Spotlight shines on Women Leaders In Electronics Awards 2026 winners

The awards were presented in central London at One Moorgate Place, the Chartered Accountants’ Guildhall.

Now in their third year, the Awards recognise not only outstanding women who have made significant achievements, but also male allies, companies and teams who have made a positive impact throughout the electronics industry.

And thank you, too, to Maggie Philbin for her inspiring talk, the science communicator and founder of the charity Teen Tech, which was the event’s charity partner.

Judges

Note that special thanks are due to our judging panel of industry experts – from across the electronics sector – who kindly gave their time.

The judges were (alphabetically):

• Rasadhi Attale, Senior Hardware Engineer, Siemens
• Vibishna Balagopal, Head of Electronics, Thales
• Shrobona Battacharya, District Councillor, South Cambridgeshire District Council
• Dr Monika Biddulph, Non-Executive Director, AFC Energy
• Guita Blake, Non-Executive Board Director, UK Trade Remedies Authority
• Annette Bley, Director, Publicity Chair Annette Bley PR, DVCon Europe
• Nishika Chettry, Firmware Engineer, Renesas Electronics
• Maria Cortez, Senior Vice President, Advanced Energy
• Helen Duncan, Chief Marketing Officer, Blueshift Memory
• Harriet Green, Global Business Leader, Founder & Philanthropist, Youth with Potential
• Ragini Jain, Senior Innovation & IP Manager, Cambridge GaN Devices (CGD)
• Amelia Kallman, Futurist, Speaker, Author The Big Reveal UK
• Mateja Lampe Rupnik, CEO Red Pitaya
• Ash Madni, Director, Madni Technologies
• Sabarna Mukhopadhyay, Digital Health: Public Speaker
• Jan Peters, Director, Katalytik, Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor of Engineering, Open University; Past President, WES
• Olga Rubešová, Engineering Manager – Software, Eaton European Innovation Center
• Margaret Schmitt, Technology Entrepreneur
• Andy Sellars, Chair UK Semiconductor Expert Working Group
• Max Simmonds, Co-Founder / CEO Purple Parrot
• Alison Steer, Senior Technology / Business Leader
• James Toynton, Founder & MD, Zen Semiconductor
• Paulette Watson MBE, Founder and Managing Director, Academy Achievers and STEM Academy Achievers Ghana
• Helen Weedon, Managing Director Radical Moves

Finally, a very special thank you to our Category Partners and Foundation Sponsors without who the event would not be possible: Grand Bridges, Menlo micro and CamCare UK.

WLIEA Winners

You can find full list of winners below (and those Highly Commended) for the Women Leaders In Electronics Awards 2026.

Businesswoman of the Year

Raj Khaira, AutogenAI

Communicator/Problem Solver

Ivonne Escorcia, Thales UK
H/C Dr. Sangeeta Bhattacharya, Bradford College

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programme of the Year

Ferheen Ayaz, City St. George’s, University of London

Electronics Engineer of the Year

Ivonne Escorcia, Thales UK
H/C Dr Rucha Smith, Slipstream Engineering Design

Electronics Entrepreneur of the Year

Sarah Gregory, Slipstream Engineering Design

Electronics Rising Star

Zaborah Bobadilla, Vishay
H/C Steffi Johnston, Vishay

Innovator of the Year

Professor Pola Goldberg Oppenheimer, APJ^2 Diagnostics and University of Birmingham

Inspirational Leader

Jackie Rutter, Menlo Microsystems
H/C Nidhi Sharma, EPAM

Management/Small Team Leader of the Year

Joyce Garden, Cadence Design Systems
H/C Sally-Ann Henry, ACM Research

Mentor of the Year

Carol Marsh, Celestia Technologies Group (UK)
H/C Angels Via Estrem, Rohde & Schwarz

STEM/Community Outreach Star

Aurelia Brzezowska, University of Staffordshire
H/C Oana Lazar, Freelancer

Technical Excellence Award

Alessandra Nardi, Synopsys
H/C Justyna Mikolajczyk, Zettlex / Novanta

Unsung Hero

Chang Shu, Cambridge GaN Devices

Returner of the Year

Holly Draper, TT Electronics

Lifetime Achievement

Dr Carol Marsh OBE

Congratulations to one and all! Stay tuned for more pictures and video interviews from the event itself.

You can also view the full shortlist for the Women Leaders In Electronics Awards 2026 awards.

Images: Naomi Gabrielle Photography