Kate is VP of Business & Portfolio Management for the world’s top learning company, Pearson. Since joining Pearson in 2004, Kate has led a number of major IT programmes and now heads Technology’s Business Management Team. Often described as the department’s “backbone” by the Group CIO, Kate is responsible for budget planning and management, comms and engagement, SOX compliance, shared technology platforms and a global portfolio spanning over 75 major IT programmes and an annualised budget in excess of £150 million. Besides the “day job”, Kate champions Pearson’s diversity agenda with conviction, actively leading the Global Women in Technology employee resource group, and driving diversity initiatives to increase graduate and intern opportunities.

Tom is Group Chief Architect/CTO for Lowell Group, one of Europe’s largest credit management companies. A global IT leader with 30+ years’ experience in leading change and driving service performance as a CIO / IT Director, primarily in financial services. Tom regularly places in the UK Top 100 CIO lists, and has been a finalist for the UK IT Industry Awards as CIO of the Year. He holds responsibility as Council Member for the University of Leeds and has previously been a non-executive director in the housing sector. Tom is a supporter of developing and recognising talent within the technology industry and judges regularly awards, including previous years for Women in Tech Excellence Awards, as well as supporting mentoring through The Social Mobility Forum and the Women Ahead scheme. He has a Masters degree in IT Management and is a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society.

Kate Collins, a seasoned Global Director of IT with 20+ years’ experience in leading strategic project delivery and IT Transformation across multiple industries. Proven track record in understanding business requirements and shaping strategy, ensuring delivery of large programmes that support business need and exceed customer expectations. 2nd year in the honour of being a Judge for Women in Tech Excellence Awards and continuing to champion diversity to develop and recognise women in IT.

Jane Deal is Operational Director, IT at the Law Society of England & Wales. Jane joined the Law Society in 2017 to transform its IT estate and architecture, transition from a shared service to a new, independent IT capability and introduce collaborative working practices as part of a full-scale business and property transformation programme. Prior to her current role, Jane joined Barclays Bank with a Law degree, gaining 20+ years’ experience in roles ranging from marketing and commercial lending to business transformation. As Head of Information & Knowledge Systems at RNIB, she restructured the IT function and estate, developing stakeholder and project management disciplines, before being appointed their first CIO by Citizens Advice. There, Jane delivered a major, complex CRM to a network of 340 independent bureaux, simultaneously transforming the IT function, before moving into a consultancy role to support major charities and exercise her broad expertise in business transformation, operational architecture, and IT.

Ursula joined the BHF in 2016 and was appointed CTO in 2019. I was formerly Director of IT and Business Change. She is responsible for delivering the BHF’s technology strategy, which supports research and innovation; help people affected by heart and circulatory disease; and drive income growth across the BHF’s commercial, retail and fundraising offering. Her role ensures all teams in the organisation have the tools that they need to turn fledgling ideas into impact for the organisation and can use technology to increase efficiency and effectiveness by delivery of transformational technology changes and digital products. She has been in the technology industry for over 20 years. Previously, led technology transformation at the University of East London and held IT and technology leadership positions in the private sector including at Cadbury, Citi Group and Jaguar Land Rover.

Louise has over 35 years business experience and more than 17 years in technological and digital transformation, many of which have been complex including Hmrc, Aviva , Ebrd , Hsbc and Belron. Louise is currently Cxo / Digital transformation advisor and INed for a digital bank

Cait O’Riordan is the FT’s Chief Product and Information Officer (CPIO). She is responsible for platform and product strategy, development and operations across the FT Group, working in close partnership with editorial and commercial teams. She is on the FT executive board, which is responsible for the company’s global strategy and performance. Before joining the FT in February 2016 Cait led the BBC’s digital product development for the London 2012 Olympics and played a central role in the user and revenue growth of music app company Shazam.

James Robbins, CIO of Parcelforce Worldwide, is in his 5th year of judging the women in tech excellence awards. One of the UK’s leading CIO’s, James featured in Computing Magazine’s top 10 CIOs whilst CIO at Northumbrian Water and has also lead tech functions at Drax Plc, Abellio and Northern Rail in 15 years as a CIO. James is also contributor to Computing Magazine having written CIO opinion pieces on leadership, automation, innovation, mindfulness and blockchain. In addition to his role of CIO, James has been heavily involved in the UK IT industries charity, ‘Byte Night’ and ‘Boycott your Bed’ raising awareness of the prevention of break up of families with the charity, Action for Children. James has been part of a national leadership team that has raised many hundreds of thousands of pounds to support women’s refuge, mental health, support to less privileged families, and sufferers of domestic abuse through one of the UK’s largest mass participation events.

Sophia Steiger is CFO for the HSBC Infrastructure Division (HOST). An Executive Committee member for the HOST organization and a Board Member of the HSBC Swiss Service Company. Sophia is responsible for the Cost, Financial and Performance Management of a budget of over $9bn per annum. With a global team she is focused on partnering with the business to deliver the externally committed Transformation agenda and prioritization of key investments across Operations, Technology and Property. With over twenty years of global Finance experience across Financial Services, Government, Telecoms and Retail. Sophia balances results orientated delivery, with longer team strategy development and people focus. Prior to becoming a CFO Sophia was a Consulting Partner focused on large-scale Transformation and Cost Reduction programs. Developing an industry wide specialism in IT and Property cost management; outsourcing arrangements and Service Charging arrangements. Prior to Deloitte, Sophia spent five years working in Retail following completion of her Accounting training.

Lyn is the Chief Information Security Officer at the Open University. She joined the OU in March 2020 and is responsible for the security of over 10000 staff and over 180,000 students. Prior to her current role, Lyn led the Cyber Strategy team at Deloitte working with a wide range of clients across all sectors. Lyn’s security pedigree is long and started with a 20 year career as an officer in the Royal Air Force where she controlled combat aircraft as a weapons controller and undertook a breadth of operational tours. She is passionate about the diversity agenda and is a member of many women in cyber, security and technology initiatives.