Relating to startups, females are making strides on various fronts.
For instance, the US has seen a surge of ladies selecting the trail of entrepreneurship. In response to the 2024 Affect of Girls-Owned Companies report there are 14 million women-owned companies, using almost 12.2 million folks and producing $2.7 trillion in income. This makes up a complete of 39.1% of all U.S. companies.
Knowledge additionally means that feminine entrepreneurs have a robust affect on different areas of the office. A landmark world research discovered that female-owned companies empower different ladies and make use of extra ladies on common than male-owned companies.
But regardless of these optimistic modifications, gender-based discrimination within the company office is definitely on the up after years of progressive change. The Younger Girls’s Affiliation discovered that office discrimination towards ladies hit a three-year excessive in 2024.
Once we zone into the tech sector, the image will get extra advanced nonetheless. Regardless of ongoing initiatives to encourage extra ladies to review for and take part within the historically male-dominated STEM industries, solely 27% of feminine college students stated they’d contemplate a profession in expertise, in comparison with 61% of males.
To deal with this actuality head-on, it’s necessary to spotlight feminine tech leaders who maintain influential positions as we speak. From progressive founders bettering healthcare outcomes in psychological well being to the C-Suite executives main formidable applications, these 10 feminine executives are serving to to speed up motion by way of the energy of their work in 2025.
1. Yoona Kim, Co-Founder and CEO at Arine
A San Francisco-based Stanford alumni, Yoona Kim created Arine to resolve the issue of treatment mismanagement throughout the healthcare continuum. Arine makes use of information science and medical experience to develop evidence-based applications that optimize remedy, cut back errors and enhance outcomes.
Yoona spearheaded a way that delivers significant medical service applications that ship the fitting intervention, for the fitting affected person, on the proper time by partnering with world-class information scientists and engineers with knowledgeable clinicians. This method builds on a long time of expertise in healthcare and outcomes analysis that led Yoona to turn into a healthtech founder.
Her work affords an inspirational instance of the highly effective impression that tech firms with a need to drive optimistic change can obtain.
2. Priyanka Srinivas, Co-Founding father of DE3PBIO
Priyanka Srinivas is an instance of a feminine entrepreneur working to deal with a number of challenges without delay.
A part of the Dwell Inexperienced Co, DE3PBIO harnesses AI-ML and large information to revolutionize the manufacturing of Energetic Purposeful Substances, delivering sustainable options at unprecedented pace, scale, and effectivity.
As the corporate’s co-founder, Priyanka is leveraging expertise to deal with each environmental issues and enhance well being and well-being in human populations by way of progressive meals options with tailored precision.
For instance, DE3PBIO just lately launched human breast milk fat utilizing precision fermentation. These yeast-derived lipids mimic the distinctive composition of human breast milk fats, not like conventional toddler system that depends on vegetable oils devoid of brief and medium chain fatty acids. This dedication to precision fermentation is pivotal in enhancing client well being and decreasing ecological footprints throughout numerous industries.
3. Elizabeth (Liz) Rafferty, Ness Digital Engineering
Elizabeth Rafferty is the International Chief Folks Officer at Ness Digital Engineering, a full-lifecycle digital engineering agency with a worldwide attain.
Rafferty, an achieved HR chief with expertise in expertise {and professional} companies, started with Ness in October 2024 following a profitable tenure at Dentsu.
At Ness, Rafferty is spearheading the corporate’s progress technique by enhancing folks and cultural practices, setting a forward-looking HR imaginative and prescient, and highlighting the strategic significance of personnel.
Extra broadly, this method implies that Rafferty is constructing pathways to furthering firm tradition that helps staff members in the way forward for work.
4. Grace Chang, Founder and CEO at Kintsugi
As a five-time entrepreneur, Grace Chang isn’t any stranger to the world of tech startups. Her deep background in client conduct and merchandise pushed by tech led to the creation of Kintsugi.
Kintsugi is the end result of Grace’s work growing novel voice biomarker software program to detect indicators of medical despair and nervousness from brief clips of free-form speech. With an API-first platform, Kintsugi Voice embeds into current medical workflows and aids clinicians in real-time.
Psychological well being is as necessary as bodily well being, but it surely usually goes undiscussed or unexamined. In response to analysis claims by Kintsugi, 1 in 6 folks undergo from some type of hostile psychological well being situation, with 1 in 3 younger folks reporting having nervousness.
As the corporate’s founder and CEO, Grace helps to deal with this big psychological well being burden by leveraging the ability of expertise.
