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NO MORE EXCUSES FOR ALL-MALE PANELS: A List of 240 Women Who Can Speak at Your Next Tech Event!

August 29, 2019
240 women who can speak at your event ban the manels

I recently logged into LinkedIn to find yet another spammy InMail message from someone trying to sell me something. Shocker. Unlike most that go straight to trash, however, this one caught my attention: it was a free invitation for the Girl Geek X team and our community to attend a local tech conference!

Sounds pretty cool, huh? We love having the opportunity to share relevant networking opportunities with the Girl Geek X community, and as a team tasked with hosting and selling out 40+ tech events every year, we’re naturally curious about what others in the event space are doing — especially when it comes to showcasing diverse perspectives on stage!

But once I clicked over to the site and saw the male-dominated speaker list, and manel after manel on the agenda, my interest and excitement quickly turned to disappointment.

Among the 14 speakers, the lone woman stood out like a sore thumb, and the totality of the situation spoke volumes about the priorities of the company producing the event. They clearly wanted women to attend (hence the comped tickets), but they weren’t willing to put them on stage.

Yuck.

For perspective, several members of the Girl Geek X team helped build the SaaStr brand, home to the leading conference for the cloud, hosting upwards of 10,000 founders & execs from SaaS companies at their annual event in addition to multiple smaller events throughout the year. While working together at SaaStr, we shared a team-wide mission of making our events as inclusive as possible. Our first event was pretty sad from that perspective, but once we prioritized it, the diversity both on stage and in the audience improved each year, achieving a ratio of about 30% women speakers in 2016, over 45% in 2017, and 50% in 2018.

We know it’s possible to be inclusive at scale without sacrificing content quality — because we’ve done it.

Here at Girl Geek X, we very much depend on our mission-aligned partners and event hosts to invite women of diverse backgrounds to speak at their events, and we aim to keep the events we produce ourselves as balanced as possible. The ratios aren’t always quite where we’d like them to be, but during the planning of each event, we encourage our partners to prioritize diversity and give the mic to women who aren’t often invited to hold it.

Over the past 10 years, Girl Geek X has provided a forum for more than 1,000 women and non-binary tech innovators to speak at our events. Accomplished and experienced women leaders are out there. They’re ready to share their learnings with the world, and the world WANTS to hear from them!

It’s time for event planners and speakers across the industry to make inclusivity and speaker diversity a priority, so that we all have the opportunity to learn from and celebrate their accomplishments.

The next time you’re planning an event, consider inviting speakers from varied backgrounds, aim for a gender-balanced speaker lineup, and ensure that you’re including people of varying levels of experience. Racism, sexism, ageism, sizeism, and ableism all rear their heads when we look at the speaker lineups we’re accustomed to seeing, and each deserves consideration. 

As an individual, when you are invited to speak or are applying to speak at an event, think about which of your colleagues might make a good co-panelist, and take the initiative to include them. 

Below, we’ve put together a list of some of our favorite female and non-binary speakers from our database to help make your job of building a diverse speaker lineup just a little bit easier.

Here are 240 women leaders, managers and experienced senior technologists you can invite to speak at your next technology event, conference, or webinar… which means that content strategists and speaker managers have NO MORE EXCUSES for all-male panels!

