Women Tech Awards 2024
Hannah Neilson provides a recap of the 2024 Women Tech Awards that celebrated and honored the contributions of women and men across Utah's tech sector.
Ecosystem
Last week, in celebration of innovation and female leadership in Utah, technology leaders across the state gathered at the Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City to honor the trailblazing women in tech in the state at the annual Women Tech Awards.
The Women Tech Awards was instituted by the Women Tech Council (WTC), a national organization that focuses on women’s economic impact in the technology sector through developing programs that propel the economic pipeline from K-12 to the C-suite. The WTC has been offering 10,000+ men and women working in tech mentoring, visibility, opportunities, and networking to create business environments focused on inclusivity and high performance.
The awards spanned various categories, including Rising Stars, Leadership Excellence, and Community Impact, each recognizing different facets of contribution to the tech industry. To be nominated for these awards, each recipient had to contribute in fields consisting of education, science, engineering, fintech, and other industries. They also awarded other individuals both, male and female who have supported the initiative of empowering and recognizing women.
Notable awards and recipients include the following women:
- Tech Accelerator - Atim Enyenihi (Strategic Industry Advisor for Technology and Innovations, Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development)
- Pathway Champion - Bonnie Anderson (Associate Dean for Faculty and Research; Distinguished Professor of Information Systems, Brigham Young University)
- Operational Excellence - Diane Acevedo (SVP Operations and CX, Gabb Wireless)
- Cybersecurity Leadership - Jami Hughes (SVP Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Zions Bancorporation)
- Visionary Trailblazer - Jessica Elwell (Chief Operations Officer, OxEon Energy)
- Data Innovator - Marissa Saunders (Sr Director, Data Science, Recursion)
- Education Transformation - Xinru Page (Associate Professor, Graduate Committee Chair; Director Social Technology and Privacy Lab, Brigham Young University)
To give recognition to those making impact in their early careers, the Women Tech Awards honored seven Rising Stars:
- Alankrita Priya (Product Manager, Entrata)
- Alexandra Crandall-Evans (Vice President, Goldman Sachs)
- Gabi Tellez (Managing Director Utah, Innovation Fund)
- Jaimi Pinnock (Staff QA Engineer, Vivint)
- Madalyn Schulte (Associate, Goldman Sachs)
- Miriah Peterson (Co-Organizer, Go West Conference)
- Sarah Schuster (Johnson Quantum Lead, PassiveLogic)
The following recipients were nominated for the Student Pathway Award:
- Angela Layton - Computer Science, University of Utah
- Cori Baille - Microbiology, Utah Valley University
- Cristina De La Vieja Medina - Mechanical Engineering, Utah Tech University
- Darby Dalton - Mechanical Engineering, Salt Lake Community College
- Makena Mecham - Data Science, Weber State University
- Mia McGuire - Computer Science, Brigham Young University
- Sierra Reynolds - Data Analytics, Utah State University
In addition to our younger award nominees, the Women Tech Awards honored:
- Alexandra Passi - Co-founder and CEO, Lucidity Sciences
- Amy Larson - President, Seekwell
- Ashlee Cowley - SVP Professional Services, Entrata
- Audra Yocom - Teacher, Computer Science and Information Technology, Pleasant Grove High School
- Bharathi Rajan - VP Enterprise Data and Applications, Swire Coca Cola
- Chandana Haque - Executive Director, Altitude Lab and Recursion
- Dana Ware - Chief Creative Officer, ARound
- Jessica Curran - VP Data Science and Analytics, Health Catalyst
- Karen Peterson - Chief Marketing Officer, Chatbooks
- Kat Judd - Chief People Officer, Lucid Software
- Margaret Woolley Busse - Executive Director, Utah Department of Commerce
- Misty Dawson - Owner and Principal Consultant, The Jupiter Group
- Shey Samson - Global Co-head Multimedia Operations Engineering, Goldman Sachs
The Decade of Impact Award honored individuals who have been engaged for over a decade, helping women succeed in Utah's tech sector. 30 individuals received Decade of Impact Awards:
- Alison Lutjemeier - Adobe
- Ambria Johnson - Adobe
- Aniza Brown - Rosie Project
- Ben Hart - Utah Inland Port Authority
- Candy Lucey - Cox Automotive
- Carine Clark - First Colony Mortgage
- Catherine Wong - Entrata
- Clint Betts - Silicon Slopes
- Dan Burton - Health Catalyst
- Daniel Horns - Utah Valley University
- Denise Leleux - Curbee
- Glen Mella - OliverIQ
- Heather Conlan-Katz - Goldman Sachs
- Jamie Dalton - Adobe
- Jamie Morningstar - Qualtrics
- Jefferson Moss - Utah Innovation Fund
- Jennifer Smith - Zions Bancorporation
- Jill Wiggins - Contentsquare
- Julie Kehoe - Domo
- Julie Simmons - Development Dimensions International
- Kim Wittman - Waystar
- Maile Keone - Listen Technologies
- Mandi Fang - Cox Automotive
- Sara Jones - InclusionPro
- Sid Krommenhoek - Album
- Stuart Adams - Utah Senate
- Sunny Washington - OrcaPanda
- Tami Goetz - Utah Stem Action Center
- Tara Rosander - Xceed Consulting
- Trina Limpert - Rize Next
- Val Peterson - Utah Valley University
- Vance Checketts - Auticon
- Vanessa Quigley - Chatbooks
As the Women Tech Awards continue to grow, they serve as a beacon of inspiration, encouraging more women to pursue and excel in technology.