5. Sarah McGarr, Sim Native
Sarah is an government at Sim Native, a worldwide eSIM firm. As a business astute director with experience throughout income administration and possession of full buyer KPIs, McGarr is central to the technique at Sim Native.
She represents an influential determine that helps to work towards the underrepresentation of ladies in management roles. Moreover, a latest research on tech options for feminine vacationers emphasised the significance of authentication, location detection, and sensing applied sciences to enhance security. One among Sim Native’s core objectives is to empower vacationers by guaranteeing seamless and dependable cellular connectivity.
With eSIM options, vacationers can connect with native networks instantly upon arrival, avoiding the effort of bodily SIMs or costly roaming charges. This enhanced connectivity offers peace of thoughts, making enterprise and private journey extra accessible and safe.
6) Shagun Malhotra, SkyStem
Shagun Malhotra is the CEO and Founding father of SkyStem, and has lengthy been acknowledged for her contributions to the fintech {industry}. She can also be a speaker for Quick Trac, a Kauffman Basis program and the NY Enterprise Plan Competitors Awards ceremony.
This builds on Shagun’s profession as an authorized CPA, CIA and skilled auditor and course of advisor. Shagun began her profession in public accounting and has labored in Fortune 100 firms akin to Marriott and Freddie Mac. Her work centered totally on inner controls and threat mitigation in each worldwide and home arenas.
With a ardour for seeing how inner controls and programs will help to mitigate enterprise threat, Shagun based SkyStem in 2009 to supply an industry-wide resolution to the guide account reconciliation processes that had main implications to enterprise compliance.
7. Norelle Executed, Viking Pure Options
Norelle Executed is an executive-level marketer and Director of Advertising at Viking Pure Options, which is a sustainable cleansing expertise firm that installs and maintains proprietary electrolyzed water turbines at faculties, hospitals, senior dwelling communities and different business services.
These programs produce all-natural, licensed natural, hypoallergenic, and Inexperienced Seal-certified cleansing and disinfecting options on demand, utilizing simply salt, water and electrical energy.
By decreasing the quantity of single-use plastics coming from the cleansing {industry} and the quantity of poisonous chemical substances relied on to wash and disinfect, Norelle is utilizing her eager experience in advertising and marketing to information business shoppers in direction of extra sustainable decisions, enacting change for the setting at scale.
8. Laura Hernandez, Supply Meridian
With years of expertise in administration and staff constructing, Laura Hernández is a Product Supervisor at Supply Meridian and excels at main high-performance groups, selling collaboration, and driving skilled progress.
Laura Hernández is a passionate chief relating to expertise improvement with the tech {industry} and at present leads specialist tasks at Supply Meridian in well being compliance to drive the way forward for healthcare software program options.
At Supply Meridian, Laura advises firms on vital certifications akin to SOC 2, HITRUST and HIPAA whereas actively contributing to tasks centered on enterprise growth, constructing a powerful firm tradition, and growing merchandise which have a significant impression on sufferers’ lives.
9. Alexandra Hudak, SQream
Alexandra Hudak is the Director of Strategic Alliances at SQream, a knowledge acceleration firm on the forefront of machine studying infrastructure options.
Hudak is a lifelong tech fanatic who holds a deep ardour for constructing strategic alliances and fostering collaboration throughout groups. She has intensive expertise in growing progressive co-sell methods together with the launch of companion applications which have generated important new enterprise alternatives alongside {industry} giants like NVIDIA, Oracle, and AWS.
Hudak can also be an everyday speaker at Oracle Knowledge & AI Boards, performing as {industry} thought chief for AI and information analytics. Her work affords a first-rate instance of a visionary feminine tech chief driving outcomes with an alternate method.
10. Ana Aguilar Pérez, <IMPACT> Accelerator
Ana Aguilar Pérez is a Venture Supervisor at <IMPACT> Accelerator, the startup accelerator the place startups, public establishments, and companies work collectively to vary the world.
Pérez takes a number one function in managing each nationwide and worldwide initiatives, specializing in enterprise acceleration applications and EU-funded tasks. She is chargeable for driving the success of Acelera Startups, supporting dozens of startups by way of tailor-made progress methods, and taking an lively function in mentorship and coaching.
On a European degree, Pérez leads the technique for RoboSAPIENS, an EU-funded venture geared toward maximizing visibility, engagement, and long-term impression. Via these various contributions, Pérez not solely helps to convey ahead progressive new startups however creates pathways to vary to construct the way forward for work.