240. Citlalli Solano

Director, Engineering
Palo Alto Networks

239. Claire Hough

VP, Engineering
Apollo GraphCLV

238. Kelly Vincent

VP, Product
Intuit

237. Lisa Q. Fetterman

CEO & Founder
Nomiku

236. Laura Adint

VP, Operations
Workday

235. Arquay Harris

Director, Engineering
Slack

234. Jenny Ji

VP, Design
BuildingConnected

233. JJ Tong

Technical Enablement Program
Okta

232. Margaret Reeves

VP, Product
SquareTrade

231. Angie Chang

CEO & Founder
Girl Geek X

230. Elena Verna

Advisor

229. Elizabeth Eady

Infrastructure Engineer
Truss

228. Sruthi Gottumukkala

Network Operations Center Engineer
Box

227. Vanessa Aranda

Security Analyst
Gap

226. Shirley Wu

Director, Product Science
23andMe

225. Minette Norman

VP, Engineering Practice
Autodesk

224. Jennifer Anastasoff

Founding Member
U.S. Digital Service

223. Minji Wong

Leadership Development
At Her Best

222. Jessica Egoyibo Mong

Senior Software Engineer
SurveyMonkey

221. Amanda Wixted

Software Engineer & Founder
Meteor Grove Software

220. Arshia Khan

Senior Software Development Engineer
Amazon Music

219. Estelle Weyl

MDN
Mozilla

218. Jin Zhang

Director, Product Management
Amazon

217. Mitchell Baker

Executive Chairwoman
Mozilla

216. Ishita Majumdar

Director, Product Management
eBay

215. Shivani Rao

Senior Applied Researcher
LinkedIn

214. Tanya Holland

Chef, Owner
Brown Sugar Kitchen

213. Melissa McCreery Reeves

Founder
The Muse

212. Latha Ramanan

Principal Product Manager

211. Shayani Roy

Director, Product
SurveyMonkey

210. Beth Andres-Beck

Engineering Manager
Long-Term Stock Exchange

209. Donna Boyer

VP, Product
Stitch Fix

208. Altovise Ewing

Medical Science Liaison, Genetic Counselor
23andMe

207. Cynthia Chu

Director, Engineering
MyFitnessPal

206. Bonnie Shu

Product Compliance Manager
Harbor

205. Melanie Tory

Staff Research Scientist
Tableau Software

204. Gretchen DeKnikker

COO
Girl Geek X

203. Vidya Setlur

Engineering Manager
Tableau Software

202. Omayeli Arenyeka

Software Engineer
LinkedIn

201. Kinnary Jangla

Engineering Manager
Pinterest

200. Danae Ringelmann

CDO & Founder
Indiegogo

199. Lori Kaplan

Head of Design, Cloud Migrations
AtlassianCathy Southwick

VP, Engineering

198. Christine Loh

VP, Product
Square

197. Neha Narkhede

Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer
Confluent
C

196. Carlye Bartel

Global Vice President, Solutions Consulting
SugarCRM

195. Lerk-Ling Chang

VP of Strategic Ventures
Guidewire

194. Genefa Murphy

VP, Marketing
Micro Focus

193. Diyang Tang

Data Scientist
PlanGrid

192. Michelle Hulst

VP, Marketing & Strategic Partnerships
Oracle

191. Ruth Mesfun

Founder
People Of Color In Tech

190. Muna Hussain

DevSecOps
PayPal

189. Stephanie Hannon

Chief Product Officer
Strava

188. Wini Hebalkar

VP, Supply Chain & Operations
SquareTrade

187. Carenina Garcia Motion

Technical Program Manager
Netflix

188. Athellina Athsani

Director, Engineering Operations
Qualcomm

187. Jame Ervin

Marketing
Marqeta

186. Liane Hornsey

Chief People Officer
Palo Alto Networks

185. Rija Javed

CTO
MarketInvoice

184. Rashmi Sinha

CEO & Co-Founder
SlideShare

183. Kathy Zwickert

CPO
NetSuite

182. Helen Vaid

CCO
Pizza Hut

181. Sukhinder Singh Cassidy

President
StubHub

180. Susan Gregg Koger

CCO & Co-Founder
ModCloth

179. Renée James

