Women in Product Management in Europe 2019

Product Management Festival (PMF) is pleased to announce its Women in Product Management in Europe 2019 List. The women on this list come from a wide range of backgrounds, but they all have a passion for product management and have excelled in their careers. From biochemists to translators to journalists, the women on this list have made an impact in their companies and the product community.

PMF’s Women in Product Management in Europe 2019 Finalists

1. London-based Adriana Landaverde is VP Product Management at consumer services company Verve. Previously, she was the Head of Product Management at Nutmeg and Group Director of Product at eDreams ODIGEO, just to name a few product leadership positions. A Stanford University MBA graduate, Ms. Landavarde is also a frequent speaker and mentor and teaches product management courses at Product Academy.
2. Alessia Quaglia is leading the transformation at local.ch – one of the largest traffic platforms in Switzerland – from an old school online directory to a modern digital marketplace where consumers can easily access, contact and book local businesses. Previously International Product Manager at eBay, Ms. Quaglia holds a Master’s degree in Digital Transformation.
3. Ana Bakalinova is Head of Product International at HuffPost. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Political Science and Master of Arts in Media and Communication. Ms. Bakalinova describes herself as “a journalist by education, data-obsessed digital nerd by experience, and international nomad by places of living.” Sounds like she was able to bring together her personal and professional journeys!
4. Zurich-based Andrea Schäfer oversees the product portfolio of Lunchgate, a hospitality technology company providing reservation and operational software as a service to restaurants. Previously at Swiss International Air Lines, Ms. Schäfer holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Tourism. 
5. Anne-Claude Tichauer is based in Paris and Ingenico ePayments’ Product Management Director, Reporting & Data Science. She leads the product management team (Product Managers and Product Owners) and the people in charge of defining and implementing the product offer related to reporting, BI and Fraud. Ms. Tichauer has a Master’s degree in Foreign Languages from Université Paris-Sorbonne.
6. Also based in Paris, Audrey Pedro-Filliat is Product Lead at Shift Technologies, an AI company in the insurance industry. Previously in product at DocuSign, Ms. Pedro-Filliat holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science. She is also a mentor for Social Builder, an NGO supporting women from every social background – either unemployed women or women at risk of losing their jobs because of digital transformation – in digital careers.
7. Based in Heidelberg, Bettina Goerner is Managing Director Data Products at Springer Nature. She oversees product development and P&L for the data product lines in academic and corporate R&D. Bettina, a molecular biologist by training, started her career at McKinsey & Company and INSEAD Business School. She was recently appointed to the board of Deepmatter Group Plc.
8. Boróka Kupper is a Product Manager at Budapest-based developer training company, Codecool. Previously she was with Emarsys as a Product Director and involved with its Product Academy, a 10-week long internal training program for its junior product managers, owners and project managers.
9. Burcu Gürel is the Product Manager of one of Turkey’s fast growing startups, Volt Lines, a technology-powered transportation platform turning all mini-buses in Istanbul into a single transit network. Ms. Gürel is a PMF Ambassador and organizes Product Management Nights in Istanbul. She has a degree in Industrial Engineering.
10. Zurich-based Büşra Coşkuner is a Senior Product Manager at Doodle. An avid traveler and agile evangelist, Ms. Coskuner is also passionate about supporting the advancement of women in business. Don’t miss her on the Product Management Festival stage this year.
11. Christina Neugebauer is Head of Product at Hamburg-based ARZ.dent, a cloud computing and AI provider to the dental industry. Ms. Neugebauer has a Bachelor’s degree in Tourism Management and a Master’s degree in Management. Previously, she was Head of Product Management at Health AG, a fintech company in the health industry.
12. Claudia Martello was Head of Product Management at Swisscard for 7 years and transitioned this past month to become Head of Partner Development. Previously she was also Head of Product at Sunrise Communications. A semi-professional handball player, Ms. Martello has played for leagues in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland as well as participated in the Beach Handball Champions League Finals and European Championships. 
13. YUNAR’s Senior Product Manager, Corie Wiren, is based in Berlin. She was previously in product management at Zalando and also holds certificates in full stack web development, Scrum Product Owner, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner, among others. Ms. Wiren holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Public Administration and started her career in government. Suffice it to say she has had experience working with stakeholders!
14. Eva-Maria Lindig is the Head of Product Management at CODE University of Applied Sciences. Ms. Lindig started her career as a product marketer at Xing and since then has taken on numerous product leadership roles throughout her career, including Head of Product at Friendsurance. She is currently a Doctoral candidate in Information Systems.
15. Frances McNamara is the Executive Product Manager of BBC’s iPlayer. She has a degree in Math with Psychology and Computer Science. Since 2002, Ms. McNamara has worked at BBC in roles ranging from producer to product manager, and her clients have included the Houses of Parliament, British Airways, Cabinet Office and Channel 4.
