Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top Newcastle upon Tyne based Director operating in the Financial Services space. If you think a Director is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Michael Vassallo
Investment Director of Maven Capital Partners
Michael is responsible for new investments across the North East of England and manages the North East Development Capital Fund and Finance Durham Fund. He joined Maven in March 2017 having previously worked for FW Capital in Newcastle where he spent five years in their SME investment team leading transactions across the North East. Previously, Michael worked at Brewin Dolphin in Newcastle and London where he spent over eight years in the Investment Banking team working as an Associate Director on a range of listed company fund raisings. Michael qualified as a Chartered Accountant (ACA) with Ernst & Young in 2002 having graduated from Oxford University with an MA (Hons) in Mathematics in 1999.
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About Maven Capital Partners: Maven Capital Partners is a private equity firm that provides a range of funding options to SMEs and investment opportunities.
Aaron Lawson-Clark
Investment Director of Mercia Asset Management PLC
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About Mercia Asset Management PLC: Mercia is a proactive, specialist asset manager focused on supporting regional businesses to achieve their growth aspirations.
Alex Buchan
Investment Director of Northstar Ventures
Alex leads on our life science and bio-tech investments. As an Investment Director, Alex makes and manages investments into a wide range of technology businesses and oversees our activities in the health-tech and green-tech sectors. He is an observer on the board of several companies and is a Non-Exec Director at Femeda, a company which produces medical devices. Alex has been interested in the life-sciences industry since completing a PhD in Microbiology/ Biotechnology at the University of Kent. He went on to hold a number of senior commercial roles in biotechnology companies, including Compugen, SDI Europe and EnSys Europe. Prior to this, Alex worked as a Stockbroker in London. Alex is also responsible for Northstar’s partnership with Ignite, one of Europe’s leading angel-led accelerator programmes. As part of this, Alex works as a mentor and advisor to start-up companies taking part. He also sits on the Newcastle University Equity Committee, supporting with its commercialisation activities. Outside of Northstar, Alex is a Trustee for North East charity The Lit and Phil – the largest independent library outside of London.
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About Northstar Ventures: Northstar is a venture capital firm with over £100m under management, investing in high-growth industries.
Alasdair Greig
Director of Northstar Ventures
Alasdair joined Northstar Ventures in 2006 and is a Director with overall responsibility for the Accelerator Fund. One of his key areas of focus is on new deals in the technology sector, particularly in IT, telecoms and games development. Recent investments include Palringo, Eutechnyx and Aframe. Prior to Northstar Ventures, Alasdair spent four years with The Cambridge Gateway Fund, an early stage technology and life sciences fund, based in Cambridge, UK Contact: alasdair@northstarventures.co.uk
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About Northstar Ventures: Northstar is a venture capital firm with over £100m under management, investing in high-growth industries.
Ian Richards
Director of Northstar Ventures
Ian joined Northstar Ventures in 2007 with responsibility for the investment portfolio across all funds. He became a director of the company in 2010, and now additional oversees the Proof of Concept Fund. Before joining Northstar Ventures, Ian worked for NatWest Bank and 3i. Contact: ian@northstarventures.co.uk
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About Northstar Ventures: Northstar is a venture capital firm with over £100m under management, investing in high-growth industries.
Emma O’Rourke
Finance Director of Northstar Ventures
Emma is a chartered accountant with over 15 years experience in mergers, acquisitions and transaction services. Having started her career with Ernst & Young, Emma has worked at KPMG in Leeds and Newcastle where her principal role was due diligence on behalf of a wide range of clients.
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About Northstar Ventures: Northstar is a venture capital firm with over £100m under management, investing in high-growth industries.
Sarah MacNeil
Creative Director of Growth Capital Ventures
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About Growth Capital Ventures: Growth Capital Ventures is a technology led financial services business.
Simon John
Financial Director of NVM Private Equity
NVM Private Equity is responsible for all aspects of finance in respect of NVM and its client funds. Simon has an MSc in Physics from Nottingham University and qualified as a chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2010. From 2010 to 2014 he was an assistant director in the PwC Newcastle office corporate finance team, working on a range of corporate transactions, before spending two years with Sage Group where he was Director of Investor Relations.
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About NVM Private Equity: NVM Private Equity Limited is an independently-owned firm of venture capital managers with over 20 years experience of investing in UK.
Lisa Charles-Jones
Member of the Board of Directors of Your Move
Lisa worked for LSL Property Services plc for 13 years, which is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, firstly as Head of HR and for the last ten years as Group HR Director. Lisa is also a director of Keyfund Federation Limited and was a director of Reeds Rains Limited and Your-Move.co.uk Limited. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and holds an MBA from the University of Durham.
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About : Your Move assists and provides its customers with financial services to find, buy, sell, and rent real-estate properties.
