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 United Kingdom based COO’ operating in the Consulting space. If you think a COO’ 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.
Steve Shirley
COO of Roc Technologies
Steve Shirley is the COO at Roc Technologies.
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About Roc Technologies, Roc Technologies: Roc Technologies is a multi-award winning business and technology services provider.
Adrian Toner
Chief Operating Officer of First Derivatives
Adrian initially joined the Board of First Derivatives plc in September 2005 as a Non-Executive Director. In July 2010 he joined the Executive Team as Chief Operations Officer and has responsibility for the Group’s Human Resources, Facilities Management and Corporate IT functions. Prior to joining First Derivatives plc, Adrian spent eighteen years with Allianz in London and Ireland where he became of Head of Allianz in Northern Ireland and Associate Commercial Director-Allianz Ireland plc. During his career he has developed expertise in directing and controlling organisational operations in accordance with the company’s strategy and growth objectives.
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About First Derivatives: First Derivatives is a provider of products and consulting services to the largest finance, technology and energy institutions.
Alex Klein
COO / Founding Partner of Efficio
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About Efficio: Efficio provides traditional procurement consulting services.
Keith Reed
COO of DevicePilot
COO at DevicePilot.
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About DevicePilot: DevicePilot provides Service Monitoring for connected devices
Warwick Hunt
Managing Partner and Chief Operating Officer of PwC
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About PwC: PricewaterhouseCoopers is an accounting firm that provides tax, HR, transactions, performance improvement, and crisis management services.
Cian Nugent
COO of Xanadu Consultancy
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About Xanadu Consultancy: Xanadu Consultancy is based in Cork with a branch office in London.
Sheila Flavell
Chief Operating Officer of FDM Group
With over 26 years of experience in both the public and private IT sectors internationally Sheila is passionate about enhancing diversity in the workplace and creating exciting careers for the next generation of digital talent. Sheila spearheads FDM’s global Women in Tech initiative and FDM’s Getting Back to Business Programme, aimed at providing opportunities for returners to work. In addition, Sheila’s experience and knowledge of the sector has been crucial in driving the Group’s global expansion programme.
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About FDM Group, Future Digital Media: FDM Group is a professional services provider with a focus on IT and business recruitment for graduates and veterans.
Helen Mayhew
COO Europe of QuantumBlack
Helen is Chief Operating Officer for Europe at QuantumBlack, a McKinsey Company. She has guided global organisations on their analytics journeys, advising top executives and leaders on the potential for insight and innovation through advanced analytics. As COO, she is scaling the company and its impact around the world as she helps clients do the same. Examples of her work include: Implementing advanced geospatial analytics to model the impact of consumer changes on the footprint and property portfolio of a retailer, which helped the client understand the drivers of revenue performance, giving a new view of their business Leading an advanced analytics approach to bring new techniques to a retail bank, improving performance of its mortgage sales teams; also embedding tools and mindsets of data driven decision making across frontline staff Leading a project to predict and reduce government exposure to private sector insolvency, delivering both on-the-ground training and an interactive seminar series to build capabilities of the analytics team Helen is also the founder of McKinsey’s Analytics Academy and a thought-leader in progressing ethical and sustainable AI standards. Before joining McKinsey, she was a lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and spent time on secondment at both Tesco and the Bank of England. She also worked at the European Commission, supporting the Directorate-General for External Relations. Passionate about sailing, Helen is a former world champion and was a training partner to team Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics.
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About QuantumBlack: QuantumBlack Visual Analytics Limited provides advanced data analytics services for critical decisions to various companies.
Alex Calcutt
COO & CFO of The SR Group
Alex graduated from Durham University with a degree in Chemistry. He qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen and then worked at Prebon Marshall Yamane before joining The SR Group in August 2000 as Financial Director. Alex then became a Partner of the firm. As CFO & COO Alex has overall responsibility for the global finance team, the global IT Team and the Commercial Management team.
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About The SR Group: The SR Group consists of specialist recruitment consultancies.
