30 Percent of Forbes Top 50 Women in Tech Have This in Common

In December 2018, Forbes announced its inaugural Top 50 Women In Technology, an honor recognizing leading female technologists globally. Covering three generations of women, the unranked list groups the tech leaders into five categories: moguls, founders, innovators, engineers, and warriors. In order to be considered, the women were required to be actively working or a part of tech-focused businesses or fields. Their backgrounds, in either education or work experience, needed to be in science, tech, engineering, or math. For women who hold C-suite positions to be considered, their work must have demonstrated hands-on tech experience.

While this honor spotlights the tech industry, the scoring for candidates fell into three metrics that are all foundational to management and business. The metrics evaluated include leadership (position in the company, field, or industry), financial impact (company or product revenue, market impact, or funding), and general influence (impact analyzed within the context of each woman’s field).

In a technology-driven world where innovation is moving industry faster than ever, it is evident, even within the metrics for recognizing the top women in tech, that established business and management skills are key to successfully leading in any discipline.

Of the 50 women recognized globally in Forbes’ Top 50 Women In Technology, 30 percent have had some form of business education from an AACSB-accredited institution. These 15 women are using their passion for tech to build businesses, foster innovation, and usher in a new generation of female leaders in both technology and business:

• Sarah Clatterbuck, Director of Engineering, Google
  • Undergraduate degree in advertising, University of San Francisco
• Jules Coleman, Founder and CTO, Resi
  • Undergraduate degree in economics and finance, University College Dublin
  Rana el Kaliouby, CEO and Co-Founder, Affectiva
  • Undergraduate degree in business administration, The American University in Cairo
• Jenny Griffiths, Founder, Snap Fashion
  • Executive Education, London Business School
• Amy Jadesimi, Managing Director and Founder, LADOL
  • MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business
  Leanne Kemp, Founder and CEO, Everledger
  • Executive Education, Harvard Business School
• Komal Mangtani, Senior Director, Uber
  • Berkeley-Haas MBA, Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley
• Helena Samsioe, Founder and CEO, GLOBHE
  • Undergraduate degree in international management, Florida Southern College Barney Barnett School of Business and Free Enterprise
• Christine Spiten, Co-Founder, Blueye Robotics
  • Graduate degree, The Norwegian Entrepreneurship Programme, University of California Berkeley
  • Noor Sweid, Founder, Global Ventures
    • Undergraduate degree in finance and economics, Boston College Wallace E Carroll School of Management 
    • MBA, MIT Sloan School of Management
  • Magali Vaissiere, Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications, Head of ECSAT, ESA
    • MBA, ESSCA Ecole de Management 
  • Corinne Vigreux, Founder, CODAM College, Co-Founder, TomTom
    • Undergraduate degree in business administration, ESSEC Business School
  • Charity Wanjiku, COO and Co-Founder, Strauss Energy
    • Executive education, Babson Executive Education, Babson College F W Olin Graduate School
  • Michelle Zatlyn, COO and Co-Founder, Cloudflare
    • MBA, Harvard Business School
  • Jennifer Zhu Scott, Principal and Co-Founder, Radian Partners
    • MBA, Manchester Business School