Welcome to our list of 22 of the most prominent women leaders in business in 2022.
We have compiled the list as part of BusinessLive coverage for International Women's Day -marked every year on March 8.
The annual event marks women's achievements and underpins a movement campaigning for gender equality.
The BusinessLive team have been taking a look at some of the most inspirational business leaders from across the UK - from senior executives, self-made millionaires and those representing business at the highest levels.
And our list reflects how the best leaders lift up those who follow by campaigning for women in the workplace - whether that is about mental health wellbeing or gender equality.
Take a look at our alphabetical list of 22 business women and if you think we've left someone out, please let us know in the comments section, or get hold of us on Linkedin and Twitter.
June Angelides
June Angelides is a banker and entrepreneur-turned-early-stage tech investor. She is the principal of London-based Samos Investments - a venture capital (VC) investor organisation with a focus on high-growth European businesses.
She is also the founder of Mums in Tech - a child-friendly coding school - which taught more than 250 women to code in three years. And she has had roles on the venture debt team and early stage banking Team at Silicon Valley Bank.
On top of that, June sits on the advisory board of Bristol-based mentoring app Cajigo; is a mentor at Oxford University; and runs mentoring circles for founders and aspiring VCs.
She received an Honorary Fellowship at the Institute of Engineering and Technology and has been awarded an MBE for services to women in technology.
Juliet Barratt
In 2010, Juliet Barratt and her husband Alan launched sports nutrition company Grenade in a bid to bring new products such as drinks and snack bars to fitness enthusiasts.
The pair enjoyed phenomenal growth and sold the Solihull company last year for £200 million Cadbury's owner Mondelēz International.
The 47-year-old is not taking it easy though and is now working as a non-executive director for vegan chocolate brand LoveRaw, kombucha gut health drinks company Hip Pop and gluten-free, tortilla chips maker Mister Free'd.
Elaine Birchall
Elaine Birchall is Chief Executive Officer of Belfast-based SHS Group, which owns and distributes some of the world’s most well-known brands including WKD, Sholer, Bottlegreen, Meridian Nut Butters and Zip firelighters.
SHS now boasts turnover of some £655 million and employs 1,200 people throughout the UK and Ireland. A board member of Business in the Community, Elaine was also awarded an honorary MBE for services to economic development in Northern Ireland.
Amanda Blanc
Amanda Blanc began her career at one of Aviva’s ancestor companies, Commercial Union, before working her way up across the insurance industry.
Originally from the South Wales' Rhondda Valley, she was Group CEO at AXA UK, PPP & Ireland and CEO of Zurich Insurance Group, EMEA & Global Banking, before becoming chief executive of Aviva in July 2020.
In 2021, she won the Women in Insurance Outstanding Achievement Award and was recognised as one of Forbes World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.
She was also appointed to the role of Women in Finance Charter Champion by the HM Treasury and this year joined the Prime Minister’s Business Council.
Anne Boden
Anne Boden had a 30-year career working at some of the global financial heavyweights including Lloyds Banking Group, Allied Irish and the Royal Bank of Scotland, before founding mobile-only Starling Bank in 2014.
The Swansea-born businesswoman saw the potential for digital technology to revolutionise the way people and small businesses do their banking earlier than the rest of the industry.
Starling has since been voted Best British Bank three times.
Anne also sits on the board of UK Finance and is an adviser to the Board of Trade. She was awarded an MBE for services to financial technology in 2018.
Emma Bridgewater
Emma Bridgewater is the founder of Stoke-on-Trent pottery company, Emma Bridgewater Ltd, which she launched in 1985 after struggling to find the right gift for her mother's birthday.
Over the years, Emma has become well-known for her striking and colourful designs which have led to partnerships with some big-name brands including Barbour and Russell Hobbs.
Today Emma Bridgewater employs more than 350 people in Stoke-on-Trent and London – and produces more than 44,000 pieces of handmade, hand-decorated pottery which are sold online, via the company's own stores and through a wholesale network of more than 500 independent stockists.
Denise Coates CBE
Denise Coates CBE is the founder of online gambling giant bet365.
The 54-year-old risked everything when she took out a £15 million bank loan to launch the business from a portable cabin in a car park more than 20 years ago.
Today bet365, is a multi-billion pound company, based in Stoke-on-Trent, which employs more than 5,000 people in the UK.