Steve Pannifer
COO of Consult Hyperion
Steve Pannifer is the COO at Consult Hyperion, is a digital identity and information security expert. He has led Consult Hyperion teams delivering projects in these areas for both banks, telcos and payment schemes. Steve has a detailed understanding of the global digital identity market, the operational and information security implications of the main ID&V processes and tools, and the most efficient way to implement them in financial services, including critical financial infrastructures. He has advised clients in Australia, Europe, North America and the UK, successfully transferring the learnings and best practice from one market to another. Over the last four years, Steve has established and built up Consult Hyperion’s information security and penetration testing capabilities. Building upon Consult Hyperion’s proven Security Risk Analysis methodology, Steve’s team now includes individuals with experience in mobile penetration testing, secure code reviews and the technology available in a mobile device to secure personal and financial information. The aim is always to understand the business impact of security issues and to be able to present those in business terms in order that resources can be targeted where they are most needed. Prior to joining Consult Hyperion, Steve gained 7 years IT experience at Logica, in the areas of IT security, systems integration and database design. Steve is a member of the UK Government’s Privacy and Consumer Advisory Group.
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About Consult Hyperion: Consult Hyperion is an independent strategic and technical consultancy.
Jo Parker
COO of Chime Communications PLC
Jo was a founding member of Teamspirit, the financial services specialist, full service agency that became part of Chime in 1999 and has worked in specialist agencies for over 25 years. She has always believed that specialist agencies best service clients that work in complex markets. She is a passionate advocate of integrated marketing and has developed Teamspirit’s offering to cover paid, earned and owned media. Seven years ago she set up Teamspirit Public Relations of which she is Chairman, which is now the second largest Financial Services PR agency in the UK. She is CEO of the Chime Specialist Group, a group of six specialist agencies that cover financial services, TMT, sustainability and media planning. Jo also chairs Chime’s Youth Board and is on the Advisory Board of the Financial Services Forum.
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About Chime Communications PLC: Chime is an international communications and sports marketing group.
Laura Malcolm
COO of Avanade
Laura is an experienced business and technology leader, driving industry change, diversity and inclusion with innovative and pioneering approaches. She has performed roles including COO, CTIO, Digital and Sales leadership roles, working in leading technology and consulting organisations, including Avanade, Oracle, Capgemini and IBM. She has a track record of delivering technical, operational and sales excellence, but people leadership and organisational change motivate her the most. She attributes her record of strong business results not only to a passion for technology and innovation, but mostly to her ability to get the best out of people through humility, creativity and authentic leadership.
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About Avanade: Avanade provides innovative digital and cloud services, business solutions and design-led experiences on the Microsoft ecosystem.
Paul Zimmerman
COO of Invotra Ltd
An accomplished executive in the technology sector for nearly 20 years, having joined Amazon.com in 1999. Communications & Technology Currently COO of Invotra, an enterprise Intranet-as-a-Service, used by 200,000 end users in the UK and the US. Customers include the UK’s Home Office, Department for Works & Pensions (DWP), Department for Transport (DfT) and HMRC. In America, the venerable environmental organisation Sierra Club became a customer in 2017. I’m a public speaker and guest lecturer on diverse subjects ranging from entrepreneurship to the future of communications in the workplace to accessibility to Brexit’s impact on the UK. Ecommerce CEO for online gift and gadget site Firebox.com from 2010 to 2012, and COO of Stanley Gibbons’ ecommerce operations in Jersey from 2013 to 2014. Prior to this, I served Play.com as Marketplace Director in 2010 and Head of Business Development from 2005-2010. Previously I was a senior manager at both Amazon.com’s UK division, Amazon.co.uk (4 years), and Woolworths Group (2 years), where I led the business units responsible for driving e-commerce retail sales for both physical and digital music products. Specialties digital communications strategies, ecommerce, consulting and stakeholder engagement, p&l management, general management, product management, marketplace strategies, vendor management, purchasing, user experience & web design, SEO, search technologies, content management systems, digital distribution technologies, competitive analysis and research, market analysis and research, international experience
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About : Enterprise Intranet and Portal solutions for organisations worldwide
Alan Manuel
Chief Operating Officer – UK & Europe of Currie & Brown (Australia)
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About Currie & Brown (Australia): Currie & Brown is a project services consultancy firm.
Ritesh Singhania
Co-founder and COO of ClearGlass
Co-founder and COO at ClearGlass.
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About ClearGlass: ClearGlass is a digital intermediary between asset managers and pension funds.
Alistair Lovegrove
COO of NTT DATA UK
Alistair Lovegrove is the Chief Operating Officer of NTT DATA UK.
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About NTT DATA UK: NTT DATA UK is a consulting and IT service provider to manufacturing, banking public sector, telecom, and financial services.
