10 Women in Tech You Should Know

Women’s history month is an opportunity to admire the work of women across all fields. We chose to showcase top women in the technology field that have made a difference in our society. Here are 10 women in tech you should know about:  

#1 Safra Catz: CEO of Oracle 

At the age of 6, Safra Catz immigrated from Israel to the United States. She attended University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and earned her Juris Doctorate degree from Penn Law. Catz began her career as a banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette where she worked her way up to managing director. She was later named senior vice president at Oracle. 

Catz started at Oracle as senior vice president in 1999 and joined the board of directors in 2001. She was named president of Oracle in 2004. Her most well-known acquisition was in 2014 when PeopleSoft, Oracle’s direct rival, was acquired for $10.3 billion dollars. 

In recent years, Safra Catz began teaching accounting at Stanford School of Business and was elected to the board of directors at Walt Disney Co. Catz is still the CEO of Oracle. 

#2 Susan Wojcicki: CEO of YouTube 

Susan Wojcicki has been in the tech industry for over 20 years. Wojcicki graduated with honors from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in history and literature. Susan played a major role in the founding of Google. She was the one who rented her Menlo Park, California garage to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in Google’s earliest days. She was involved in helping create Google and became their first marketing manager in 1999.  

Wojcicki was promoted to CEO of YouTube and has remained in that position since 2014. She has been involved in creating numerous applications like Google Books, Google Analytics, Google Images, and AdSense. Her net worth is currently $819 million dollars. 

#3 Gwynne Shotwell: President and COO of SpaceX 

President and COO of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell, started with the company in 2002. Shotwell oversees day-to-day operations and monitors company growth at the American space transportation company. 

Gwynne Shotwell is from Evanston, Illinois and grew up very interested in space. Her work has been recognized by many and she was named the 49th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2020. She was also included in the Time’s list as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world. In June of 2012, Shotwell was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame. 

#4 Katie Moussouris: CEO and Founder of Luta Security 

Founder and CEO of Luta Security, Katie Moussouris, has over two decades of experience working with businesses to achieve better cybersecurity. Her work with security systems has helped companies protect themselves against computer hackers.  

Big clients like Facebook, Zoom, and the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have all been clients of Luta Security. Moussouris also gained great recognition in 2016 for developing the first “bug bounty” program for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). Her incredible work within the security and tech industry has helped millions of people. 

#5 Hedy Lamarr: “The Inventor of WiFi” 

Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian American film actress and inventor. In 1942, she was awarded for her “secret communication system” with design help from George Antheil. They designed the frequencies for radios during the war, and these ideas eventually inspired the creation of WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014. 

#6 Annie Easley: “The NASA Rocket Scientist” 

Annie Easley was a NASA rocket scientist, computer scientist, and mathematician. She started her work at Lewis Research Center. At the time, she was only one of four Black employees at the Lab. 34 years later, her work in numerous programs has inspired many. 

Easley was a leading team member who helped develop the software for Centaur rocket stage. The centaur is a part of the spaceship that is used for propelling it into space. She was inducted into the Glenn Research Hall of Fame in 2015. On February 1, 2021, a crater on the moon was named after Annie Easley for her incredible legacy at NASA. 

#7 Radia Perlman: “The Mother of The Internet” 

Known as the ‘Mother of the Internet’, Radia Perlman invented the algorithm for Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), which made the creation of the internet possible. Her work also made it easy for internet users to organize and move data within the internet. She has inspired so many through her keynote speeches across the world. 

#8 Whitney Wolfe Herd: CEO and Founder of Bumble 

CEO and founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd launched her company in 2014 after previously working at Tinder. By 2015, Bumble had reached over 15 million conversations and 80 million matches.  

In 2020, Forbes ranked Herd 39th in its top 100 list of ‘America’s Richest Self-Made Women’ and in 2021 she became the youngest female billionaire. Bumble is currently worth over $1.5 billion dollars, and Herd maintains 11.6% share of her company.  

#9 Ellen Pao: Founder and CEO of Project Include  

Ellen Pao is the founder and CEO of Project Include. At a very young age, Pao learned how to code from her mother, who was a computer scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Pao attended Princeton University where she studied electrical engineering and earned her Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School. 

In 2013, Pao was the head of business development at Reddit. When she resigned in 2015, she founded Project Include with help from several other women in tech. This project’s mission is to prevent sexism and gender discrimination within Silicon Valley and improve diversity within major tech companies.  

#10 Anne Wojcicki: Cofounder and CEO of 23andMe 

Anne Wojcicki, sister of Susan Wojcicki, is the CEO and founder of the genetic testing company, 23andMe. At the start of her career, she was a Wall Street analyst, but then shifted career paths and enrolled in medical school. Her biological interests helped her create 23andMe, which launched in 2006. 

In 2018, GlaxoSmithKline put $300 million dollars into 23andMe which allowed the company to grow and gain more approval for genetic testing. This allowed more research to be completed for expanding drug discoveries for patients. Her work has allowed people to connect and know their family history at deeper levels.