CEO & Founder
Ampere

178.May Bakken

Director, Engineering Operations
BMC Software

177. Viola Olayinka

Manager
Twilio

176. Poornima Vijayashanker

CEO & Founder
Femgineer

175. Liz Howard

CTO
Enki

174. Susan Repo

VP, Finance

173. Liz Allen

Manager, IT Operations
Zendesk

172. Nancy Fu Magee

VP, Product
InVision

171. Diane M. Bryant

COO
Google

170. Nisha Dwivedi

Manager, Sales Engineering
Amplitude

169. Melissa Guyre

VP, Product
Yummly

168. Nupur Srivastava

SVP, Product
Grand Rounds

167. Gayathri Rajan

VP, Product
Google

166. Pavni Diwanji

VP
Google

165. Katelin Holloway

VP, People
Reddit

164. Emerald Maravilla

Director, Sales Development
Sift Science

163. Lyndsey Williams

Solutions Architect
Welkin Health

162. Maria Kaval

VP, Engineering
Oracle

161. Aldona Clottey

VP, Premier Agent Platform
Zillow Group

160. Claudia Gold

Data Scientist
Patreon

159. Shannon Lietz

Director, Engineering
Intuit

158. Natasha Taymourian

Systems Engineer
Cisco

157. Cara Marie Bonar

Offensive Security Lead
Datadog

156. Kate McKinley

Security Partner
Facebook

155. Revathi Subramanian

Managing Director
Accenture

154. Pratibha Rathore

Data Scientist
Autodesk

153. Nan “Iris” Wang

Data Scientist
LinkedIn

152. Niha Mathur

Group Manager, TPM Developer Infrastructure
Facebook

151. Ashley Bradley

Project Coordinator
Restoration Hardware

150. Dipti Vachani

VP, Engineering
Intel

149. Christine Fradenburg

Director, Digital Brand Marketing
Sanrio

148. Sandia Ren

VP, Professional Services
Guidewire

147. Katie Jansen

CMO
AppLovin

146. Mada Seghete

Co-Founder & Head of Marketing
Branch

145. Laurie Cremona Wagner

VP, Marketing
SAP

144. Tracy Young

CEO & Founder
PlanGrid

143. Usha Jasty

VP
CA Technologies

142. Raji Arasu

SVP, Platform
Intuit

141. Renée McKaskle

CIO, SVP
Hitachi

140. Brigitte Donner

VP, Dreamforce Conference
Salesforce

139. Dina McKinney

SVP, Engineering
Cypress Semiconductor

138. Stephanie Leong

Director, Marketing
Evernote

137. Sukrutha Bhadouria

CTO
Girl Geek X

136. Laura Miele

CSO
Electronic Arts

135. Suzanne Pilkington

CFO & Head of HR
Yummly

134. Caroline Roth

VP, Engineering
Salesforce

133. Laura Adint

VP, Operations
Workday

132. Reena Mathew

VP, Engineering
Salesforce

131. April Underwood

CPO
Slack

130. Anna Bethke

Head of AI for Good
Intel

129. Jennifer Wong

VP, FPGA Product Development
Xilinx

128. Robin Ducot

CTO
SurveyMonkey

127. Sarah Nahm

Founder & CEO
Lever

126. Miriam Aguirre

VP, Engineering
Skillz

125. Claire Vo

VP, Product
Optimizely

124. Sophia Yen

CEO & Co-Founder
Pandia Health

123. Amy O’Connor

CDIO
Cloudera

122. Aubrey Blanche

Global Head of Diversity & Belonging
Atlassian

121. Julie Shin Choi

VP Marketing & GM
Intel AI

120. Julia Hartz

CEO & Co-Founder
Eventbrite

119. Jennifer Taylor

Head of Product
Cloudflare

118. Aicha Evans

CSO
Intel

117. Leyla Seka

EVP
Salesforce

116. Catia Hagopian

SVP, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer
Xilinx

115. Shawna Wolverton

SVP, Product Management
Zendesk

114. Diane M. Bryant

COO
Google

113. Yinyin Liu

Data Science
Intel

112. Anicia Santos

Sales Engineering Lead
Looker

111. Sangita Fatnani

Distinguished Data Scientist
Walmart Labs

110. Jayodita Sanghvi

Director of Data Science
Grand Rounds

109. Amy Lee

Senior Data Scientist
C3

