We just read Forbes‘ list of 100 Most Innovative People in Business and found one woman. Then we saw Sarah Robb O’Hagan’s Hey Forbes Here’s 99 innovative women you forgot and Big Speak’s 99 More Innovative Women in Business. Then reviewing the recent The Thinkers50 Ranking where 13 women (out of 53 – Much better but still a lot of room for growth) were highlighted, we knew we needed to celebrate more women in innovation (again!).
Our first list of Women in Innovation was 2019 Watch list: Women in Innovation. Also check out our most recent publication 2021 Watch List: Women in Innovation.
Our 2020 Watch List: Women in Innovation is made up of 35 women who are making an impact both Inside and Outside the organization, in large corporations and small startups. These are the innovation thought leaders shaping innovation through research and publications, as well as working with the biggest corporations and the fastest startups on the planet.
Some of these incredible women are friends, while others are innovative leaders we hope to connect with. Our new 2020 Watchlist list doesn’t include innovators from last year’s list, in order to make space and highlight more incredible innovative women
Inside Innovators
Women who work inside companies or are closely aligned to a corporation or organization in a consultative role.
Featured on Inside Outside Innovation Podcast / Summit
- Zainab Ghadiyali is Product Lead at Airbnb, after serving at Facebook and co-founding wogrammer, a non-profit changing the way stories are told about women in STEM. Inside Outside Innovation Summit 2019 VIDEO
- Larissa Maranhao is the first employee at Brex, a startup Unicorn launching the first of its kind credit card for startups. Inside Outside Innovation Summit 2019 VIDEO
- Jasmine Kingsley is the Vice President of Legal and People at hudl, a sports video technology company. She was formerly a technology and IP transactions attorney in the Valley. Inside Outside Innovation Summit 2019 VIDEO
- Nancy Wang is head of product AWS data protection and founder and CEO of Advancing Women in Product (AWIP). She was formerly with Google. Inside Outside Innovation Podcast Ep. 174 @NancyZWant
- Swetha Pb is the Co-founder and Head of Product at SAP’s hiring startup Brilliant Hire. Inside Outside Innovation Podcast Ep. 175
- Jana Eggers is CEO of Nara Logics, a company focused on Artificial Intelligence. Inside Outside Innovation Podcast – Ep. 135 @jeggers
Innovative Women We Hope to Interview
- Suzanne Borders is CEO and Co-founder of Bad VR, a startup that democratizes insight with an immersive data analytics platform. @SuzanneBorders
- Lauren Golembiewski is CEO and Co-founder of Voxable, an agency that designs and develops chatbots and voice interfaces, as well as advising companies about how they can most effectively leverage AI. @LaurenGolem
- Gwen Lighter is the Founder & CEO of GoFly. She leads a network of over 3,600 innovators from 103 countries creating a multitude of personal flying devices. @GoFlyPrize
- Ayah Bdeir is CEO and Founder of littleBits, a company creating STEAM solutions for hands-on creative learning. Medium Article @ayahbdeir
- Poppy Crum is the Chief Scientist at Dolby Labs. She is dedicated to developing immersive technologies that leverage human physiology and perceptual realities. @poppycrum
- Sarah Nahm is Founder and CEO of Lever, a startup focused on talent recruitment. She was formerly with Google.
- Christine Kelly is the Managing Director for Innovation & Design at Singularity University.
- Laura Hyde-Page is the Director of Innovation at Salesforce.
- Stacey Brown Philpot is the CEO of TaskRabit and sits on the board of Nordstroms and HP. She previously held positions at Google.
- NEW* – Valerie Swatkow is Chief Development Officer of Blue Impact (formerly Vision7 International), a founder of Elevate, and helped launch NewCo in Toronto.
- NEW* – Dr. Zayna Khayat is Future Strategist with SE Health, a health and social impact enterprise and Faculty of Singularity University’ Exponential Medicine stream.
Outside Innovators
Women who serve as innovation consultants to both corporations and startups, in addition to providing innovation thought leadership as authors.
