The Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020 shines a spotlight on the women leading innovation in financial services. Now in its 6th year, the Powerlist has increasingly attracted a global audience, resulting in applications and nominations from around the world. The 2020 iteration shines a spotlight on 200 women across 7 categories.

A select number of women were chosen for the ‘Standout 35’ distinction by a panel of independent judges. Innovate Finance called on the FinTech ecosystem to nominate and submit applications, and received nearly 1000 responses, highlighting that there is certainly no lack of female talent within the sector!

We want to congratulate everyone for their hard work and achievements and hope to see you all again for next year’s Powerlist.

Powerlist sponsored by:

Celebratory Event Sponsored by:

Supported by:

“Our FinTech sector has so many outstanding female role models – from founders, investors and investment bankers, to start-up entrepreneurs and technology experts – and it’s important that we take the time to honour and celebrate all of those at the forefront of change. Diversity and inclusion is at the heart of our work at Innovate Finance, and each year it’s an honour to curate the Powerlist and spotlight the amazing women innovators across our industry.

“As our sector grows and matures, we will constantly strive to attract a diverse pool of talent across the FinTech ecosystem. The women celebrated today will not only be integral to the success of the future of FinTech, but will be key to inspiring the next generation of female leaders.”

– Charlotte Crosswell, CEO, Innovate Finance

Standout 35 Stars

A select number of women were chosen for the ‘Standout 35’ due to their outstanding contribution to FinTech, these ladies were selected by a panel of independent judges. Our Standout 35 will be revealed live during out Powerlist launch event today at 17:00 GMT!

Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020

Celebrating the female leaders and innovators transforming financial services across a broad range of roles.

Senior Leaders
Rising Stars
Professional and Financial Services
Technology Professionals
Policymakers & Regulatory Experts
Investors
Marketers & Communicators

Senior Leaders

Senior leaders truly driving forward change within the FinTech space, above and beyond their day-to-day role. They have excelled in their career, but are also passionate about helping others make progress in theirs – through mentoring, setting up support groups to share experiences or voluntary work.

Claire Altman, Chief Corporate Officer, Smart Pension

Nicola Anderson, CEO Fintech Scotland, Fintech Scotland

Benedetta Arese Lucini, CEO, Oval Money

Teana Baker-Taylor, General Manager, UK Crypto.com

Randa Bennett, CEO, VeeLoop Ltd

Sofie Blakstad, CEO, hiveonline

Francesca Carlesi, Co-founder and CEO, Molo

Alex Cesar, Chief Technology Officer, Refinitiv

Helen Child, Co-founder and CEO, Open Banking Excellence

Chryssi Chorafa, COO, Kalgera

Lynda Coker, Commercial Director, Volt Bank

Megan Cooper (Caywood), Managing Director, Head of Digital Strategy, Barclays

Sabrina Del Prete, Founder & CEO, Kore

Seema Desai Chief Operating Officer, iwoca

Joanne Dewar, Chief Executive Officer, Global Processing Services (GPS)

Marieke Flament, CEO, Mettle

Sophie Guibaud, Chief Growth Officer, OpenPayd

Gabrielle Haddad, Founder & COO, Sigma Ratings

Jess Houlgrave, Chief of Staff, Checkout.com

Caroline Hughes, CEO, Lifetise

Alison Hutchinson, CEO, Pennies

Marilena Ioannidou, Director, British Business Investments (BBI)

Bahea Izmenga, Chief Operations Officer, Greensill

Lisa Jacobs, Europe Managing Director, Funding Circle

Seema Khinda Johnson, Co-founder & COO, Nuggets

Magdalena Krön, Rise Global FinTech Platform Director, Barclays

Lee Ann Lancaster, Chief Growth Officer, Mama Money / Chairperson, African Women in Fintech and Payments Southern Africa / Non Executive Board Member, 88 Business Collective

Geilan Malet-Bates, Founding Director, Plenitude

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh, CEO, Akoni Hub Limited

Roxana Mohammadian-Molina, Chief Strategy Officer, Blend Network

Zianah Muddu, Engagement Partner, Financial Technology Services Providers Association

