Diane Greene founded tech company VMware, which turns over more than $5bn Diane Greene, Founder of VMware VMware is a highly technical and profitable company based out of Palo Alto in California.  It provides other companies cloud and virtualization services.  It IPO-ed in 2007.  The company has revenues close to $5bn.  This stalwart of success and technical prowess was co-founded by Diane Greene, a Computer Scientist from UC Berkeley.  Many have heard about her and there are articles with her suggestions to entrepreneurs but it is examples like hers that are forgotten when people lament the lack of women in the Valley.  In 2012, Diane was added to Google’s board of directors. Google’s Executive Chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt said, “Diane is a special person who combines a sharp business acumen with a brilliant technical mind. We know she will be a great contributor and we are grateful to have her insight.”
Claudia Carpenter, Founder of Writely
Ever used Google docs?  Who hasn’t?  Well that amazing piece of cloud software came from co-founder Claudia Carpenter.  A serial entrepreneur and software engineer, she was behind the product that was responsible for facilitating the Egyptian upheaval and hence the Arab Spring.
Barb Rechterman, CMO Go Daddy
Go Daddy is a private company that was until recently led by its patriarch of sorts Bob Parsons.  But little do people know that the person behind much of Go Daddy’s explosive revenue growth is its CMO, Barb Rechterman.  Barb has worked with Bob for 30 years and deserves as much credit for the financial success of the company.  Did you know this?
Laura Messerschmitt, Outright Marketing – A Go Daddy Company
Laura joined fledgling startup Outright in 2011 when they had a very small number of users.  Executing on the vision of CEO Steven Aldrich, she increased the user base by more than 100 percent, and made Outright a name for online sellers.  She was the first marketer to research and cater to the specific needs of online sellers around tax time. The focus of her marketing team led to wins that caused Go Daddy to buy Outright as the giant domain registrar sought to be a resource for small businesses.
Nina Zagat, Co-Founder Zagat Ratings Guide
Love Zagat ratings?  You’re not alone.  Co-founder Nina Zagat started Zagat, the restaurant and food-rating guide.  Google has since bought it.  Not bad.
Victoria Ransom, Co-Founder Wildfire
Victoria Ransom founded Wildfire, a social media advertising company recently bought by Google for a sizeable $350m.  Another success story.
Lorrie Norrington, Board Member at many awesome startups
After twenty years at General Electric, Lorrie made a bold career move and joined Intuit, a technology company in the Valley.  She had been CEO of two of GE’s arms, at the helm of her industry.  After the move she has continued that success path and gone on to found Shopping.com, which was bought by eBay.  At eBay she led Marketplaces.  Now she is an advisor to top startups in the Valley such as Task Rabbit and Auto Desk.
This set of women is just the beginning of a list of high achievers in technology who are female.  There are more than a few women who are quietly but efficiently leading their careers to the pinnacles of success in technology.  The press covers some for a brief time but most are just forgotten.  It behooves us to highlight the daily achievements more and more women are making on a bigger, better stage everyday.  Women have already made their presence felt in the Valley.  They’ve just not publicized it. It’s our job to make sure bright young women don’t assume technology is not for them.