Featured on Inside Outside Innovation Podcast
- Nada Sanders is a Professor at Northeastern University and co-author of The Humachine: Humankind, Machines, and the Future of Enterprise. Inside Outside Innovation Podcast – EP. 171
- Gretchen Anderson is Director at the Katzenbach Center at PwC’s Strategy& and co-author of The Critical Few: Energize Your Company’s Culture by Choosing What Really Matters – Inside Outside Innovation Podcast – EP. 143
- Katherine Radeka is the founder and executive director of the Rapid Learning Cycles Institute. She is the author of High Velocity Innovation, The Mastery of Innovation: A Field Guide to Lean Product Development, and The Shortest Distance Between You and Your New Product: How Innovators Use Rapid Learning Cycles to Get Their Best Ideas to Market Faster. @Kradeka – Inside Outside Innovation Podcast – EP. 183
- Jennifer Brown is an LGBTQ opera singer turned CEO of an inclusion + diversity consultancy. Author of How to Be An Inclusive Leader. Inside Outside Innovation Podcast – EP. 178
- Audrey Crane – Partner at DesignMap and Author of What CEOs Need to Know about Design – @audcrane. Inside Outside Innovation Podcast – Ep. 187.
Innovative Women We Hope to Interview
- Rita Gunther McGrath is author of The End of Competitive Advantage and Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen and a professor at Columbia Business School. @rgmcgrath.
- Patty McCord is the Former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix, Principal at Patty McCord Consulting, and Author of Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility @PattyMccord1
- Debbie Madden is the CEO of Stride Consulting and Author of Hire Women: An Agile Framework for Hiring and Retaining Women in Technology – @debbiemadden200
- Diana Wu David is author of Future Proof: Reinventing Work in the Age of Acceleration, former Financial Times executive, and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School’s EMBA Global Asia. Recent Fast Company Article @dianawudavid
- Liz Bywater is the author of Slow Down to Speed Up: Lead, Succeed, and Thrive in a 24/7 World and a leadership expert who works at the intersection of business and psychology. @drlizbywater
- Amy Edmondson is author of The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth and Harvard Business Professor. @AmyCEdmondson
- Lisa Bodell is CEO of FutureThink and author of Why Simple Wins and Kill the Company: End the Status Quo, Start an Innovation Revolution. @LisaBodell
- Liz Wiseman is President of the Wiseman Group, a management research and executive development firm, and Author of Multipliers, The Multiplier Effect, and Rookie Smarts @LizWiseman
- Linda Hill is the co-author of Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation & Becoming a Manger: How New Managers Master the Challenges of Leadership, co-founder of Paradox Strategies, and Harvard Business School Professor.
Venture Capitalists/Government/Non-Profit Innovators
These thought leaders provide significant guidance as investors and advisors.
- Selina Troesch Munster is a Senior Associate at Touchdown Ventures focused on digital health, media, and marketing. She spent her early career at Barclays in New York. Inside Outside Innovation Summit 2019 VIDEO @SelinaTroesch
- Christie Pitts is an early-stage investor at Backstage Capital and co-founder of Backstage Studio. Inside Outside Innovation Summit 2019 VIDEO. @imchristiepitts
- Lauren Robinson is Partner at HighlineBETA and Executive Director at FemaleFunders @LR_ventures Inside Outside Innovation Summit VIDEO
- Sara Hudson is author of The Government Fix, having previously served as a fellow in New America’s Public Interest Technology program and the Department of Justice. Inside Outside Innovation Summit VIDEO
- Olivia O’Sullivan is the Head of Corporate Engagement at Acceleprise, a B2B SaaS accelerator. Inside Outside Innovation Podcast EP. 152 @sullyL9
- Aileen Lee is Founder and Managing Partner of @CowboyVC. She was previously with Kleiner Perkins. @aileenlee
Do you agree with these Women in Innovation? Who did we miss?
Let us know at brian@insideoutside.io
New* – We’ve added a few more women in innovation that have been sourced from our readers. Thanks for helping to strengthen the women in innovation community.
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