Trailblazing Women Leaders

Trailblazing Women: Susan McKenna-Lawlor, Leading Irish Scientist & Founder of Space Technology Ireland

Professor Susan McKenna-Lawlor D.Sc. Founder/ Managing Director of the SME Space Technology Ireland Ltd. (1985-present). Principal Investigator for Ireland’s EPONA experiment on the Giotto mission to Halley’s Comet (1986).

Trailblazing Women: Nadezhda Neynsky, Ambassador of Bulgaria to Turkey

Nadezhda Neynsky is the youngest woman Foreign Minister in the history of post-communist Eastern Europe 1997–2001. She is also the first woman leader of the largest right-wing Democratic Party in Bulgaria — Union of Democratic Forces 2002–2005.

Trailblazing Women: Nilofer Merchant, Author & Speaker

Nilofer Merchant, author of the new book ‘The Power of Onlyness: Make Your Wild Ideas Mighty Enough to Dent the World’, is ranked by Thinkers50 as one of the world’s leading thinkers. She has personally launched more than 100 products, netting $18B in sales, has worked for companies ranging from Apple to Autodesk and advises many others.

Trailblazing Women: Elena Rossini, Filmmaker and Producer

Elena Rossini is an Italian filmmaker, editor and social entrepreneur. Her critically acclaimed documentary The Illusionists discusses the globalization of beauty and the marketing of unattainable body ideals around the world.

Trailblazing Women: Ann O’Dea, CEO & Co-Founder Silicon Republic, CEO Inspirefest

Ann O'Dea​ is Co-founder of Silicon Republic and Founder of Europe’s leading sci-tech festival with diversity and inclusion at its core — Inspirefest.

Trailblazing Women: Claire Calmejane, Director of Innovation, Lloyds Banking Group

Claire Calmejane, is charged with test driving tomorrow’s banking to best suit Lloyds’ 30 million customers. The computer engineer joined the bank in October 2012 as Head of Digital Delivery and became Head of the Digital Centre of Excellence, Innovation and Partnerships in 2014, helping to devise a strategy to digitise one of the largest banks in Europe.

Trailblazing Women: Sinéad Burke, Writer, Academic and TED.com Speaker

Sinéad Burke is a Teacher, Writer and Academic. She graduated at the top of her class receiving the Vere Foster Medal from Marino Institute of Education and is currently undertaking a PhD in Trinity College, Dublin on human rights education that specifically comments on the ways in which schools allow children to have a voice.

Trailblazing Women: Roxanne Varza, Director of Station F

Roxanne Varza is currently the Director of Station F, the biggest startup campus in the world. Prior to joining Station F, she was head of a Microsoft accelerator in Paris, was was the Editor of TechCrunch France, and also ran content and communications for 2 European startups. She is also the co-founder of Tech.eu and StartHer and has been a co-organizer of the Failcon France conference since 2011.