110. Vanitha Kumar

VP, Engineering
Qualcomm

109. Gwen Tillman

VP, HR
AppDynamics

108. Nancy Lee

VP, Marketing
Khan Academy

107. Annie Ding

VP, Product
Khan Academy

106. Heidy Kurniawan

Senior UX Designer
Realtor.com

105. Haiyan Song

SVP, Security Markets
Splunk

104. Kathy Scheirman

SVP, IT
Kaiser Permanente

103. Renee Reid

Senior UX Design Researcher
LinkedIn

102. Annie Conn

Senior Experience Designer
ThoughtWorks

101. Paula Tolliver

VP, CIO
Intel

100. Autumn Brown

Senior Director, 3P Content Strategy & Partnerships
Electronic Arts

99. Muna Hussain

DevSecOps
PayPal

98. Tanya Loh

VC Partnerships
Microsoft

97. Robyn Reiss

Operations
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

96. Meera Bhatia

COO
Stella & Dot

95. Amy O’Connor

CDIO
Cloudera

94. Jess Lee

Partner
Sequoia Capital

92. Priscilla Hung

COO
Guidewire

91. Jennifer Li

Investment Partner
Andreessen Horowitz

90. Selina Tobaccowala

CEO & Founder
Gixo

89. Haiyan Song

SVP, Security Markets
Splunk

88. Jamesha Fisher

Infrastructure Engineer
Splice

87. Nisha Muktewar

Data Scientist
Cloudera

86. Ceslee Montgomery

Data Scientist
Stitch Fix

85. Katherine Barr

Founding Partner
Wildcat Venture Partners

84. Jacqueline Brown

Director, Engineering
Workday

83. Erin Boyle

Data Scientist
Stitch Fix

82. Gowri Grewal

Senior Director, Sales and Solutions Engineering
Twilio

81. Chloe Pak

Manager, Sales
BuildingConnected

80. Sabrina Eldredge

VP, Product
POPSUGAR

79. Sue McKinney

VP, Engineering
Cloudera

78. Caroline O’Mahony

Chief of Staff
Addepar

77. Cyan Banister

Partner
Founders Fund

76. Linda Tong

VP of Innovation Labs & Product Experience
AppDynamics

75. Krista Moatz

Founder & Executive VP of Culture & Corporate Citizenship
POPSUGAR

74. Inhi Suh

VP, GM
IBM

73. Elena Verna

SVP, Product & Growth
Malwarebytes

72. Fiona O’Donnell-McCarthy

VP, Product
Daily Harvest

71. Geysa Dantas

Senior Director, Product Management
AppDynamics

70. Jennifer Ruth

VP, Customer Success
Optimizely

69. Madhu Kochar

VP, Engineering
IBM

68. Ali Rayl

VP, Customer Experience
Slack

67. Diane Gonzalez

VP, Engineering
Amazon

66. Samantha Bufton

VP, Product
SurveyMonkey

65. Heather Wells

VP, Engineering
Zendesk

64. Beth Gilbert

Director, Customer Development
Appfolio

63. Win Chang

Director, CX
Oracle

62. Ann Lee

EVP
Genentech

61. Brenda O’Kane

VP, Software Development
The Walt Disney Company

60. Alejandra Meza

Director, UX Design
Stella & Dot

59. Erica Weiss Tjader

VP, Product Design
SurveyMonkey

58. Alyssa Henry

VP, Seller
Square

57. Kim Williams

Director, Experience Design
Indeed

56. Shirley Xiao

UX Designer
Indeed

55. Jaya Kolhatkar

VP, Engineering
Walmart Labs

54. So Yun Jin

UX Designer
IXL Learning

53. Terry Roberts

UX Designer
Tableau Software

52. Minette Norman

VP, Engineering Practice
Autodesk

51. Jaime Yuen

VP, Corporate Controller
SugarCRM

50. Andrea Wagner

Manager, Product Design
Facebook

49. Elham Ghassemzadeh

VP, Product
Oracle | NetSuite

48. Karen Leonard

Director, Xbox Console Development

47. Julia Austin

Senior Lecturer
Harvard University

46. Altovise Ewing

Medical Science Liaison, Genetic Counselor
23andMe

45. Jen Grant

CMO
Looker

44. Catherine Aurelio

Product Design Manager
Facebook

43. Suju Rajan

VP, Research
Criteo

42. Samihah Azim