Neeta Mundra, Banking Financial Services Evangelist, Salesforce

Thish Nadesan, Chief Operating Officer, Cleo AI

Elena Novokreshchenova, Executive Vice President, International Remitly

Louise O’Shea, CEO, Confused.com

Diana Paredes, Co-Founder and CEO, Suade Labs

Erin Platts, Head of EMEA & UK President, Silicon Valley Bank

Loral Quinn, CEO and Co-founder, Sustainability

Misha Rao, Global FinTech Advisor, Shearman & Sterling / Founder, Haus of FinTech

Sonal Rattan, CTO and Co-Founder, eXate

Clare Reilly, Chief Engagement Officer, PensionBee

Samantha Seaton, CEO, Moneyhub

Sneha Shah, Managing Director Business Accelerator, Refinitiv

Joanne Smith, Founder and Executive Chair, Recordsure Ltd and TCC Ltd

Gaye Soykok, CPO, Pension the Pennies

Ruth Spratt, Senior Director, Zip

CJ Tayeh, Founder & CEO, Flank Digital

Tiffany Teng, Head of Sales Operations, OakNorth

Davinia Tomlinson, Founder, Rainchq

Michelle Tran, Co-Founder, NYC FinTech Women

Valeria Vahorovska, Co-Founder and CEO, Fondy

Tanya Van, Court CEO, Goalsetter

Dr Ruth Wandhofer, Fintech leader, VC Partner, Chair and expert in the field of banking, regulation and transaction banking

Jemma Waters, Head of Responsible Transformation, Lloyds Banking Group

Natasha Wear, P2P CEO, Zopa

Stacie Whisonant, CEO and Founder, Pay Your Tuition Inc.

Sarah Williams-Gardener, CEO, FinTech Wales

Waki Yoneoka, Managing Director, Japan Moneythor

Gemma Young, Founder, Women of FinTech

Rising Stars

Dedicated to Catherine Wines.

From relative newbies determined to make their mark as a future FinTech leader or a role models for the industry, they have hit the ground running and gone beyond their job description. Their contributions to successful projects, innovative ideas and other standout achievements has set them apart.

Mary Agbesanwa, PwC Fintech Scale Programme Lead, PwC

Naomi Alexander Naidoo, Head of Community and Communications, Finance Innovation Lab

Tania Asimionesei, Senior Front End Engineer, Checkout.com

Thaslima Begum, Founder & CEO, TEEK TAKA

Ariane Bouche, Founding team – sales and partnerships, StepEx

Claire Devilard, Product Manager, Salary Finance

Hannah Forbes, Founder, The Funding Crowd

Arianna Gasparri, Financial Inclusion Specialist, United Nations Capital Development Fund

Louise Harvey, Senior Associate, Seedrs

Rachel James, Manager Future of Financial Market Infrastructure Policy, Bank of England

Rebecca Jones, Customer Delivery and Strategic Account Manager, Trade Ledger

Clare Joy, Senior Strategy and Expansion Manager, Onfido

Leena Kalani, Senior Consultant, Cognizant

Roisin Levine, Head of Banks, Flux

Nina Mohanty, Strategy & Expansion at Klarna / Steering committee at Refugee Action Network, Klarna

Veronika Ostreyko, Commercial and Strategy Manager, Funding Circle

Gabriela Piccone, Co-Founder, SlightPay

Claudia Pravettoni, Product Growth Specialist, Oval

Monica Punjabi, Chief Operating Officer, Finllect Ltd.

Eishel Quinn, Chief Product Officer and co-founder, Sustainability

Tamara Quinn, Operations Manager, Salary Finance

Rituja Rao, IT Consultant – Project Manager Sparta, Global

Carolina Serra, Senior Manager – New Ventures Group, Visa

Luvleen Sidhu, Co-Founder and CEO, BankMobile

Rosie Turner, Co CEO, InChorus

Shaketa Welch, KYC Team Lead – London, Tide

Professional & Financial Services

Professional and financial service professionals that are championing FinTech within their respective teams. They are the inhouse specialist, the go-to for the latest in FinTech trends and an influential voice on sector innovations and diversity in finance.

