen as a leader in the development of the tech community in the UK? Do they have a leadership role and does that help them develop the role of technology in the UK?
Potential: How likely is it that the person will have a significant impact on UK tech in the next 12 months? Will their authority and responsibility grow?