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Yesterday, we highlighted three powerful and successful women in IT: Marissa Mayer (CEO, Yahoo!), Meg Whitman (CEO, HP), Virginia M. Rometty (CEO, IBM),
Today, we conclude our look by focusing on three more inspirational women who’ve taken the IT world by storm: Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Facebook), Susan Wojcicki (CEO, YouTube) and Martha Lane Fox (Chair, Go On UK, co-founder, Lastminute.com)
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook
**Occupation: **She is the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, and the first woman to serve as a member of Facebook's board).
Education: In 1987, Sandberg enrolled at Harvard College and graduated in 1991 with a B.A. in economics, and was awarded the John H. Williams Prize for the top graduating student in economics. In 1993 she enrolled at Harvard Business School and in 1995 she earned her M.B.A. with highest distinction.
IT and women influence: Before Facebook, Sandberg was involved in launching Google's philanthropic arm Google.org. After joining Facebook, Sandberg quickly began to figure out how to make Facebook profitable. Before she joined, the company was not that interested in building profits. But with Sandberg leading the firm's business operations, Facebook became quickly profitable. Sheryl Sandberg released her first book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, on March 11, 2013. The book sold more than one million copies and was on top of the bestseller lists since its launch. Lean In is a book for professional women to help them achieve their career goals and for men who want to contribute to a more equitable society.
**Honors: **In 2014, she was listed as one of the world's 100 most powerful women by Forbes. In 2012, Newsweek and The Daily Beast released their first "Digital Power Index," a list of the 100 most significant people in the digital world that year (plus 10 additional "Lifetime Achievement" winners), and she was ranked #3 in the "Evangelists" category. She was also ranked one of the 50 "Most Powerful Women in Business" by Fortune Magazine over 4 years. In 2007, she was ranked #19 on 50 "Women to Watch" by The Wall Street Journal. Sandberg was named one of the "25 Most Influential People on the Web" by Business Week in 2009.
Susan Wojcicki, Youtube
Age: 46
**Occupation: **CEO of YouTube. She was senior vice president of advertising at Googleand and now she heads up the Internet's central hub for all things video.
**Education: **Wojcicki studied history and literature at Harvard University and graduated with honors in 1990. She also received her master's in economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1993, and a Master's in Business Administration from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1998.
*IT influence: Wojcicki played a key role in Google’s creation story: In 1998, the company started in Susan's Menlo Park garage (she was actually Google’s 16th employee).*She grew within Google to lead the advertising and analytic products (AdWords and AdSense). She played an instrumental role in two of Google’s most important deals: the $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube in 2006, and the $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick.
Honors: She was named on Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. Wojcicki was named #1 on the Adweek 50 list in 2013.
Martha Lane Fox, Go On UK / Lastminute.com
Age: 41
**Occupation: **She is currently chair of Go On UK, a coalition of public and private sector partners that are helping millions more people and organisations online. She also co-founded in 2000 Europe’s largest travel and leisure website: lastminute.com. She’s the youngest female member of House of Lords, where she focused on the need for skills and understanding of the digital world in all parts of the UK economy.
Education: She was educated at Oxford High School, Westminster School and Magdalen College, Oxford, where she focused on ancient and modern history.
IT influence: 16 June 2009, she was appointed the UK Government's Digital Inclusion Champion to head a two-year campaign to make the British public more computer literate. She once said: *"I don't think you can be a proper citizen of our society in the future if you are not engaged online."*She was leading a drive to reach the nine million people in Britain who have never used the internet, attempting to get them signed up and aware of the benefits that the web can bring. She was a pioneer of the online transaction by creating lastminute.com, a world-leading business.
Honors: In 2013 Martha was awarded a member of The Order of the British Empire.
So there you have it: 6 incredibly successful and powerful women in IT who have been an inspiration for IT pros of BOTH genders. What do you think of our list? Are you a fan of any of these remarkable women? Let us know by commenting below!
