January 7, 2021 • 3 Minute Read

What a wondrous year for women in technology!

In 2020, we celebrated top technology talent, who happen to be women, in Global Touch’s IT Wondrous Women™ blog series. We spotlighted thirty game changers working directly in the technology industry or with roots in technology in eight countries! They all share three qualities:

They are moving the needle.
They are deserving of recognition.
They are inspiring those who will stand on their shoulders in the future.

Some of these thirty women are well known in the IT industry, while others are quietly driving success or have moved to corporate customer or non-profit roles.

All of these power house women answered the same set of questions, which provides a glimpse into their careers and backgrounds and, more importantly, what makes them such Wondrous Leaders™! Some of our favorite “soundbytes” from their blog profiles are:

"Failures are the best classroom." "Learning to ask questions and get to the source - and not worrying about appearing stupid - is the best training I can imagine for almost any career." "My mentor taught me how to disagree, without being disagreeable."

We learned from them about the joys of business travel as this group collectively flew more than 3 million miles in 2019 (or prior to the pandemic) ─ true global road warriors! They have all experienced cultural delicacies including eating live octopus, hundred year old eggs, lots of fried crickets, and even whale! Most have had mentors who encouraged them to thrive in a male dominated world. And many acknowledged they have been their own toughest critic.

While there is no shortage of challenges driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, all of these women are taking this opportunity while “grounded” to hone new skills and leap frog the changing world. Net-Net: These women are resetting the future of the IT industry through their prowess, intelligence, and impact.

In case you missed reading about these fabulous 2020 IT Wondrous Women, please check them out by clicking on their links:

Caroline Japic, Chief Marketing Officer, Kenna Security (USA)
Cheryln Chin, VP, Global Partners & Alliances, UiPath (USA)
Claudia Romanini-Backus, Head of Enterprise & Productivity Partnerships, Facebook Reality Lab (USA)
Deborah Bannworth, SVP, Partner Alliances, Inside Sales, Maintenance Sales & Services, Sirius Computer Solutions (USA)
Debby Spaltmann, Founder and Executive Coach, I4I-Influence-for-Impact (Germany)
Elisabeth De Dobbeleer, VP, EMEAR Partner Lead, Cisco Systems (United Kingdom)
Esther Dyson, Executive Founder, Wellville (USA)
Esther Westerweele, Founder, LEF Marketing & Events (The Netherlands)
Heather Tenuto, Chief Revenue Officer, Zift Solutions (USA)
Heidi Melin, Chief Marketing Officer, Workfront (USA)
Julia Chen, VP of Partner Transformation, Cisco Systems (USA)
Juliana Vida, Chief Technical Advisor (Public Sector), Splunk Inc. (USA)
Julie Hens, VP, Global Virtual Sales & Engineering, Cisco Systems (USA)
Julie Knight-Ludvigson, Chief Marketing Officer, Unit4 (USA)
Kathi Kaplan, SVP, Global Digital Marketing & Diversity & Inclusion, Qlik (USA)
Kavita May, SVP, Planning & Operations, Global Technology Distribution Council (USA)
Lesley Andrews, VP of Strategic Alliances for North America, CompuCom (Canada)
Lisa Fitzpatrick, Founder & CEO, Grapevine Health (USA)
Liz Lawson, Senior Partner Field Enablement Lead - APAC, Amazon Web Services (Australia)
Marianne Calder, Global Head of Inside Sales, BT (United Kingdom)
Nancy Ridge, Founder & President, Ridge Innovative & Co-founder, Alliance of Channel Women (USA)
Neetu Shaw, Digital, Data & AI Leadership, Accenture Applied Intelligence (USA)
Rebecca Carr, SVP, Platform and Growth, SmartRecruiters (USA)
Sabrina Lin, Senior Advisor to the President, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong)
Sandra Flinders, Sr Director, Recurring Value Partner Programs, Cisco Systems (USA)
Sandy Salty, Chief Marketing Officer, Trace3 (USA)
Stanimira Koleva, SVP & GM Asia Pacific and Japan, Here Technologies (Singapore)
Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, President & CEO at U.S. Vote Foundation and the Overseas Vote Foundation (Germany)
Vicki Batka, VP, Partner Sales APJC, Cisco Systems (Singapore)
Wendy Bahr, Chief Commercial Officer, Rubrik, Inc. (USA)

It is an honor and privilege to spotlight these women as they reinvent what’s possible. Please watch for our weekly spotlight of 2021 IT Wondrous Women.

Denise Sangster
President & CEO, Global Touch, Inc.