Iris Chen, vice president, legal of Google Inc., prepared the company's global display ads and analytics businesses to become compliant with the European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation.

After the events that have rocked Silicon Valley this year, are you more or less hopeful about the prospects for women in the tech industry?

Making tech more inclusive and allowing more women to thrive in this industry is a long game and right now, I don't think we're anywhere near where we need to be. But I think a necessary first step is to draw attention to the challenges women face and make it a part of everyone's everyday conscience. This past year has been a turning point in that regard given the publicity around how these issues have manifested at Uber, VCs, etc. While the experiences of women in those environments are disturbing, I am hopeful, that the increasing public awareness and attention to these issues empowers more women to be vocal when they experience discrimination and to step up as leaders and role models.