Clive Boddington
Chief Operating Officer of Oxygen Finance
Clive joined Oxygen in 2011 with responsibility for developing Oxygen’s delivery methodology and all supporting assets. Clive has led the delivery of all of Oxygen’s client implementations. Prior to Oxygen, Clive worked for 14 years at Accenture where he specialised in large scale multi-country Supply Chain and Finance transformations. Since leaving Accenture in 2004 he has held senior management positions at Cable & Wireless, Royal Mail and was a COO & CTO at a Telco start-up. During his career Clive has won numerous industry awards for delivery and solution excellence.
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About Oxygen Finance: Oxygen Finance brings innovation to early payment solutions, generating a new source of income for companies
Caroline Angus
COO of Spring Activator
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About Deciwatt, Spring Activator: Spring Activator is an incubator and accelerator changing the world through entrepreneurship
Adam Stoten
Chief Operating Officer of Oxford University Innovation
Adam has overall operational responsibility for the Licensing & Ventures and Consulting Services activities, in addition to several business support groups. He has worked for more than 15 years in commercial roles encompassing business development and licensing, new venture formation, product development, lobbying/advocacy and general management. Prior to his current role Adam led the Life Sciences Licensing & Ventures Group at OUI, where he oversaw the formation of more than 20 new spin out companies and led the creation of LAB282, a £13M partnership with Oxford Sciences Innovation plc and Evotec AG to accelerate Oxford drug discovery activities. Between 2010 and 2013 Adam worked as Deputy General Manager for the Oxford-Emergent Tuberculosis Consortium Ltd, a joint venture between the University of Oxford and Emergent BioSolutions Inc, which raised more than $30M to conduct the first ever efficacy study of a next generation TB vaccine in infants. Prior to this Adam worked in healthcare consulting with Technomark Ltd and then in increasingly senior commercialisation roles at OUI.
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About Oxford University Innovation: Oxford University Innovation manages the university’s technology transfer and consulting activities.
Richard McCann
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Kainos
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About Kainos: Kainos provide digital technology solutions that enable companies to work smarter, faster, better.
David Brain
Co-founder and COO of Symphony Ventures
David is a process and automation expert. He has designed and led billion pound outsourcing deals, developed BPO product suites, and built industry-leading Incubation Labs. Most recently, David has gained recognition as the pre-eminent expert in Robotic Process Automation, building BPO’s most recognized capability in the field. David’s mission at Symphony is to ensure flawless solution design and execution, providing clients with the innovation journey they have long sought.
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About Sykes Enterprises, Symphony Ventures: Symphony is a professional services firm passionate about creating value for the world’s leading organizations.
Andrew Cayton
COO, Global and Kantar Business Lead for Sample of Lightspeed Research
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About Lightspeed Research: Lightspeed Research provides online market research panels for consumer.
Jackie McKay
Chief Operating Officer of Frontier IP Group plc
Jackie is the Group’s Chief Operating Officer, supporting the Chief Executive in the delivery of the Group’s objectives. She has substantial experience of the university IP and venture capital industries and has been working with Frontier IP since its inception to help develop new and existing commercialisation relationships. Jackie spent nearly ten years at Sigma Capital Group plc, latterly as Corporate Development Director, where she was responsible for structuring and setting up venture funds and university partnerships. Prior to Sigma, Jackie spent 12 years with Bank of Scotland. She has an MA in Psychology.
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About Frontier IP Group plc: Frontier IP Group plc is a specialist asset management group.
Edwina McDowall
Chief Operating Officer of YSC Consulting
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About CIPS, YSC Consulting: YSC provides leadership strategy consulting services.
Avinoam Baruch
Chief Operating Officer of Previsico
Avinoam (Avi) Baruch is the Chief Operating Officer at Previsico.
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About Previsico: Previsico is a global provider of real-time, street level flood prediction, and analytical solutions, building round-the-clock resilience.
Reggie James
Executive Director | Co-Chief Operating Officer & SVP of Marketing & Communications of Digital Brand Media & Marketing Group, Inc
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About : DBMM Group provides investment opportunity in the growing Digital Marketing & Social Media sector. Operating in NY, London & LA
Olivia Prentice
Head of Content & COO of Impact Management Project
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About Bridges Fund Management, Impact Management Project: IMP provides a forum for building global consensus on how to measure, assess and report impacts on people and the environment.
Matthew Shaw
Chief Operating Officer of CMS Payments Intelligence
Matthew Shaw is the chief operating officer at CMSPI. Prior to joining CMSPI in 2012 as a marketing manager, Matthew served as a digital marketing manager at Marketing Cheshire. He holds an MBA degree from Alliance Manchester Business School.
