Entrepreneur
Women in Cloud unveils 50-year tribute to women driving Microsoft’s trillion-dollar market shift
As part of celebrating Microsoft’s 50th Anniversary, Women in Cloud, with endorsement from Microsoft and the Microsoft Alumni Network, proudly unveils OPULIS, a stunning global coffee table book honouring 50 women whose leadership, innovation, and vision helped shape Microsoft’s evolution and who are now championing the democratisation of computing and AI access for the next generation.
Launched under the #empowHER50 campaign, OPULIS will debut globally during Microsoft Giving Month in October 2025. The making of OPULIS was never about creating a vanity list. It is a legacy tribute, a powerful signal to every Microsoft woman, today and for the next 50 years: You belong. You have an impact. Your story matters.
Unlike traditional honours based on status, the women featured in OPULIS were selected for their significance and their ability to drive meaningful transformation within Microsoft and across the broader tech industry.
Their stories are preserved not only in print but also through purpose: net proceeds of book sales will fund Microsoft AI Certification Scholarships for women, helping underserved talent access the AI-powered economy and shape the future of technology.
Built on the Philosophy of Significance
OPULIS was not created to celebrate status, but significance. Each honouree was selected based on her ability to create systemic change, drive measurable outcomes, take responsibility for opening doors, and engage deeply in building inclusive access to innovation.
This guiding philosophy is rooted in the FIRE Framework (Focus, Impact, Responsibility, Engagement) ensures the stories in OPULIS reflect transformational leadership that spans decades and disciplines.
Chaitra Vedullapalli, Executive Producer of OPULIS & President, Women in Cloud, said: “OPULIS captures the stories of Microsoft’s women who democratized access and transformed the lives of billions. These are the architects of access, the builders of innovation, and the catalysts for an inclusive AI future. Their stories inspire and ignite action.”
A Permanent Chapter in Microsoft’s History
OPULIS will be officially archived in the Microsoft Archives and Museum, serving as a timeless tribute to the women who helped shape the company’s journey and our collective future. This will preserve the stories of the women who helped shape the company’s culture, technology, and global influence.
Letty Cherry, General Manager, Image & Culture, Microsoft, said: “OPULIS is a permanent marker in Microsoft’s historical canon honouring leaders whose contributions deserve to be seen, studied, and remembered.”
Launching During Microsoft Giving Month With Purpose
Timed to coincide with the 2025 Microsoft Giving Campaign, OPULIS will mobilise global attention to fuel impact. Each book purchased directly supports AI skilling scholarships, enabling hundreds of women to access the tools and readiness needed to lead in the next wave of cloud and AI innovation.
Nathalie D’Hers, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Digital, said: “This book is about purpose-driven legacy. OPULIS ensures that the stories of these remarkable women build access for others. It is a celebration with intention and impact.”
Manuela Papadopol, Executive Director, Microsoft Alumni Network, added: “OPULIS is the fuel for alumni and future changemakers. A powerful nod to the women who built Microsoft’s foundation and a wink to those about to shake things up next.” –
Campaign Milestones
- Global Launch: As part of its legacy-building mission, OPULIS will be officially archived in the Microsoft Archives and Museum, preserving these stories for generations to come. The global book launch will take place on October 28, 2025, during Microsoft Giving Season.
- Funding the Future: Through its “Books to Scholarships” model, OPULIS is also a purpose-driven movement: every 10 books sold funds one AI Certification Scholarship for women, with a goal of igniting 1,000 AI careers by 2030, further cementing OPULIS as a legacy with purpose.
- Global OPULIS Book Launch Tour: This tour kicks off in India on December 3, 2025, celebrating honourees and advancing the mission of economic access and digital equity.
- Honouree Engagement: Award ceremonies, book signings, and thought leadership platforms
Congratulations to the 50 Honourees!