16. Baden, Switzerland-based Georgina Keogh is Head of Digital Product Management at ABB Turbo. Ms. Keogh started her career as a web developer in Vancouver and transitioned into Product Management at Sage in Dublin. Like many on this list, Ms. Keogh has a diverse background. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies and Spanish.  
17. Mobile bank N26’s Chief Product Officer is Georgina Smallwood. Originally from Melbourne, she has worked in Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, and now Berlin, Ms. Smallwood has a degree in Australian History and Sociology.     
18. Hannah Harrison is a Senior Product Manager at Pivotal Software. Ms. Harrison is an instructor on product management for General Assembly and has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.
19. Originally from Slovenia, Jasna Korent is the Head of Product/Commercial: Partners & Marketplaces at Berlin-based fintech company RatePAY. With a Master of Arts in English and Spanish Language and Literature, Ms. Korent has worked as a freelance translator among English, Spanish, and Slovenian. She started her career as a translation manager at Slovenian-based translation agency, LEEMETA Translations, and moved to Berlin to join translation management system, Plunet. There, she eventually transitioned into product management. What a great way to show that personal interests and professional career can mix!
20.  Joanna Mitchell is based in London and is Executive Product Manager at BBC for Apps. She is also a member of the Online News Association’s 2019 Women’s Leadership Accelerator cohort. Actively involved with volunteer efforts with wildlife and rescue animal organizations, Ms. Mitchell holds a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology and Master’s degree in Animal Behavior. 
21. Google Product Manager Karin Schöfegger works on machine learning at YouTube in Paris and Google Assistant in Zurich. She has also held product leadership positions previously at Berlin-based Pixsy and N26. Ms. Schofegger will be speaking at Product Management Festival in November on machine learning. 
22. “One of the best product managers in Poland.” This is how Karolina Rakowska’s nominator for the Women in Product Management List described her. Ms. Rakowska is a Product Manager for OLX Group and organizer of Product Tank Poznan. She has a Master of Economics degree in Electronic Business and is a certified Product Scrum Owner. 
23. Katarzyna Malolepszy is the VP of Product at ELEMENT Insurance, a provider in insurance digitalization. With a background in insurance and finance, she has been working hard to disrupt FinTech and InsureTech industries. Ms. Malolepszy completed  Bachelor’s degrees in Spatial Management and Computer Science and a Master’s degree in International Business. She is also a certified Scrum Product Owner and Scrum Master. 
24. Katharina Becker is our second product leader on this list from mobile.de. She is a Senior Product Manager overseeing Data Products. Ms. Becker has a Bachelor’s degree in German Studies and General Linguistics and a Master’s degree in Communication and Language.
25. Katia Cassano heads up Product Credit EMEA for PayPal based out of Berlin. Previously, she was CPO of FinLeap and Head of Product at eBay Italy and Canada. 
26. Laurel Gray is Head of Product at London-based allplant, a plant-based healthy food brand organization. She was previously a staff product manager with Pivotal Software. Ms. Gray has a degree in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and started her career as a chemistry teacher.
27. Manine Golden is Amazon’s Director of Product and Engineering based in Luxembourg. She leads Engineering, Product Management, and UX Design for Amazon’s European Web sites and mobile devices. 
28. Margarida Ruela heads the AI Product group at Feedzai (B2B AI FinTech). She has a Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering and started her career as a software engineering associate. Eventually she moved on to data science with Feedzai and ultimately PM, now leading its AI product team. 
29. With a background in applied mathematics and economics, Marina Krasnova is Mail.Ru Group’s Director of Products. Based in St. Petersburg, Ms. Krasnova oversaw Mail.Ru’s Odnoklassniki (OK) social network‘s OK Video service and Live mobile streaming app with proprietary streaming protocols and virtual 3D masks, among others. She has also guest written for Forbes Women.
30. Originally from Poland, Marta Skassa is Senior Product Manager, Digital Experience at Zalando based in Berlin. Like a few others on this list, Ms. Skassa has a passion for languages with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Applied Linguistics (English and French). She started her career translating for the Embassy of Poland in Brussels and European Central Bank in Frankfurt and eventually started in product management at Microsoft in Warsaw. 
31. Mehnaaz Abidi is Director of Product Management at Nike Digital. She started her career as a software engineer at Facebook and transitioned into product management, heading up product in organizations such as iMoney in Kuala Lumpur, Trivago in Dusseldorf, and now Nike Digital in Amsterdam.
32. Merissa Silk is the Head of Product at YUNAR by Ambidexter. Ms. Silk is also a product strategy/management mentor for The Place aiming to support early-stage startups. She also founded a Women in Product discussion group for Berlin-based product managers and other cross-functional roles working in the product space. She holds a Master of Science from the London School of Economics in Gender, International Development, and Globalization.
33. Michelle Medlock works at Pivotal Labs and provides product management consulting services to Pivotal’s startups and enterprise clients worldwide. She started her career at GOOD Worldwide starting as an operations manager to eventually transitioning to a product manager role. Ms. Medlock holds a degree in Psychology.