Product Design
Lyft

41. Meagen Eisenberg

CMO
MongoDB

40. Lynnette Bruno

VP, Communications
Zillow Group

39. Faryl Ury

Product Marketing
Dropbox

38. Maggie Law

Director, Product Design
Okta

37. Dominique Ward

Design Operations Lead
Atlassian

36. Connie Fong

VP, Marketing
Care.com

35. Wintha Kelati

Marketing, Growth
Lyft

34. Diane Gonzalez

VP, Engineering
Amazon

33. Mary Ann Gallo

CCO
Hitachi

32. Tara Roth

VP, Engineering
Microsoft

31. Fiona O’Donnell-McCarthy

VP, Product
Daily Harvest

30. Sahana Ullagaddi

Marketing
One Medical

29. Lin Wu

VP, Global Head of Assay& Platform Development
Roche

28. Jenny Lam

VP, UX Design
Oracle

27. Jennifer Ruth

VP, Customer Success
Optimizely

26. Nina Mehta

Lead Designer
Stripe

25. Zhen Zeng

Design Manager
Uber

24. Patricia Nakache

General Partner
Trinity Ventures

23. Molly Q. Ford

Director, Marketing
Salesforce

22. Kristen Leach

Senior Product Designer
Etsy

21. Sara Ortloff Khoury

Director, UX Design
Google

20. Aynne Valencia

Chair, Interaction Design Program
California College for the Arts

19. Chloe Bi

Product Data Scientist
Yummly

18. Alice Lee

Product Designer
Dropbox

17. Erica Weiss Tjader

VP, Product Design
SurveyMonkey

16. Cindy Gomez

CEP
Carta

15. Jenna Walker

Managing Director, Sustainability
TechStars

14. Valerie Vargas

SVP, Marketing
AT&T

13. Jenny Gonsalves

VP, Engineering
Lyra Health

12. Mary Gendron

CIO, SVP
Qualcomm

11. Laurel Fullerton

Electronic Design Engineer
Tesla

10. Julie Zhuo

VP, Product Design
Facebook

9. Julie Larson-Green

CEO
Microsoft

8. Ari Horie

CEO & Founder
Women’s Startup Lab

7. Erin Yang

VP, Product Management
Workday

6. Isaura Gaeta

VP, Engineering
Intel

5. Lakecia Gunter

VP, Programmable Solutions Group
Intel

4. Sandra E. Lopez

VP, Sports
Intel

3. Staci Slaughter

EVP, Communications
SF Giants

2. Jenny Cheng

VP, Professional Services
PayPal

1. Sheila Lirio Marcelo

Founder, Chairwoman & CEO
Care.com

Didn’t find what you were looking for, or want to make your agenda even stronger?

The Girl Geek X Speaker Database features over 1,000 women in technology and leadership roles who have spoken at past Girl Geek X events. Use the category toggles on the left to filter by role or function, and identify speakers who are ready to share their insights and experiences with your audience!

Do you have a favorite woman in tech or in a leadership role that you’d like to recommend to those slotting speakers for their events? Send us your suggestions as a reply to this article on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook, and we’ll include them in our next speaker roundup!


Author

Amy Weicker - Head of Marketing at Girl Geek X

Amy Weicker is the Head of Marketing at Girl Geek X, and she has been helping launch & grow tech companies as a marketing leader and demand generation consultant for nearly 20 years. Amy previously ran marketing at SaaStr, where she helped scale the world’s largest community & conference for B2B SaaS Founders, Execs and VCs from $0 to $10M and over 200,000 global community members. She was also the first head of marketing at Sales Hacker, Inc. (acquired by Outreach) which helps connect B2B sales professionals with the tools, technology and education they need to excel in their careers.

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