With technology advancing rapidly into every aspect of our lives, the mission to make women seen and heard in the industry is more important than ever. Chief Technology Officers are responsible for the effective integration of technology into firm strategy. It is through them that product vision is communicated and realised. In other words, a highly influential position within the industry that requires diverse representation.

It is a sad yet predictable fact that the role of CTO is still vastly dominated by men. You’d think with the strong push towards innovation and groundbreaking technologies, the issue of gender equality would be a simple one to solve. Sadly, that hasn’t been the case. 

With technology being one of the largest and most future-proof industries out there, it is important that women are not being sidelined. We can’t lie, compiling this list of female CTOs wasn’t easy but that is what makes each woman on this list stand out. Today we present to you 7 women CTOs that everyone should follow into 2022 and beyond. 

Michelle Tian | Passionfroot

As a founder and CTO with an immigrant background, economic upward mobility and building an inclusive society is a core element of Michelle and Passionfroot’s mission. 

A browser-based, no-code, tool that helps clients keep track of their projects, clients and cashflow, Passionfroot was co-founded by Michelle Tian and Jen Phan only earlier this year and yet is already making substantial waves. Raising an impressive 3 million EUR in a pre-seed round, the largest for a European creator economy startup at that stage, half of Passionfroot’s angel investors are women or people from underrepresented minority groups. We love to see it.

Nina Buffi | OSPIN 

Dr. Nina Buffi is CTO and Co-CEO of OSPIN, a technology-enabling company in the field of cultured meat. Nina helped build the company from scratch offering custom solutions for bioprocess automation and digitisation in the fields of tissue engineering, cell-therapy, and cultivated meat. 

Micro engineer by training, Nina was fascinated by the interaction between engineering and biology during her PhD, during which she developed a biosensor for the detection of arsenic in water. To her credit, she has been featured among the women pioneering the cultured meat field and is an inspiration to those in her industry and beyond.

Maria Meier | Phantasma

Previously working as a software engineer, Maria suffered from a lack of fulfillment. Keen to carve out her own space in the industry, after meeting her co-founder Ramakrishna Nanjundaiah she went on to launch Phantasma Labs in 2018, a company modeling human motion through AI for safety critical applications.

With a master’s degree in Computer Science from TU Munich and having worked at Oracle in the US and startups in Berlin as a Backend Engineer, Maria has experienced the tech industry from all angles. And it is not only us who have recognised her as one to watch. She is also a winner of the 2019 SheLovesTech competition in Beijing, China, the world’s largest startup competition for women and tech.

Amine Ünal | ZkSystems 

Coding since the age of 12, Amine built her first website at the age of 13 when many of us were still messing around on chat rooms and online games. 

Going on to work as an IoT and Cloud Computing software developer at T-Systems in Berlin, Amine faced the problem of intricate IT integrations first-hand. Setting herself the challenge of trimming down the complexity, she founded ZkSystems, enabling easy and secure entry into equipment-as-a-service for leading industrial manufacturers, where she has held the position of CTO since 2018. 

Vidya Mani | Nuri

Blockchain based banking platform, Nuri, appointed Vidya as CTO earlier this year. With over 20 years of experience in the tech industry, prior to joining Nuri Vidya served as Vice President of Engineering at Ripple, reading enterprise blockchain solutions for global payments. 

With extensive experience in numerous dimensions of tech leadership and expertise in blockchain and crypto, Vidya is not only a valuable asset to any company but an inspiration to anyone working in a traditionally male-dominated industry. Recognising her achievements, she was named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Women in Payments in 2020 by PaymentsSource. 

Steinunn Arnardottir | Lottie

Co-founder and CTO of Lottie, a unique tablet experience aimed to change the way young kids experience technology, Steinunn boasts over 10 years of experience within the Music Tech industry. 

Prior to Lottie, Steinunn worked on digital tools for music creators and DJs and led engineering teams at Native Instruments. Her experience as a parent of two made clear the gap in the market for a safe space where children can be creators and learners in the digital world. Deciding to fill this gap, Lottie was born. 

Luise Linden | Ratepay 

With an educational background in Computer Science, Luise started her career as a Java Engineer. Working in the role of consultant at BCG PLATINION and Accenture before moving to fintech company Ratepay, over the past 10 years Luise has worked her way up the ladder from Director of Product and Development to the position of CTO and Managing Director. 

In her role she is responsible for the back office and in charge of product engineering, IT infrastructure and IT service operations, ensuring the development and 24/7 operation of Ratepay products. 

Want to read more about leading women in technology in Europe? Check out our 5 CTO’s In Amsterdam To Watch In 2022 here.