Aliesha Pulliam, Emcee, Speaker, Actress and Founder of Career Divas Collective
Anna Kopp, Microsoft Digital Lead Germany, Microsoft
Aparana Gupta, Principal Software Engineering Manager, Microsoft
Brea Starmer, Chief Executive Officer, Lions & Tigers
Chaitra Vedullapalli President, Women in Cloud
Claudia Martinez, Global Director of AI Marketing, SAP
Cloe Zeng, Chief Growth Officer, The Gottman Institute
Debbie Uttecht, Partner Marketing Lead, Microsoft
Dee Dee Walsh, Developer & AI Marketing, Growth Acceleration Partners
Doher Drizzle Pablo, Founder, Techbayanihan
Elaine Q. Chang, Technical Advisor to Chief Communications Officer, Microsoft
Erin Chapple (Bourke-Dunphy), Corporate Vice President, Commercial Solution Areas, Microsoft
Gavriella Schuster, Managing Director, Gavriella Schuster, LLC
Gena G., Senior Product Manager, Microsoft
Helen Fanucci, Founder & CEO, Pipeline Power
Jacqui Miranda, Head of Asia Corporate Segment, Microsoft
Jane Boulware, Chief Marketing Officer, The Gottman Institute
Jenny Lay-Flurrie Vice President, Chief Accessibility Officer, Microsoft
Jessica Rafuse Director of Strategic Partnerships & Policy, Microsoft
Joanne Harrell, Board member, Advisor, First Lady of City of Seattle and Adjunct Professor, UW Foster School of Business
Karen Bergin, Senior Director, Employee Engagement and Disaster Response, Microsoft
Karen Fassio, Principal, Abundant Marketing Collective
Karen Cone, Venture Partner, Board Director, Advisor, Mastersfund™, Fyrii, AffableBPM Corporation, Pagedip
Kate Maxwell, General Manager, Worldwide Public Sector, Microsoft
Kathy D., Director, Accessibility, Accommodations & Inclusive Experiences, Microsoft
Lakecia Gunter, Tech Executive and Corporate Board Director, IDEX
Letty Katchen Cherry , Partner and GM, Image & Culture, Microsoft
Lotte Cordt Ihlemann, Principal Product Manager, Microsoft
Maggie Chan Jones, Corporate Board Director BT Group , Sage , Ontinue , (USTA) United States Tennis Association
Manuela Papadopol, Executive Director, Microsoft Alumni Network
Melissa Mulholland, Chief Executive Officer, Crayon
Michele Plaia, AI Business Solutions Sales Leader, Microsoft
Michelle Pruitt, Chief Digital and AI Officer, PLIXXA
Michelle Thomas, President & CEO, MichelleFThomas LLC
Miri Rodriguez, Chief Executive Officer, Empressa AI
Monika Mital Gupta , Partner GM, Engineering, Microsoft
Nathalie D’Hers, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Digital, Microsoft
Nickie Smith, ACC President, Be Bold for Change USA
Nitasha Chopra Vice President and COO, Business Applications, Microsoft
Njideka U. Harry, Founder, Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF) & Global VP & Leadership Group Member, Ashoka
Patti Thibodeau, Archivist, Microsoft
Sabina Nawaz CEO Nawaz Executive Consulting
Shannon Huffman Polson, Author, CEO, Veteran, The Grit Institute
Sharmila Rathinam, Founder and CEO, EatHappy
Sherlaender Phillips, Founder and CEO, FullCircle Leadership Group
Simi Olabisi, Director, Azure AI, Microsoft
Stacy Tatem (She/Her), Founding Member, Empressa AI
Tameka M., Director, Microsoft
Trish Millines Dziko, Co-founder and Executive Director, Technology Access Foundation
Yanna Andronopoulou, General Manager Greece Cyprus Malta, Microsoft
Now Available: The OPULIS Network Special: 5-Book Bundle
You can hold a piece of history by pre-ordering bundles of OPULIS by Oct 20th. Individual book orders will be available starting Oct 25th, 2025.
You can reach out to our VIP relationship manager at partner@womenincloud.com and we will customise the perfect bulk orders for you.
Visit our website for more information: https://womenincloud.com/opulis
#WICxAI Innovator Microsoft Certification Program
Through our unique Books to Scholarships model, every 10 copies of OPULIS purchased funds 1 full scholarship, delivering next-generation AI skills to underrepresented talent worldwide with a goal of igniting 1,000 AI careers by 2030. To unlock access for women across the world, this scholarship will now be offered completely free or 50% subsidised based on eligibility. Apply before Oct 30th, 2025 to be eligible. The first cohort of 100 members will start on Nov 15th, 2025.
To learn more: https://womenincloud.com/workforce/
Want to be involved? Join the book launch team and help amplify these untold stories of impact. Learn more and get involved today!
