TechRound has announced its annual list of the Top 50 Women in Startups and Tech, which celebrates female entrepreneurs changing the tech and startup landscape. QuesTek chief commercial officer Severine Valdant was ranked No. 12 on the list. 

TechRound is the UK’s best-known and fastest-growing startup and tech news site where decision makers, investors and startups of all sizes and nature come to find out the latest developments and trends within the industry. 

 Here is Tech Round’s profile of Severine: 

 Severine Valdant has been passionate about technology for as long as she can remember. Early in her adulthood, that passion fueled her through her education and helped her earn a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Industries Chimiques and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Ecole Nationale Supérieure en Génie des Systèmes Industriels. But it was only in combination with her entrepreneurial spirit — consisting of a deep curiosity about the business side of the industry, strong people skills and a calling to leadership — that this passion has shaped who she is today. 

 For more than two decades she has worked diligently to make technological advances a reality in the fields of advanced technology, medical devices and materials engineering. Fifteen of those years have been spent in leadership positions, ranging from operations management, business development and planning to financial reporting and capital formation. 

 As president of Oxford Performance Materials, Inc., Valdant led the company’s evolution from a polymers company to an additive and medical device manufacturer. During her time at OPM, it became the first company to receive FDA approvals for 3D printed polymeric permanent implants. She was awarded two patents while working at OPM and her work earned her recognition as one of “7 Top Women in Manufacturing” from CNNMoney in 2014. 

 Despite her success at OPM, or perhaps because of it, she found that she wanted something more, a job that could help her develop more skills and that would challenge her as she had never been challenged before. She wanted to rekindle that passion for technology that started her on her career path. 

She was approached by QuesTek Innovations LLC, a pioneer in materials engineering that was preparing to launch its first software product. Half of their team is PhD materials scientists, and they needed a leader who could work with the engineers while also building and leading a new department that could effectively translate their innovative work for clients, the press and the public. 

 This was the challenge she was looking for, a position that would call upon her engineering expertise and her entrepreneurial instincts. In August 2022, she resigned as president of OPM and joined QuesTek as Chief Commercial Officer. 

Now, as CCO at QuesTek, Valdant is responsible for the management of all market-facing resources of the company as it drives the digital transformation of materials engineering in critical industries, including aerospace, defense, energy and consumer tech. 

 The next year is a pivotal one for the company as it evolves its product offering. She will continue leading the company’s technology commercialization group, whose mission is to bring to market, and drive, the adoption of QuesTek’s proprietary ICME methodologies and engineering services, from its Materials by Design® technology to its new ICMD® SaaS platform, which was just introduced to the market last year. 

 Valdant will also continue to contribute to the broader industry as a member of both the board of directors at Okay Industries and the medical advisory board at AddUp Solutions. 

 TechRound’s award programs focus on companies that operate in Europe and the UK. While based in Evanston, Illinois, QuesTek also has an office in Solna, Sweden.