i think you are overthinking the situation. this is more like a shitty photographer's fault than Coindest releasing this photo with the purpose of removing the woman out of the photo, and it doesn't look like a photoshopped picture either.
No matter how shitty the photographer is, the editor still has eyes and can see the woman is cut out.
Definitely a poor choice in photo composition. I wouldn't be surprised if she was disappointed to see that photo was chosen. Bizarre as she is probably the one on the panel readers would most prefer to see.
One could argue, however, that she is more than adequately represented by her enormous name and company name on the wall while 4 of the others are missing in that respect.