When Director and O2 launched the search for the best-connected woman in British business, our list of potential winners was immense. But we've whittled it down to a shortlist of just 12 talented, respected and – most of all – well-connected women. Now we need you to choose the final six. Please read on and cast your vote…

This month we're proud to reveal the shortlist in our search for the best-connected businesswoman in Britain, in association with O2. We're searching for women who've used a variety of connections to promote their businesses and themselves with maximum effect. We've asked: are they prolific networkers in their sector and others? Do they sit on a range of boards? Are they active in social media and blogging? And how have these networking activities had a positive impact on their business? From those criteria, here are the 12 women we've shortlisted as the best connected in the land. Who will get your vote to make the final six?

Polly Gowers
Innovative technology entrepreneur

Polly Gowers wants to raise £1bn for UK charities by bringing fundraising methods into the 21st century. Her technology company Everyclick.com has already contributed £2m to worthy causes since it launched in 2005 thanks in part to marketing on social network sites such as Facebook and by creating new ways to give to Britain's 200,000 charities. The Give as you Live function lets users raise funds for free as they search the web and shop online. Last year, business secretary Vince Cable appointed Gowers to an entrepreneurs' forum that advises the government on business and enterprise.

Lynne Franks
Doyenne of PR

Franks rose to fame in the 1980s with her eponymous PR agency, which she had started at her kitchen table aged 21. It became one of the world's best-known agencies representing the likes of designer Katharine Hamnett and pop star Annie Lennox. Franks also founded SEED, a provider of women's coaching programmes and a global women's support network. She is the chair of the Stop Raping our Greatest Resource V-Day UK Committee, a charity which campaigns to stop sexual violence against women. Last year, Franks launched B.Hive, a networking space for women entrepreneurs in collaboration with Regus.

Carole Stone
Networker extraordinaire

Carole Stone is an author and freelance radio and television broadcaster. For a decade she was the producer of BBC Radio 4's flagship discussion programme Any Questions? Referred to as the "queen of networking", she is thought to have gathered more than 44,000 people in her contacts database. She is the author of Networking: The Art of Making Friends and The Ultimate Guide to Successful Networking. In 2007, she formed YouGovStone, a joint venture with polling firm YouGov. She is a trustee of the Wallace Collection in London, a patron of SANE and counsellor at One Young World.

Shaa Wasmund
Social media entrepreneur

Shaa Wasmund, founder of Smarta.com, has had a colourful career. At 21 she secured an interview with boxer Chris Eubank, who asked her to promote his fight with Nigel Benn – one of British boxing's biggest fights. Wasmund worked with Sir James Dyson and then Sir Bob Geldof before raising £6m to launch an online community for teenage girls – Mykindaplace.com – in 2000. She sold half her share in a multimillion-pound deal in 2006. Her latest venture, Smarta, is an online support platform that provides free networking resources to business owners.

Bindi Karia
Queen of start-ups

Bindi Karia leads BizSpark and BizSpark One for Microsoft in the UK, where she focuses on how the tech giant can drive success for leading-edge and early-stage technology companies. She is also a UK member of the Silicon Valley Emerging Business Team. At Microsoft, Karia manages relationships with the UK's investor community, including venture capitalists, angels and other investor organisations. Known as the "queen of start-ups", she sits on many advisory boards, including Seedcamp, Astia UK, The Cambridge Phenomenon and Tech Media Invest. Her previous role at Microsoft was as a business productivity adviser, where she managed relationships with key decision-makers in the UK financial services sector.

Martha Lane Fox
Dotcom pioneer

Now immersed in government work to bring online the nine million people who have never used the internet, Martha Lane Fox co-founded Lastminute.com with Brent Hoberman in 1998. She is chairman and founder of karaoke bar chain Lucky Voice and of her grant-giving foundation Antigone. She sits on the boards of Marks & Spencer and Channel 4 as a non-executive director. Having surviveda horrific car crash in 2004, she places importance on making an impact on the world. Her thousands of devoted followers, including over 23,000 on Twitter, would say she's a poster girl for doing good.

Cilla Snowball
Advertising's first lady

Often cited as advertising's most powerful woman, Cilla Snowball is group chairman and chief executive of AMV BBDO – the UK's largest ad agency. Her firm has worked on some of the most iconic campaigns on TV, including Guinness and Walkers, but it's her rise through the ranks to her current senior position that continues to impress. A board member of Business in the Community, the well-connected mother of three believes in giving back and is an active mentor on The Marketing Academy programme. She was awarded a CBE in 2009 for services to advertising.

Arianna Huffington
Digital media impresario

When online media company AOL bought news and blog site The Huffington Post for $315m (£193m) in February, co-founder Arianna Huffington became president and editor-in-chief of what she describes as one of the most widely read, linked to, and frequently cited media brands on the net. She's been voted one of the world's most influential people by Time magazine twice, and appeared more recently on the Guardian's Media 100 list. Huffington has written 13 books as well as run for governor in California. The "Madonna of new media" launched HuffPost UK in July. She has 693,000 followers on Twitter.

Lucy Marcus
Big thinker

It's hard to pigeonhole Lucy Marcus – she excels across industries (software, biotech, finance, cleantech) and borders (Europe and the US). The founder of Marcus Venture Consulting, she is also a non-executive director on two UK?boards. A blogger, writer and public speaker, she was nominated as one of the world's top 50 business thinkers. She is co-founder and chair of Leadership in Conflict, which works to develop leaders in conflict and post-conflict zones. Marcus is passionate about advancing women in business – she's chair of the Global Task Force on Building Women Leaders and founder of HighTech Women.

Marjorie Scardino
Publishing specialist

Dame Marjorie Scardino became the FTSE-100's first female chief executive when she was appointed to lead Pearson in 1997 and after almost 15 years at the helm she is now one of its longest-serving. She is a non-executive director of Nokia and former chief executive of the Economist Group. She is also a trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum and serves on the board of the MacArthur Foundation and the Carter Center. Last year, the extremely well-connected Scardino was listed 63rd on the Forbes list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.

Sarah Brown
Women's health guru

A brilliant networker, Sarah Brown is the founding partner of PR firm Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications. Since quitting PR, marrying Gordon Brown when he was chancellor and having a family, she has worked tirelessly for charities. In 2002, she founded Piggy Bank Kids, a research fund to tackle complications in pregnancy and help disadvantaged children. She is global patron of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and a patron of Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres. Brown has more than one million followers on Twitter.

Orla Kiely
Design supremo

Textile designer Orla Kiely launched The Orla Kiely Partnership with her husband 14 years ago. She began creating handbags using laminated fabric and now has two London stores. Her iconic designs, which are also used for stationery, kitchenware, furniture, wallpaper and a range of Citroën DS3 cars, are sold worldwide. The Irish government has issued her with her own postage stamp – it features her name and an image of her handbag. Regular tweeter Kiely is visiting professor of textiles at the Royal College of Art and was awarded an OBE in July for services to fashion.

WHO SHOULD MAKE THE FINAL SIX?
Send your vote to Director, 116 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5ED, or . The winner will be chosen at the IoD's Women as Leaders conference on 9 November at the Lancaster London. Click here for more information