Announcing the 2017 ABIE Award Winners

At AnitaB.org, we celebrate and highlight the success of women technologists and those who support women in tech. Our ABIE Awards honor these distinguished women and those who view technology innovation as a strategic imperative. Through their achievements, contributions, and life stories, the ABIE Award winners demonstrate that each of us has the power to improve our world, individually and collectively.

We honor the accomplishments of women in computing at our annual Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC). Our ABIE Award winners will speak at GHC 17, which will be held October 4-6 in Orlando, Florida, and will share their incredible accomplishments and inspiring stories.

Learn more about each ABIE Award and our 2017 winners below.

Diane Greene — Technical Leadership ABIE Award

Sponsored by Qualcomm
The Technical Leadership ABIE Award recognizes women technologists who demonstrate leadership through their contributions to technology and achievements in increasing the representation of women in tech. This year’s winner, Diane Greene, is a trailblazer for women technologists, whose innovation and leadership have earned her numerous awards. She is the co-founder of VMware and now leads Google’s cloud business.
Read more about Diane.

Mercedes Soria — ABIE Award for Leadership

Sponsored by Liberty Mutual Insurance
The Leadership ABIE Award recognizes a woman who has served in a significant leadership role in advancing technology, with a strong focus on increasing women’s representation and success in the field. This year’s winner, Mercedes Soria, joined Deloitte in 2002 as a Senior Software Engineer, leading the Knowledge Management team. She worked with the most cutting edge technologies at that time, and was the only female in a team of 40 people.
Read more about Mercedes.

Dr. Laura Mather — ABIE Award for Technology Entrepreneurship

Sponsored by Neustar
The ABIE Award for Technology Entrepreneurship recognizes a woman who is the builder of an innovative, ground-breaking, and game-changing technology venture startup (within a larger organization or not). This year’s winner, Dr. Laura Mather, is an engineer and entrepreneur. Laura is an expert in cybersecurity, HR technology, nudge technology, and machine learning. She built her career creating innovative software solutions for the National Security Agency (NSA) and eBay.
Read more about Laura.

Dr. Aysegul Gunduz — Denice Denton Emerging Leader ABIE Award

Sponsored by Microsoft
The Denice Denton Emerging Leader ABIE Award recognizes a junior faculty member for high-quality research and significant positive impact on diversity. This year’s winner, Dr. Aysegul Gunduz, is a tenure-track Assistant Professor conducting groundbreaking translational research at University of Florida (UF). She and her team develop diagnostic and therapeutic tools and devices that identify and characterize neurological disorders in human patients.
Read more about Aysegul.

Dr. Marie desJardins — A. Richard Newton Educator ABIE Award

Sponsored by Juniper Networks
The A. Richard Newton Educator ABIE Award recognizes educators who develop innovative teaching practices and approaches that attract girls and women to computing, engineering, and math. This year’s winner, Dr. Marie desJardins, is a Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs of the College of Engineering and Information Technology at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She is known for her dedication to mentoring, diversity, outreach, and innovative education practices.
Read more about Marie.

Mehul Raje — Student of Vision ABIE Award

Sponsored by FactSet
The Student of Vision ABIE Award honors young women dedicated to creating a future where the people who imagine and build technology mirror the people and societies for which they build it. This year’s winner, Mehul Raje, has supported other young women in tech through various means, including directing the YouTube series « The Spectacular Female. »
Read more about Mehul.

Dr. Sue Black OBE — Social Impact ABIE Award

Sponsored by Hackbright Academy
The Social Impact ABIE Award recognizes a woman whose work is making a positive impact on women, technology, and society. This year’s winner, Dr. Sue Black, is an award-winning computer scientist, radical thinker, and social entrepreneur. She is well known for founding the high profile campaign to save Bletchley Park, the site of World War II code breaking, capitalizing upon social media as a fitting continuation on Bletchley’s technological legacy.
Read more about Sue.

Marie Claire Murekatete — Change Agent ABIE Award

Sponsored by Google
The Change Agent ABIE Award honors an outstanding international woman (non-U.S. resident with an emphasis on developing countries) who created or expanded opportunities for girls and women in technology. This year’s winner, Marie Claire Murekatete, was a vice president of a masterminding cycle called GIRLS IN ICT Rwanda (an International Telecommunication Union “ITU” led initiative) in 2013.
Read more about Marie Claire.