And Denise – along with her brother John and father Peter – are estimated to be worth a massive £8.4 billion.
Today Denise - who was recently named the UK's biggest taxpayer for the third year in a row - is one of the wealthiest women in the UK.
Penny Coates
Named the 2021 LeicestershireLive Businesswoman of the Year Lifetime Award winner, Penny Coates has held senior positions in some of the East Midlands' biggest organisations and companies - and continues to play a part in the local and wider UK economy.
Between 2005 and 2010 she was managing director of East Midlands Airport, before being promoted to chief operating officer of its parent company the Manchester Airports Group.
Over the years she has been a board member within the Co-op group as well as at the National Space Centre and even Chester Zoo. More recently she chaired the successful bid to create a Freeport around East Midlands Airport – a campaign which received Government backing at the last Budget.
Sara Davies
The founder of Crafter's Companion was still at York University when she launched her successful business with a product called The Enveloper - a simple tool that could create bespoke envelopes for handmade cards.
Jump forward to 2022 and the firm now has a base in the US, several UK retail stores, its own TV studios and TV channel, a huge online business and customers in more than 40 countries.
Read our exclusive interview with Sara Davies: Strictly, Dragons' Den and fitting in the day job
Sara, who took to the Strictly dancefloor in 2021, has been on the panel of BBC series Dragons’ Den since 2019.
She was the youngest Dragon investor until the arrival of Steven Bartlett in the latest series.
Sara is an advocate of women in business, helping them with support and guidance as part of her mentoring role with the Entrepreneurs’ Forum.
She was appointed MBE in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to the economy.
Poppy Gustafsson
At 40, Poppy Gustafsson is the youngest female CEO in the FTSE 350. She co-founded the Cambridge-based cyber security firm Darktrace in 2013 when she was just 30 and last year saw it debut on the London Stock Exchange.
Under her leadership, the company has experienced significant growth and global expansion, with 6,500 customers and 1,700 employees worldwide.
She was named Vodafone’s Woman of the Year for Technology and Innovation in 2020, Tech Businesswoman of the Year at the UK Tech Awards 2019 and won the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Awards 2019.
She was awarded an OBE for services to cyber security in 2019.
Nisha Katona
Nisha Katona MBE spent 20 years working as a child protection barrister before launching her first restaurant, Mowgli, in Liverpool in 2014.
She now has 18 sites around the UK including in Manchester, Oxford, Cardiff, Nottingham, Sheffield and Leicester.
Nisha received an MBE in the 2019 New Year Honours List for services in the food industry and she is the author of four cookbooks.
She has also worked extensively as a business and food expert on several projects across the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 and Radio 4.
Kanya King
Kanya King is the chief executive and founder of the MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin).
She was inspired to launch the MOBOs after realising there was a “glaring gap” in the market for a mainstream British ceremony celebrating music influenced and inspired by black artists.
The MOBOs launched in 1996, with Kanya re-mortgaging her house after being unable to find a financial backer. She also struck a deal with Carlton TV (the London television franchise) to broadcast the event.
Today, the MOBOs is a year-round, agenda-setting brand, with the annual awards broadcast on mainstream television.
In 2021, the ceremony, at Coventry Building Society Arena, was hosted by multi-platinum-selling artist and actress Leigh-Anne Pinnock and comedian and broadcaster Munya Chawawa, with special guest host Eddie Kadi.
The MOBOs has provided an early platform for British artists including Stormzy, Goldie, Dizzee Rascal, and Emile Sandé.
Julie-Ann Haines
The first female chief executive of the Principality Building Society, Aberdeen-born Julie-Ann Haines has risen through the ranks since first joining as head of digital in 2007 when the balance sheet was less than £5bn.
By the time she was appointed chief executive of the mutual in 2020, the society was worth £11bn.
Prior to Principality, Julie-Ann held a number of senior roles in sales, marketing and technology, working in leading customer-centric businesses including Sainsbury’s, Reckitt Benckiser and HBOS.
Katy Leeson
The former managing director of one of Manchester's fastest-growing companies Social Chain, Katy has been a vocal advocate of women in business and mental health awareness.
She first joined digital media agency Social Chain five years ago as an operations director but was quickly promoted to MD months later at the age of 32.
When she started at the firm, which was established by new Dragons' Den star Steven Bartlett and Dominic McGregor, it had 30 employees and a turnover of about €2m.
