October 14, 2021

Honoring Women, Men, and Companies Making Strides in Data, AI, Inclusion, and Innovation.

Colonia, NJ, October 14 –

WLDA, an organization supporting women leaders in data and AI for an impactful future, is excited to announce the 49 individual nominees and 9 corporate nominees for the inaugural WLDA Awards. The awards celebrate inspiring individuals and companies who are creating, leading, and demonstrating innovation and inclusion in the fields of data & AI.

A recent study by Deloitte demonstrated that women leave the AI field at high rates due to a stalled career and lack of support. WLDA is highlighting people and companies focused on making a difference across these fields. “I launched WLDA to create a platform where women leaders in data and AI can prosper, where they can find the support that they need to build an inclusive, scalable world for women, and to create space for other women to join them,” said Asha Saxena, WLDA Founder & CEO.

“Now it’s more possible than ever before, to lift women and to recognize them, along with their allies, for their work and support” she added. Along with these incredible women, these awards allow us to celebrate men and corporations who empower and encourage their women colleagues.

The award finalists will be announced in the coming weeks and the winners will be announced Dec. 2, 2021 in NYC during the WLDA Awards Gala where we will be celebrating leaders and influencers in technology, data, and AI roles, across industries. For more information or to purchase tickets to the Awards Gala, please visit https://wlda.tech/awards/.

Awards Catagories:

• Best Motivator
• Changemaker
• Corporate Champion of the Year
• Rising Star
• WLDA Women Leaders of the Year
• Corporation of the Year

Nominees Across Catagories:

• Tasha Austin, Principal in Risk and Financial Advisory Services and Director of the AI Institute for Government, Deloitte
• Rehgan Avon, Founder and CEO, Women in Analytics
• Mai Aye, Senior Machine Learning Architect- Fuse, Cardinal Health
• Sathya Bala, Head of Global Data Governance, Chanel
• Julia Bardmesser, SVP, Head of Data, Architecture, and Salesforce Development, Voya
• Claire Benard, Data and Analytics Director,  Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Foundation
• Jack Berkowitz, Chief Data Officer at ADP
• Kori O’Brien, Senior Vice President, Global Consulting and SI Partners at Databricks
• Melanie Brown, Principal Insights and Data NA at Capgemini
• Captain Ronisha Carter, Artificial Intelligence Accelerator at the United States Air Force
• Margery Connor, Data Science and Analytics Advisor at Chevron
• Marcus Daley, Chief Technology Officer at S&P Global Ratings Division
• Melissa Drew, Associate Partner, Deloitte
• Dr. Arlene Espinal, VP AI, Analytics, Automation, ManTech
• Andrew Foster, Head of Data Governance – Americas, Deutsche Bank
• Virginia Gambale, Managing Partner, Azimuth Partners and Board Director, Virtu Financial
• Carl Gerber, Chief Data Officer, Deloitte
• Susannah Greenberg, Senior Vice President Digital IT and Data, L’Oreal
• Ron Guerrier, Global Chief Information Officer, HP Inc.
• Josephine Ho, Senior Customer Success Engineer, Databricks
• Cindi Howson, Chief Data Strategy Officer, ThoughtSpot
• Michael Kabella, Senior Director and Interim Chief Information Officer, Best Friends Animal Society
• Adita Karkera, CDO Executive Advisor, Deloitte
• Samta Kapoor, Managing Director, Accenture
• Natalia Lyarskaya, Chief Data Officer, ZestMoney
• Sadiqah Musa, Senior Data Analyst, The Guardian
• Chitra Narasimhachari, Head of Enterprise Analytics, Digital, and Data Science, Novartis
• Maria Nazareth, VP of Digital Financial Services, Cognizant
• Andrew Ng, Co-Founder, Chairman, Coursera
• Genevieve Oudar, Managing Director, Deloitte
• Jean Perez, Head of Data and Analytics, Collinson Group
• Michol Porter, Senior Connectivity Manager, Daimler Trucks North America
• Maggie Remynse, Director of Data Curriculum, Pluralsight
• Bharti Rai, VP and US Pharma Executive Committee, Novartis
• Tracy Ring, Managing Director, Deloitte
• Tina Rosario, Chief Data Officer, SAP
• Tamara Roust, Chief Data Officer, CFTC
• Colleen Ruane, Director of Analytics, SEI
• Noelle Silver, Chief Executive Officer, AI Leadership Institute
• JoAnn Stonier, Chief Data Officer, Mastercard
• Lynette Taylor, Data Analyst, Great Lakes Advisors
• Meenakshi Thanikachalam, Head of Data Labs, Data Solutions, Analytics,  Ally
• Tam Tran, Data Engineer Manager, Merkle
• Mark Urbanczyk, Principal in Analytics and Cognitive, Deloitte
• Eileen M. Vidrine, Chief Data Officer, US Department of the Air Force
• Priya Vijayarajendran, Vice President of Data and AI, Microsoft
• Maria C. Villar, Head of Enterprise Data Strategy and Transformation, SAP
• Sandra Wachter, Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow, Oxford
• Dr. Katia Walsh, Chief Global Strategy and AI Officer, Levi Strauss & Co.

Corporation of the Year

• Accenture
• Avanade
• Bank of America
• Chevron
• Deloitte
• Hubspot
• IBM
• L’Oréal
• Pfizer

ABOUT WLDA

Women Leaders in Data and AI, [https://wlda.tech], is a woman-run membership and mastermind circle organization for women leaders in the fields of data and AI. Our mission is to bring women together to lead at the forefront of innovation of data and AI, to create an impactful future.

The organization supports women leaders and provides one-of-a-kind opportunities to learn from their F1000 industry peers, find tech solutions, and solve tough data challenges while helping them develop personally and professionally.

Our events are designed to provide intimate and confidential, facilitated conversations in platforms where women leaders find support from one another, helping provide the inspiration they may not find elsewhere.

ABOUT ASHA SAXENA

Asha Saxena is the Founder and CEO of Women Leaders in Data and AI (WLDA), an exclusive mastermind group for women leaders in Data and AI, helping them succeed both personally and professionally. She is also a professor at Columbia University in NYC, teaching graduate students healthcare consulting and entrepreneurship, and is a partner with CEO International where she coaches CXO leaders.  

As a serial entrepreneur, she has built and sold three successful businesses. Most recently, she has served as CEO and Chairperson of Future Technologies Inc., a data management firm that provided warehousing, analytics, and intelligence services. She was also the CEO and Chief Innovation Officer of ACULYST, which provided best-in-class healthcare analytics services through a pre-built model that integrates clinical, financial, and operational data. Asha has served on a number of for-profit and nonprofit boards and is a contributor and international speaker on a variety of technology, data, AI, and women-related issues.

Apply for your exclusive membership now and learn more about us at https://wlda.tech.

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