The Women’s Health Innovation Summit (WHIS) has announced that submissions are open for the 2026 Innovation Showcase, giving early and growth-stage start-ups the chance to present their solutions to the most influential audience in women’s health.
Taking place October 13–15 at Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, Massachusetts, WHIS brings together more than 1,000 decision-makers from across the women’s health ecosystem — investors, payers, health systems, pharma leaders, and employers — all under one roof.
Selected companies will pitch live on stage to an audience with the funding, expertise, and connections to accelerate their growth.
Past participants have walked away with investor introductions, commercial partnerships, and clinical collaborations that moved from conversation to contract.
WHIS is where the women’s health ecosystem comes together to get deals done,” said Sarah Rowlands, marketing director.
“The Innovation Showcase puts promising start ups directly in front of the people who can take them to the next level.”
The showcase sits at the heart of a three-day programme spanning digital health, therapeutics, diagnostics, and consumer health.
Previous attendees have included representatives from Mayo Clinic, CVS Health, Eli Lilly, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Alumni Ventures, Muse Capital, and Maverick Ventures, among hundreds of others.
Applications are open now. Start-ups can submit at
www.whisusa.com/attend/start-ups
About WHIS
Now in its eighth year, the Women’s Health Innovation Summit is the largest global gathering of senior leaders shaping the future of women’s health.
Organised by Kisaco Research, WHIS unites providers, health plans, employers, regulators, pharma, investors, and innovators to increase deal flow, expand reimbursement, improve access, and deliver better health outcomes for women at every stage of life.
WHIS 2026 takes place October 13–15 at Encore Boston Harbor, Everett, MA.
Learn more at www.whisusa.com
Five women-led startups will compete for a share of a £30,000 prize fund in Imperial’s WE Innovate final on Monday 15 June 2026.
The finalists are building businesses to tackle challenges in areas including vaccine technology, epilepsy care and the destruction of “forever chemicals”.
The WE Innovate programme, run by Imperial Enterprise Lab, is a targeted pre-accelerator open to teams led by students, recent alumni and early career researchers who identify as women.
The programme supports 25 women-led teams through six months of masterclasses, business coaching, one-to-one expert support and peer mentoring.
The top five teams will compete to win a share of the £30,000 prize fund at the WE Innovate Grand Final Showcase at Imperial on Monday 15 June 2026 from 18:00 to 21:00.
Tickets are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
This year’s final also marks the second year of WE Innovate National, a growing UK-wide programme that has expanded the WE Innovate model built at Imperial to other parts of the country.
Alongside Imperial, Queen’s University Belfast, Swansea University and Loughborough University are each hosting their own grand final showcases on their campuses.
The four showcases are collectively contributing to a shared national ecosystem focused on supporting women-led innovation.
WE Innovate National is set to expand to seven universities next year, supporting 175 women-led startup teams across the UK.
AlphaVectors Biotech is developing a lipid nanoparticle platform to enhance the stability of RNA vaccines at room temperatures.
Lipid nanoparticles are tiny fat-based particles used to deliver genetic medicines into the body. RNA vaccines use genetic instructions to help the immune system recognise a disease target.
Current RNA-based therapeutics rely on lipid nanoparticles that need storage at between -20°C and -80°C and high dosing. This increases distribution costs and leads to significant wastage, limiting scalability, deployment and accessibility in lower-resource markets.
AlphaVectors Biotech says its technology can lower the need for temperature-controlled supply chains, reduce costs and improve the scalability of RNA vaccines for wider deployment.
The startup is led by Dr Apanpreet Kaur, an Imperial alumnus with a PhD in chemical engineering.
Epile-X, by NeuraVance Labs, is working on a platform that could provide continuous, real-world brain monitoring for people with epilepsy.
More than 630,000 people in the UK live with epilepsy, according to the charity Epilepsy Action.
Epilepsy is a neurological condition that can cause recurring seizures. EEG, or electroencephalography, is a test that records electrical activity in the brain.
Current diagnosis relies on EEG recordings in clinical settings and patient-reported diaries, which may miss seizures that happen during daily life.
The startup says its technology combines a wearable EEG with AI-driven analysis to capture daily brain activity and support improved diagnosis and more personalised treatment decisions.
Epile-X is led by Ester D’Alterio, an innovation, entrepreneurship and management MSc graduate from Imperial.
FluoroCycle is developing technology for low-energy chemical destruction of PFAS, breaking down “forever chemicals” at 10 times lower temperatures than current incineration methods.