Since then the UK business has grown to about 160 employees and is aiming for a revenue of c.€15m this year. She has announced that she will step down from the role in April.
Katy also hosts a podcast 'I shouldn't say this, but', which takes an honest look at working life and highlights the importance of life outside of work.
Sophie Milliken
Sophie Milliken is the founder of Newcastle-based marketing and advertising Moja Group.
She was previously the managing director of graduate recruitment and employability consultancy SRS, which is also based in the city.
According to the award-winning entrepreneur, her new company is dedicated to "boosting business owners’ profiles" and helping them become "more visible and heard" within their industry.
As chair of charity Smart Works Newcastle she also helps unemployed women get back to work in the North East.
Milena Mondini de Focatiis
Italian-national Milena Mondini de Focatiis took up the role at Admiral Group, headquartered in Cardiff, in 2020 becoming the insurance firm’s first female chief executive.
She has been with the company since 2007 and was previously CEO of Admiral’s Italian insurance business ConTe.it.
Milena has an MBA from INSEAD, and prior to Admiral, she worked as a consultant for Bain&Co.
She has previously spoken about the need to get more women into senior roles, although at Admiral many of its global executives are women and half of its board is female, including its chair, Annette Court.
Alison Rose
Appointed chief executive of NatWest in 2019, Rose made her way through the ranks having joined the bank as a graduate in 1992.
She is the first woman to lead one of the UK’s big four banks after holding a number of senior leadership roles, including deputy chief executive of NatWest Holdings, chief executive of commercial and private banking, and head of Europe, Middle East and Africa, markets and international banking.
Alison was commissioned by the government to report on the barriers to women starting businesses - and in March 2019 the Rose Review was published.
In response, the government has announced an ambition to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by half by 2030 - equivalent to nearly 600,000 extra female entrepreneurs.
The latest Rose Review progress report reveals that the proportion of companies created by young women is growing faster than any other age group, with 16-to-25-year-olds founding more than 14,000 new British businesses in 2021.
Carrie Rose
The co-founder of agency Rise at Seven only launched the firm in 2019 but the 28-year-old has already expanded the Sheffield business to operate four offices, across London, Manchester and more recently Chicago.
With more than 70 staff the business shows no sign of slowing down, with an enviable client list including PrettyLittleThing, Matalan, Halfords, Game, Bumble, Xbox, Playstation, uSwitch, Raisin, UKTV, Flannels, Cath Kidston, Halfords, Parkdean Resorts and Odeon.
Joanna Swash
Recruited as Moneypenny’s first sales person in 2005 - today, Joanna is Group CEO of an international business that has grown to employ more than 1000 people across the UK and the US.
Under Joanna’s watchful eye, Moneypenny has grown to become the leading outsourced communications provider in both the UK and US.
Joanna’s passion and vast experience means that she is a valued member of The CBI, Be the Business and the Northern Powerhouse.
In 2021, she was Management Today CEO of the Year and joined the Forbes Business Council, an invitation-only growth and networking community for successful business owners and leaders worldwide.
Jules Quinn
Jules launched The Teashed while still at university in 2011, specialising in whole leaf tea in pyramid teabags, and she has steadily grown the business ever since. Now the firm has expanded with its bubble tea sets and an offshoot business Popaball, helping Jules to grow the business with sales both in the UK and abroad.
Isabella West
Online venture Hirestreet was launched four years ago by former investment banker Isabella, to reverse the fast fashion trend in which customers buy clothes and hardly wear them before discarding items.
Isabella quit her six-figure salary working in London to launch the firm, taking on consultancy work to raise the funds needed.
In the last few months she has sealed a number of deals - including a partnership to help Marks and Spencer launch its first clothing rental service - and it now works with 50 brand partners, including Ghost, French Connection, ASOS, Nobody’s Child and Decathlon.
Sharon White
Dame Sharon White was appointed as the sixth chair of the John Lewis Partnership in 2019, taking over from Sir Charlie Mayfield.
She was previously chief executive of UK media regulator Ofcom and has also held a number of roles within the civil service, including second permanent secretary of the Treasury from 2013 to 2015.
A trained economist, Dame Sharon has worked at board level within the Ministry of Justice and the Department for International Development. She was also an adviser to the Prime Minister's policy unit during the Tony Blair years and has worked at the World Bank in Washington DC.
She was appointed a Dame in the 2020 New Year’s Honours list.