Kate Bohn, Accelerator & Incubator Lead, Lloyds Banking Group

Louise Brett, Partner & Head of FinTech and Financial Services Innovation, Deloitte

Martyna Budzynska, Senior Legal Counsel, Tide

Betty Encinales, Mentor, Fintipay Becruit

Annette Evans, VP People & Culture, Global Processing Services (GPS)

Seema Farazi, Partner, EY LLP

Laura Farnworth, General Counsel, Atom Bank

Fiona Ghosh, Head of Fintech Partner, Addleshaw Goddard LLP

Jacqui Hatfield, Partner, Head of Financial Services Regulatory, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (UK) LLP

Yasmin Johal, Associate, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP

Rachel Kent, Partner, Hogan Lovells

Anita Kimber, Partner, Transformation Leader, EY

Sharon Lewis, Global Head of Financial Institutions and Insurance, Hogan Lovells

Yuelin Li, VP Strategy, Onfido

Rita Martins, FinTech Partnerships Lead, HSBC

Sue McLean, Partner, Baker McKenzie

Donna Parisi, Partner and Global Head of Financial Services and FinTech, Shearman & Sterling LLP

Mireia Reyes, Mas HR Manager, Smart Pension

Sophie Theen, Chief People & Customer Operations Officer, Oakam

Feven Woldu, Global Bank Transformation, SVP, Wells Fargo

Technology Professionals

These ladies are striving to make a contribution in the heart of the Tech part of FinTech. From designing or implementing complex software packages, to making a really innovative contribution to their firm’s systems or processes, they are taking technology to the next level.

Marwa Adawy, Technology Lead, Yielders

Jen Anderson, Chief Technology Officer, incuto

Ruth Anderson, Head of Lending, Starling Bank

Ashlea Atigolo, Co-founder, INATIGO

Theresa Bercich, Head of Product Management, Lucinity

Kerstin Gleie, Director Digital Products Architect Lead, Visa

Lisa Grahame, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, Global Processing Services (GPS)

Sophie Hamilton, User Experience Designer, NatWest

Tara Hofton, Software Engineering Manager, Aire

Sharon Kean, Senior Product Director, and Head of International Expansion, Wise

Anna Maria Ksiezopolska, Head of Data Science, InCube

Swati Lay, CTO, Funding Circle

Michelle (Seng Ah) Lee, AI Ethics Lead, Deloitte UK

Alejandra M. J. Litterio, Chief Research Officer and Co-founder, Eye Capital Ltd.

Svetla Marinova, Partner Development Manager, Amazon Web Services

Ashleigh Petrie, Head of Product, Moneybox

Nicole Pilsworth, Engineer, Starling Bank

Isabel Pitt, Lab Product Owner – Payments & e+ Delegated NPO, Lloyds Banking Group

Amanda Pun, Product Manager, Homeppl

Manu Sood, Head of Engineering, Salt Lake City Varo Bank

Teresa Wu, Head of Android Engineering, Tide

Policymakers & Regulatory Experts

FinTech is growing up and with adulthood comes responsibility! We are celebrating the women in regulation, government affairs and policy, who play a vital role in encouraging innovation.

Yasmeen Al Sharaf, Head of FinTech & Innovation Unit, Central Bank of Bahrain

Sophia Bantanidis, Head of regulatory strategy and policy Citi TTS innovation lab, Citibank

Jo Ann Barefoot, CoFounder and CEO, Alliance for Innovative Regulation

Sholthana Begum, Senior Manager, Regtech, Bank of England Bank of England

Jessica Bilcock, Public Policy and Vulnerability Manager, Monzo

Kat Cloud, UK Policy Lead, Plaid

Franscesca Dowling, Head of Compliance, Amaiz

Jennifer Duncan, Vice President – Government Innovation, Mastercard

Meryem Duygun, Professor, Aviva Chair in Risk and Insurance, University of Nottingham

Ana Isabel Gallego, Government and industry affairs manager, London Stock Exchange Group.

Jasmin Harper, Policy & Engagement Advisor, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Francesca Hopwood, Road Head of RegTech & Advanced Analytics, Financial Conduct Authority

Joanna Jenkins International Compliance Director in Growth & New Markets Railsbank

Cordelia Kafetz Head of Financial Risk Starling Bank

Natalie Ledward Head of Vulnerability Monzo

Olivia-Kelly LONKEU Policy Analyst, Digital Finance United Nations Capital Development Fund

Lynn McConnell Compliance Head UK Binance Markets Limited

Suchitra Nair Director Deloitte LLP

Marloes Nicholls, Head of Programmes Finance Innovation Lab

Victoria Roberts, Director of Fintech Delivery Panel, Tech Nation

Nicole Sandler, Head of Digital Policy, Barclays

Catherine Walpole, Head of Financial Crime Strategy, Starling Bank

Investors

Playing a key role in changing the current funding environment for women founders and entrepreneurs, these ladies are encouraging companies to take their innovative ideas to the next stage.