PFAS are synthetic chemicals found in air, water and soil. Some studies have linked exposure to them to health risks including thyroid disease, reproductive illness and cancer.
The startup aims to make PFAS destruction more affordable by providing its technology as an onsite engineered unit, allowing customers to save on energy and transport costs while cutting their carbon footprint.
FluoroCycle is led by Amanda Fogh, a research associate in Imperial’s department of chemistry.
Waypoint is building a video game controller for visually impaired players to hear and feel popular games, including Super Mario and Minecraft.
At least 2.2 billion people globally have some form of vision impairment, according to the World Health Organisation, while estimates show around 43 million people have complete blindness.
Waypoint says only 0.001 per cent of video games are fully playable for blind gamers.
The startup’s technology uses computer vision and AI to read the game screen and translate key information into sound, vibration and touch for a fully immersive experience.
The founders say it is the first game controller designed to make video games fully playable for blind players.
Waypoint is led by Bana Quronfuleh, an innovation design engineering MSc student at Imperial.
Snitch is developing an accountability-based app that allows friends to cut down their screen time together.
UK adults spend an average of 4.5 hours a day online on personal smartphones, tablets and computers, according to Ofcom’s Online Nation 2025 report.
Young adults spend more than six hours online on average. Some research suggests excessive screen use may have a negative impact on mental and physical health.
The app allows users to join accountability groups and set shared limits across their most used apps.
When one person scrolls, the group’s combined timer counts down. The founders say this helps build awareness, encourage reflection and create small behavioural shifts by making screen use a shared responsibility.
Snitch is led by Asha Bakhai, a design engineering MEng graduate from Imperial.
Indian pharmaceutical giant Sun Pharma has agreed to buy Organon for US$11.75bn in a deal aimed at expanding its women’s health and biosimilars business.
Organon, which was spun out of Merck in 2021, has built a portfolio of more than 70 women’s health and general medicines products, including biosimilars, sold in the US and about 140 other countries.
The acquisition would give Sun Pharma a broader presence in biosimilars, which are medicines designed to be highly similar to existing biological drugs, and strengthen its position in women’s health.
Dilip Shanghvi, executive chairman of Sun Pharma, said: “Organon’s portfolio, capabilities, and global reach are highly complementary to our own, and we believe that bringing the two organizations together can create a stronger and more diversified platform.”
The companies said the combined business would generate annual revenue of US$12.4bn, operate across 150 countries and rank among the top three companies globally in women’s health.
They also said it would become the seventh largest biosimilar player.
Sun Pharma said the deal would help grow its innovative medicines business and expand its biosimilars offering.
It added that the combined company would have 18 large markets each generating more than US$100m in revenue.
Organon’s largest markets include the US, Brazil, Canada, China and countries in the European Union. The company also has six manufacturing facilities across the EU and emerging markets.
The deal follows market speculation that began on 10 April, when Indian media reported that Sun Pharma had submitted an all-cash offer for Organon.
A later report said the offer had been revised to US$13bn. Sun Pharma shares rose about 7 per cent on India’s National Stock Exchange after the announcement.
Sun Pharma said it would acquire all of Organon’s issued and outstanding shares in cash, using a combination of available cash and committed bank financing. It also estimated synergies of about US$350m within two to four years of completion.
The company said the acquisition would strengthen its cash generation, with EBITDA and cash flow set to nearly double, supporting efforts to reduce the net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.3 times resulting from the deal. EBITDA is a measure of operating performance before certain costs are deducted.
Organon reported revenue of US$6.2bn last year and adjusted EBITDA of US$1.9bn. It also reported debt of US$8.64bn, down from US$9.5bn when it separated from Merck, and a cash balance of US$574m.
In November, Organon announced plans to sell its JADA System, designed to control and treat abnormal postpartum uterine bleeding or haemorrhage, to Laborie Medical Technologies for up to US$465m. Net proceeds from the sale will contribute to Organon’s cash balance as of 31 March 2026.
Organon will merge with a subsidiary of Sun Pharma, with Organon surviving the merger. The boards of both companies have approved the transaction.
Carrie Cox, executive chair of Organon, said: “Following a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives, our Board determined that this all-cash transaction offers compelling and immediate value to Organon stockholders.”
The transaction is expected to close in early 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and Organon stockholder approval.
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