FedScoop announces 2016 list of D.C.'s Top 50 Women in Tech

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- FedScoop, the leading and fastest growing media company in government, released its annual list of D.C.'s Top 50 Women in Tech — the elite cadre of women transforming how the government uses technology.

This year's list includes a diverse group of innovators and leaders, including:

• U.S. Chief Technology Officer and White House advisor Megan Smith, who has used Silicon Valley experience to promote tech innovation and diversity in government and education.
• Department of Veterans Affairs Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and CIO LaVerne Council, who is putting veterans at the center of the department's $4 billion-a-year IT modernization efforts.
• Teresa Carlson, Vice President of global public sector for Amazon Web Services, who has helped lead government to the cloud.
• And Anne Rung, the government's chief acquisition officer, who is reshaping the way feds buy the technology they use.

FedScoop's annual D.C.'s Top 50 Women in Tech list recognizes the contributions of these and many other women. The list, which coincides with women's history month, highlights some of the best and brightest minds in federal IT, and whose leadership is credited with helping to improve how defense and civilian agencies achieve their missions.

In assembling this year's list, FedScoop's editorial staff interviewed top leaders across the federal government IT community, and drew from our daily reporting coverage, to gather nominations for our report. The list was then winnowed down to 50, based on a combination of each candidate's spirit of innovation, leadership, professional achievements and influence in the government technology market.

Although the list celebrates women's achievements, it is also an occasion to recognize that barriers still exist to women's advancement and position in technology.

According to the National Center for Women and Information Technology, only a quarter of professional computing jobs in the U.S. are held by women. Statistics about the next generation appear equally troublesome: The same report found only 22 percent of AP Computer Science test-takers in 2015 were female. And according to a National Cyber Security Alliance report from last year, the gap between the number of men and women who are interested in cybersecurity careers is more than five times greater than it was a year prior.

To encourage more awesome women to join the ranks of D.C.'s tech titans, the list highlights the honorees' advice for young women setting out on STEM or business careers.

Click through the pages to see short profiles on our winners. They shared with us what got them interested in the field, some of the biggest challenges they've faced — and the source of their inspiration.

FedScoop encourages readers to use the social media tools on winners' pages to share their stories. We believe these profiles will inspire the next generation of women leaders to guide the future of federal IT.

About FedScoop. FedScoop, published by Scoop News Group, delivers up-to-the-minute breaking government tech news and is the government IT community's platform for education and collaboration through news, events, radio and TV. FedScoop engages top leaders from the White House, federal agencies, academia and the tech industry both online and in person to discuss ways technology can improve government, and to exchange best practices and identify how to achieve common goals.  Scoop News Group also publishes State Scoop and EdScoop, and produces dozens of events, including FedTalks.

For more information, contact [email protected].

SOURCE FedScoop

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