Smita Aggarwal, Global Investments Advisor, Flourish Ventures

Yvonne Bajela, Principal and founding member, Impact X capital

Paula Blazquez, Solano Head of Investments InnoCells, Bank Sabadell

Monica Brand Engel, Founder/Partner, Quona Capital

Pauline Brunel, Investment Manager, Blackfin Tech

Briehan Burke, Principal, Keen Venture Partners

Jennifer Byrne, CEO & Co-Founder, Quesnay Inc.

Elizabeth Davis, Investor, Anthemis Group

Isabelle Gallo, Partner, Breega

Tricia Kemp, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Oak HC/FT

Ellen Logan, Associate, Augmentum Fintech

Cecilia Lundborg, Senior Associate, Hedosophia

Peggy Mangot, Operating Partner, PayPal Ventures

Laviva Mazhar, Investment Associate, Luge Capital

Gloria Monfrini, Venture Partner, Redbus

Emily Morse, Principal, Actis Capital

Deepali Nangia, Venture Partner, Cosmic and Co

Lois Ollerenshaw, Venture Partner, Nationwide Building Society

Katie Palencsar, Investor, Venture Studio Lead, Anthemis

Kristina Söderberg, Investment Manager SEB, AB

Emma Steele, Investment Director, Ascension Ventures

Angela Strange, General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

Kristy Trieste, Chief Financial Officer, Motive Partners

Katherine Wilson, Venture Investor, Illuminate Financial

Sophie Winwood, Investor, Anthemis Group

Marketers & Communicators

From commanding the authoritative voice of their organisation, to sharing key insights that go beyond traditional media, these women play an important role in showcasing the value of FinTech to the world.

Jag Chana, Head of Marketing, EY

Nicola Cowburn, Director & RegTech/RiskTech Champion, Finarama Marketing

Nim Haas, Co-founder & Director, TechFuse

Georgia Hanias, Founder, Ecology Media

Georgie Hazell, Head of Engagement, Augmentum Fintech plc

Lucy Heavens, Marketing Director, Wealth Dynamix

Natasha Jones, Head of Communications & Policy, Funding Circle

Sarah Kocianski, Head of Research, 11:FS

Odette Maher, Head of Global Communications, Symphony Communication Services

Madhvi Mavadiya, Head of Content, Finextra

Filippa Noghani Sr, Director of Marketing and Communications, Banking and Chair, Marketing Virtusa and NYC Fintech Women

Payal Raina, Founder, FinTech B2B Marketing

Erin Renzas, SVP Marketing, Checkout.com

Katy Ringsdore, Head of Media Relations, LOQBOX Savings Limited

Tina Valand, Partnerships Director, Encompass Corporation

Charlotte Wilkinson, Creative Director, Zopa

Laurel Wolfe, VP Marketing, Mambu

Angela Yore,

Managing Director & Co Founder, Sky Parlour

Judges

Innovate Finance called on the FinTech ecosystem to nominate and submit applications and received nearly 1000 responses, highlighting that there is certainly no lack of female talent within the sector! Getting the Powerlist down to 165 females, and selecting the Standout 35 is never an easy job. We are grateful to our independent external support, and to our judges to help us make that final selection. All the inspiring women profiled on the Powerlist 2020’s Standout 35 Stars were selected by our esteemed panel of judges. All the inspiring women profiled on the Powerlist 2020’s Standout 35 Stars were selected by our esteemed panel of judges, from equality champions to industry leaders.

Become A Sponsor Of The Women In FinTech Initiative

Innovate Finance has a number of opportunities to work with partners to deliver the Women in FinTech Initiative. Get in touch and learn more about becoming a sponsor.

Sponsor Opportunities

“As our sector grows and matures, we will constantly strive to attract a diverse pool of talent across the FinTech ecosystem. The women celebrated today will not only be integral to the success of the future of FinTech, but will be key to inspiring the next generation of female leaders.”

Standout 35 Stars

Senior Leaders

Rising Stars

Professional & Financial Services

Technology Professionals

Policymakers & Regulatory Experts

Investors

Marketers & Communicators

Judges

Amy French

Magdalena Krön

Ezechi Britton

Russ Shaw

June Angelides MBE

Stephen Ingledew

Become A Sponsor Of The Women In FinTech Initiative