Ólöf Kristjánsdóttir

BOARD CHAIR 2024 -2026
Ólöf Kristjánsdóttir is Head of Growth at Cycle.io. Previously, she was CMO at Taktikal, Head of Marketing at Wise, and Director of Growth Marketing at Tempo. She is an accomplished marketer with 15+ years in B2B and SaaS marketing. Her expertise spans a variety of marketing functions including digital marketing, demand and lead generation, branding, field marketing and content management. She is an experienced leader and trained in agile leadership. She joined WomenTechIceland in 2022, joining the Board of Directors in January 2023, with the goal of being able to impact the diversity and inclusion of the Icelandic tech industry. Ólöf has a degree in business administration and a masters in international relations.
Ásta Þöll Gylfadóttir

BOARD MEMBER
Ásta Þöll has spent the last decade leading teams across digital strategy, running agile projects, and advocating for innovation as an imperative for any company or institution. She holds a master's degree in Digital Design and Communication with a focus on digital innovation and interaction design from IT University of Denmark, a solid foundation for someone who loves where technology and people meet. She started out working with agile projects and design thinking initiatives, but quickly found her real passion in innovation and transformation, bridging the gap between technology and the people who use it.
Her experience spans consultant roles at Advania and several years at the City of Reykjavík's Department of Service and Innovation, where she first led a new team of digital leaders as change agents, then a leadership role in web development and product, a department supporting every sector across the city.
Emiliya Ivanova-Nikolova

BOARD MEMBER
I am the Co-founder and CEO of Íslandsdóttir, where I support startups, innovation-driven companies, public bodies, and non-profit organizations with funding strategy, grant applications, and project development, mainly through Icelandic and EU funding programmes.

Ingunn Sigurpálsdóttir

BOARD MEMBER
I am the CEO of Auðna tæknitorg - TTO Iceland, where I work with researchers, startups and ecosystem partners across the Icelandic innovation landscape to help turn research and scientific discoveries into real-world impact.
Natascha Karstaedt

BOARD MEMBER
I'm Natascha, a Digital Transformation Manager and consultant specializing in automation, AI, and MACH technologies. Originally from Germany, I recently moved to Iceland and am excited to build roots in this incredible tech community.
Ósk Heiða Sveinsdóttir

Board member
Ósk Heiða Sveinsdóttir is a commercial executive and leadership speaker. She formerly served as Chief Commercial Officer at Pósturinn (Iceland Post), where she leveraged her broad experience to drive business growth and lead digital transformation. In previous roles as Marketing Director at Pósturinn, TrackWell, and Krónan, Ósk Heiða has built a reputation for fostering customer relationships, encouraging creativity, and guiding teams through change.
With a master’s degree in International Business and Marketing, Ósk Heiða brings a strategic mindset and global perspective to her work in commercial strategy and digital innovation.

Our Founders

Paula Gould

CO-FOUNDER
Paula Gould, is co-founder of WomenTechIceland and founder of Float and gather ehf., a go-to-market and growth strategy consultancy working with US and European growth and startup companies that engage global enterprises.
In Iceland, Paula previously served as Head of Brand & Communications at Men&Mice (acqu. by Blue Cat), Chief Marketing Officer at Greenqloud (acqu. by NetApp), Board Member at CLARA (acqu. by Jive Software), and Principal at Nordic VC firm, Frumtak Ventures. In the US, she worked with a number of award-winning artists and notable companies on national and global campaigns for the likes of Pepsi, Escada, New Line Cinema, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
She has lived and worked in Los Angeles, California, Reykjavik, Iceland, and Boston, Massachusetts.
Valenttina Griffin

CO-FOUNDER
Valenttina Griffin is a serial entrepreneur, and experienced Senior Data & Senior IT specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the food processing industry. She is the co-founder of career site Ugrow.is, which empowers the service industry with smarter hiring, and co-founder of data management and analytics company, Griffin & Jonsson.
In her previous role, she built and led Marel’s global master data management department. She has additional experience in the financial industries, leading and building the data management department at Arion Banki. Valenttina is skilled in resource management and leadership, vision and strategy implementations, continuous improvements, IT consultancy, presentation, coaching and public engagement.
She is a strong continuous improvement professional having worked in 7 countries both in Europe and North America. She is a very proud co-founder of WomenTechIceland and strongly believes in providing women with a much needed platform to help achieve positive changes in equality, inclusion and diversity. Valenttina holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and has a commercial pilot license.