34. Myriam Goude is a UX Product Manager at Paris-based Bearer Inc, an API development and monitor software organization. She started her career as a web designer, founded her own startup, and has a diploma in Multimedia Conception. 
35. Nataša Jovanović is a Senior Product Manager at TomTom. Initially a software developer in Belgrade, she eventually transitioned into product at TomTom in Amsterdam focusing on UX and AI. She has a PhD in Computer Science.
36. Zurich-based Nina Schneider is the Head of Solutions and Products at software company Appway, driving its go-to-market strategy for the full product stack including Solutions, Software Products and Service Offerings. She was co-lead of TEDxZurich from 2016 until earlier this year and has been elected to its board. Ms. Schneider is also a competitive gymnast at the national level.
37. Originally from Mexico, Olivia Vorstheim is a Product Manager at SAP in Walldorf, Germany. She holds a Bachelor and a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and Biochemical Engineering respectively. Ms. Vorstheim also serves on the board of OpenPEBBOL.
38. Pascalle Lumens is Digital Product Manager and Product Owner of financial services company Aduno Group. She was previously a consultant with Deloitte Digital and has a background in international management.
39. Madrid-based Patricia de Loro is the Chief Product Officer and VC Operating Partner of TheVentureCity. She was previously Director of Digital Transformation at Vodafone and Head of Product Strategy at eBay in London and San Francisco. An angel investor, Ms. de Loro holds an engineering degree in Telecommunications and an MBA. 
40. Rose La Prairie is a Product Manager at Google London overseeing digital wellbeing, an approach to encouraging people to understand how to use the technology surrounding them responsibly and to develop healthy technology habits. She holds a BA in Land Economy from University of Cambridge, a Graduate Diploma in Law, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Check out Ms. La Prairie’s tips in this Evening Standard article on how to get started with your digital wellbeing. 
41. Sarah Hardacre is Head of Airline Merchandising Product Management at Amadeus and based in Nice, France. With a Master of Applied Science in Aerospace Engineering, Ms. Hardacre began her career in a way that likely most of us did not – Research Engineer for the Canadian and European Space Agencies. She continued her love for travel but more within the confines of this atmosphere and moved to Amadeus where she eventually progressed from a Customer Success Manager position to now a Head of Product Management role.
42. Love football? Semira Jawdat is the Software Product Manager for FIFA’s Transfer Matching System. She speaks 7 languages and also oversees the account management worldwide of the FIFA member associations.
43. Just Eat’s Storm Fagan is a Product Director based in London. “Great products can change people’s lives,” says Storm Fagan. In addition to product, Ms. Fagan is passionate about working with startups and advocating inclusion in technology.
44. Supriya Uchil is the CEO of Accelerate Product, a boutique digital product strategy consulting firm. Previously CPO of BookingGo and advisor to the SVP at Amazon on the Kindle, Ms. Uchil now works with companies in Europe and the Middle East with the objective of changing their product growth curves in sustainable ways. Ms. Uchil holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Master’s degree in Distributed Computing, and an MBA from The Wharton School. A frequent guest speaker, Ms. Uchil is also a guest lecturer for the Product Management Executive Programme.
45. Onfido’s Susana Videira Lopes is Senior Product Manager overseeing its Biometrics Line of Business, using biometric verification in an ethical way to combat fraud and reduce friction in accessing financial services. Like several others on this list, Ms. Lopes holds a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering. Last year, she was included in Innovate Finance’s Women in Fintech Powerlist 2018.
46. Terhi Hänninen is a Senior Product Manager at Zalando and explores AI/ML and real-time predictive analytics in eCommerce. She has Master’s degrees in User Centered Design and Media Technology. Ms. Hänninen was a speaker at ProductCamp Helsinki last year.
47. Ulrike Gruel is a Senior Product Manager/Product Owner at Immowelt Hamburg GmbH/Axel Springer AG. She started her career as a Community Manager at Xing and transitioned into product management while there. Ms. Gruel holds a degree in Media Informatics.
48. Berlin-based Product Manager Verica Katic is with OLX Group overseeing content, trust, and safety. Every month, 350 million people use their leading marketplaces, and she and her team build moderation and fraud prevention systems that keep their community safe. Ms. Katic holds a degree in political journalism and new media.  
49. UBS’ Violetta Senda is Executive Director, IT Product Portfolio Head for Digital Banking. Previously holding various roles at Citibank and Barclays Bank, Ms. Senda is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds dual Master’s degrees in Mathematics & Physics and Econometrics & Information Systems. 
50. Vivienne Sung oversees Workplace at Facebook. Previously, she was CPO for Verve and Head of Product for Marks and Spencer’s M&S.com. In 2012, she co-founded LLUSTRE.com, a home design products magazine and shop, which was acquired by Fab.com only 12 weeks post-launch (if only we could all be so lucky!). Ms. Sung holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Oxford. 

Thank you for all your efforts and contributions to the product community!