Silicon Valley has a reputation for being a boy’s club, but women are steadily making inroads in the technology industry with many in leadership roles related to IoT. In the list below, we celebrate the women in a variety of roles in the IoT niche, ranging from analysts to CEOs to product designers.
Among the factors considered in this list were:
- attainment of leadership roles related to IoT
- hands-on experience developing IoT technology
- outstanding research related to IoT
- social reach—either via social media, speaking at events, or through writing
1. Alicia Asín
Alicia Asín has served as the CEO of Libelium since she cofounded the firm in 2006. A computer engineer by training, frequently speaks at international events on smart cities, wireless sensor networks, and IoT. Asín has won several awards for engineering and entrepreneurship in the past decade.
2. Ayah Bdeir
The CEO of open-source electronics startup littleBits, Bdeir is a vocal proponent of democratizing the Internet of Things. She was ranked as one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People in Business" in 2013, Entrepreneur magazine's 10 Up and Coming Leaders to Watch in 2014, and as one of Popular Mechanics' 25 Makers Who Are Reinventing the American Dream in that same year.
3. Angie Beltz
A vice president responsible for Tech Data’s IoT business in the Americas, Beltz is also the cofounder of the Exploratory Lab Boot Camp, an educational program for college students that features an IoT business program as well as other tech-oriented content. Tampa Bay Business Journal has listed her as both the Business Woman of the Year and Technology Leader of the Year in 2014.
4. Brenna Berman
Chicago's chief information officer has played a major role in establishing the Windy City’s “Array of Things” project and has helped transform Chicago’s open data program into one of the largest in the country. She also helped implement the “WindyGrid” spatial analytics platform to help drive data-driven decision making. Before working at Chicago, Berman worked for more than 10 years at IBM, where she partnered with government agencies internationally.
5. Michelle Curtis
Curtis leads an IoT group at Tech Data, where she is an evangelist for real-world business-driven IoT applications. She also serves as the chair of the RecruIT subcommittee of the Ladies of Tech Data employee resource group. Curtis joined the company in January 2007 as a senior marketing account executive. She is also a finalist for the Emerging Technology Leader of the Year under 40 for the Tampa Bay Technology Forum annual industry awards.
6. Lisa Seacat DeLuca
The most prolific inventor in IBM’s history, Lisa Seacat DeLuca has filed more than 420 patents in technologies ranging from Internet of things, mobile security, and wearables. She was one of the youngest inventors at IBM to win the 100th Invention Plateau Achievement Award.
7. Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
The director of Designswarm Industries—an IoT-focused design consultancy that has worked with BBC R&D, Nokia, British Gas, EDF R&D, and British Telecom. She is also the inventor of the Good Night Lamp, a family of connected lights. Deschamps-Sonsino also speaks internationally about the Internet of Things. Onalytica, Business Insider, and Dataconomy have all named her as an IoT influencer. She also hosts a regular London-based IoT-themed meetup, which is one of the largest such meetups in the world.
8. Tamara Dull
The director of emerging technologies at SAS Best Practices, a think tank within SAS Institute. Tamara focuses her research on Big Data and the Internet of Things. She has worked in the tech industry for 30 years. Tamara has been in the high tech industry for 30 years, and has held positions in enterprise training, consulting, software development, marketing, and IT, product, and executive management. She has also ranked in Onalytica’s Big Data and IoT groups.
9. Limor Fried
Limor Fried founded open-source hardware firm Adafruit from her dorm room at MIT in 2005. The company offers tools, equipment and electronic components targeted at the maker audience including IoT technology. Fried was also the first female engineer to grace the cover of Wired magazine. She has also been named as Entrepreneur magazine's Entrepreneur of the year in 2012 and, this year, was named as a White House Champion of Change.
10. Harriet Green
IBM’s London-based VP and GM of Internet of Things and Commerce & Education, Green leads three business divisions at the company: the Internet of Things, Commerce, and Education Businesses. She has won an array of awards throughout her career. In 2013, Fortune named her to their list of International Women in Business while Fortune named her as one of the top people in business in that same year. In 2014, Management Today selected her as Inspiring Woman of the Year.
