Anne Boden MBE, 59

Anne grew up in Swansea, the daughter of a steelworker and a department store worker. She showed a flair for science, and studied chemistry and computer sciences at Swansea University. After starting out in banking in 1981, she rose to become COO of Allied Irish Banks in 2012. During this stint as COO, Anne realised that banking needed to change and modernise, but that she wouldn’t be able to achieve this in her current post due to entrenched ways of thinking.

She founded digital-only Starling Bank in 2014 with one goal in mind – to disrupt and revolutionise the world of banking. In the past five years, Anne’s mobile-based banking app has won over almost half a million customers and been named the UK’s best bank for two years running, while Anne was recently awarded an MBE for her work.

Anne says: “I wouldn’t have expected to have founded my own bank, but it needed to be done. Most people thought it would be impossible, but I had to do it. Gender diversity in the tech sector is changing but not quickly enough. People talk about it being ‘a man’s world’ but many of the early tech pioneers were women. The ratio of men to women on the senior team at Starling is currently 60:40. I’d love it to be 50:50.” >>