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About CMS Payments Intelligence: CMS Payments Intelligence is an independent consultancy that helps merchants optimize and reduce payments costs.
Tony Holder
Operations Director & COO of Traderserve
Tony joined TraderServe in 2000 and following successful roles in both development and production is now responsible for TraderServe global operations and QA. He has over 20 years experience as a consultant in the software industry and has worked for major banks, fund managers, blue chips and financial software companies.
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About Traderserve: TraderServe is a software and appliance vendor and consultancy firm focused on real-time trading and complex problem applications.
Edward Heappey
COO & Senior Consultant of Cloud Systems Group
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About Cloud Systems Group, Cloud Systems Group: Cloud Systems Group providing IT Services to a wide variety of Clients located around the globe.
Tim Higgins
COO of Unboxed
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About char.gy, Unboxed: The largest Ruby on Rails development agency in London and Cape Town
Tim Higgins
COO of Unboxed
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About char.gy, Unboxed: The largest Ruby on Rails development agency in London and Cape Town
Simon Cole
Consultant, CFO, COO & Co-Founder of Molewood Consulting
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About Apparier, Molewood Consulting: Molewood Consulting is a private equity firm that provides management consulting and staffing services.
David Richards
COO & Founder of Nubo Consulting Ltd
David Richards is a life-long technology entrepreneur with over 30-years international experience in various capacities most notably in high-profile start-ups. David started his career in Wireless R&D at Marconi before moving onto Racal where he worked in the division that span-out as Vodafone. At Racal he was project manager of a £1Bn security contract and gained Chartered Engineer status at the youngest age allowed. David moved into Executive BDM roles at famous Silicon Valley firms Daisy Systems, Sun Microsystems, and subsequently Paul Allen’s Seattle-based Asymetrix. David was a Product Manager at Daisy, a company as well known in its day as Twitter is today. Daisy exited through a trade sale to the US software company Intergraph in 1990. At Sun David was Solaris Product Manager and then Networks Division Manager where he was part of the team that launched the success that is Java. The number of Java licences issued worldwide is now counted in billions and continues to grow under new owners Oracle. At Asymetrix David was CEO in its biggest market, Europe. Asymetrix was Paul Allen’s first venture post-Microsoft. Asymetrix exited via an IPO on NASDAQ in 1998. In recent years David has used his Silicon Valley experience to help accelerate and finance SMEs. He was previously a mentor to the DTI’s Software Business Network (SBN) and then an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Mentor to the SETsquared incubation partnership where he latterly focussed on University spin-outs. SETsquared is Europe’s leading university technology incubator and accelerator (UBI survey 2013). He is currently a Rockstar mentor and a Tech London Advocate. Since 1997 David has, on average, each year directly helped his mentees raise over £1m of his speciality of Seed and Equity Gap funding. David has held a number of Non-Executive Director roles in tech startups and SMEs, is a successful business angel, and has VC contacts worldwide. The vast majority of his companies are award winning and have either made successful exits or continue to trade as independent private companies. As an Angel he regularly beats the 2 x ROI benchmark. His VC contacts include the biggest and best in Silicon Valley, Boston, London, Paris and Munich. One of his most recent successes was to found a successful startup in France, acting as CEO. His key sectors are electronics, software and cleantech.
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About Nubo Consulting Ltd: Nubo Consulting [Nubo] are a leading independent IT consultancy specialising in the SME sector.
Lee Dixon
COO of The Law Superstore
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About The Law Superstore: The Law Superstore is an online website that provides a comparison of different law services.
Joaquin Cababie
Co-founder and COO of SmartOtels
Joaquin Cababie was brought up in Seville, Spain but moved to the UK to study at the University of Gloucester, staying on in the UK where he first worked in sales and marketing representation with LJR Consultancy, representing resorts such as The Pimalai and Rasananda in Thailand. After moving to London, Joaquin developed his relationship building skills, adding significantly to the portfolios of Loving Apartments and then The Apartment Service. Joaquin created SmartOtels Limited with Matthew Brooks in June 2013 and undertakes the amjority of the sales role for client hotels and resorts.
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About SmartOtels: SmartOtels is the creation of 2 well-known figures in the U.K. leisure and corporate travel and hospitality industries.
Sean Matt
COO of Genmarc Research
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About Genmarc Research: Genmarc Research is in the market, providing services to some of the renowned MR companies.
