Anar Simpson

Worth knowing

She works with governments, international agencies and technology companies on getting women and girls online and into technology, and she has done that at the level of a UN high-level panel as well as classroom by classroom. Her advisory work now centres on AI capacity building. Founders, funders and program builders working on digital inclusion or global expansion of an education program should write.

Story

Anar's technology career began in Calgary's oil and gas industry, followed by roles in academia, before she moved to Silicon Valley. She founded Parallel Earth, a startup that aggregated and curated social media for events, and served as Special Advisor in the Office of the Chair for Women, Girls and Technology at Mozilla. Canada stayed close: she sat on the organizing committee of C100, the network connecting Canadian technology entrepreneurs to Silicon Valley. She has mentored and coached through TechWomen, a U.S. Department of State initiative. Today she is Founder and Strategic Advisor at Orchestrate.Agency, working at the intersection of AI capacity building.

Highlights

• Deputy to the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment (20…
• Board of Directors, CARE Canada (2018)
• Advisory Board Member, Banff Forum
• Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Calgary (2015)
• BSc Computer Science and MA Communications, University of Calgary; Stanford GSB innovatio…