Diverse problems require diverse solutions. The role of a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) is to be responsible for managing and driving value from technology within an organisation. A problem-solver if you will. Therefore, issues arise when problems are faced all from a singular (ahem, male) perspective. 

In order to effectively solve problems and shape our society the tech industry needs to accurately represent our society, a large proportion of which identify as women. Seems obvious right? Sadly, women CTOs are currently few and far between. Which is what makes the women on this list stand out from the crowd. 

Slowly but surely the tables are turning and the tech industry is recognising and promoting more women into leadership roles. Breaking new ground, here are 5 women CTOs based in Amsterdam that you should be following. Thank us later.

Victoria Bunyard | IBM 

With a background in Systems Engineering, inspired by her fathers career as a Royal Navy engineer, Victoria has spent much of her career driving technical transformations. She was welcomed into the position of CTO at IBM in July 2020, having been at the company for over 13 years. Her motto? It is not about how great the tech is, but about how great we can be when we are backed by great tech. 

Victoria recently completed a Masters in Systems Thinking in Practice, encouraging holistic thinking across all dimensions of technology transformation, including political, social, environmental and economic. Technology can be the answer, she says, but only when we truly understand the question.

Chahna Gosrani | Swapfiets

With over 12 years’ experience in e-commerce and marketplace companies, Chahna has moved between start-up, corporate and scale-up. After completing her MBA in Management at Harvard Business School, she co-founded a management consulting start-up, from there moved to Ebay, and now holds the CTO title at Swapfiets. 

Anyone who has spent a little time in Amsterdam will be familiar with the tell-tale blue tyres. But for anyone who isn’t familiar, Swapfiets is a Dutch micro-mobility subscription service, renting out bikes, scooters and e-bikes to its members. Since she has been with the company, Chahna has seen it expand into five new countries. And we thank her for it. 

Lethabo Motsoaledi | Voyc

Co-founder and CTO, Lethabo is the brains behind the speech analytics AI software VOYC, a software that monitors calls from customers to companies to make sure every question or complaint is handled satisfactorily. Originally founded in South Africa, the startup moved to Amsterdam to conquer the European Market and proceeded to win Accenture’s innovation competition, Blue Tulip Awards. 

Celebrated as one of South Africa’s brightest up-and-coming stars, in 2017 she was awarded Mail and Guardians prestigious 200 young South Africans award. She is also included on the list of South Africa’s fifty most Inspiring Women in technology by The Kingdom which is Netherland’s InspiringFifty SA initiative, has been profiled in Destiny Magazine’s 40 most influential women in business under 40, and ranked the 11th most influential young South African in 2017 in the 100 Most Influential Young South Africans poll by Avance Media. Lethabo has also been featured in Forbes Africa’s 2018 cover story as one of Africa’s Generation-Z Disruptors in the technology space. An impressive CV by anyone’s standards.

Jantien Herfst | Superflow

Founded in 2019 by Jantien Herfst and Mei Ling Tan, Superflow came into existence through their first company, House of Einstein – an online personal shopping service for men. Superflow aims to bring personal shopping to large-ecommerce platforms, with the ambition to become the global market leader in subscription technology. 

As CTO, Jantien heads the tech side of the business, powering the B2B SaaS gross sales platform. Unsurprisingly, her role has claimed her a well-deserved spot on The Next Women top 100 of female entrepreneurs to watch in 2020. 

Anca Stefan | Creative Fabrica

Discovering her love of maths and coding at an early age, Anca’s career has taken her all the way from junior programmer to CTO and co-founder at Creative Fabrica – a social and digital marketplace for the global crafting community. Coming from a design background, Anca struggled to find the perfect assets when designing. So she decided to fix the problem herself.

Creative Fabrica’s mission? To change the way people consume digital assets. Boasting over 4 million products from over 10.5 thousand designers, the platform provides a close-knit ecosystem for crafters with inspiration, resources and tooling for a spectrum of craft verticals.