Variety’s Carolyn Giardina Among the Nominees for Women in Technology: Hollywood Leadership Awards

Carolyn Giardina, Variety‘s senior entertainment technology and crafts editor, is among the nominees for this year’s Women in Technology: Hollywood Leadership Awards.

The nonprofit organization aims to help women who work in technology-related aspets of media and entertainment advance their careers through professional development programs, networking and community engagement events. The Leadership Awards will be presented Nov. 8 as part of the organization’s annual SoCal Women’s Leadership Summit in Hollywood, which will unfold alongside the AI-focused Infinity Festival at the Avalon Hollywood.

“The WiTH Leadership Awards are a testament to the incredible talent and dedication within our industry,” the organization said in announcing the nominees. “The nominees represent a diverse range of professionals who have excelled in their careers and have made significant impacts in their communities.”

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Giardina is an award-winning journalist who joined Variety in February after a long run as tech editor for The Hollywood Reporter. Giardina has been honored with American Cinema Editors’ Robert Wise Award for journalistic illumination of the art of film editing, the International Cinematographers Guild’s Technicolor William A. Fraker Award for journalistic contributions to cinematography, and the Advanced Imaging Society’s Distinguished Leadership Lumiere Award.

Here is a full list of 2024 nominees for Women in Technology: Hollywood Leadership Awards:

• Diane Arnold, Interim EVP, Enterprise Technology & CIO, The Walt Disney Company
• Sherri Brown, Vice President, Global Network Strategy, The Walt Disney Company
• Hollie Choi, Managing Director, Entertainment ID Registry (EIDR)
• Karen Chupka, EVP and Managing Director, Global Connections and Events, National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)
• Carol Danoff, EVP and Chief Procurement Officer, Warner Bros. Discovery
• Terri Davies, President, Trusted Partner Network
• Joe Devon, Co-Founder,Global Accessibility Awareness Day
• Nicole Dove, Head of Security, Riot Games
• Gail Evans, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Disney Parks, Experiences & Products
• Johanna Faries, President, Blizzard Entertainment
• Adaire Fox-Martin, Chief Executive Officer & President, Equinix
• Heather Fuller, Partner Manager, Unreal Engine Partnerships, Epic Games
• Tracy Geist, Global Head of Media & Entertainment, Games, & Sports Marketing, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Carolyn Giardina, Senior Entertainment Technology & Crafts Editor, Variety
• Melody Hildebrandt, Chief Technology Officer, FOX
• Ina Huang, Director, Head of Content Design & Localization, Sony PlayStation
• Tammee Layne, Manager, Product Management, The Walt Disney Company
• Barbara Marshall, Industry Strategy & Marketing, Media & Entertainment, HP
• Debbie Menin, Vice President, Sr. Client Partner, Globant
• Mira Murati, Chief Architect, Open AI
• Cindy Olivio, Global Marketing Lead, Dell Technologies
• Karen Raz, Founder, Raz Public Relations
• April Schneider, Vice President, Corporate IT, Intellectual Property Management & General Counsel, Sony Pictures Entertainment
• Lori Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer & Principal, Storytech
• Debbie Taylor, Chief Information Officer, DirecTV
• Rachel Joy Victor, Co-Founder, FBRC.ai
• ErinRose Widner, Global Head of Business Strategy, Emerging & Creative Technologies, Media & Entertainment, Verizon
• Toshino Yuhaku, Global Media & Entertainment Practice Leader, Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Shelley Zalis, Chief Executive Officer & Founder, The Female Quotient

(Pictured: Carolyn Giardina, far left, moderates a panel at the 2024 Produced By conference in June with Latham & Watkins’ Ghaith Mahmoud, Revelations Enteratainment’s Lori McCreary and SMPTE’s Renard T. Jenkins)