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 Manufacturing 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.
Andrew Webster
COO of Polymateria
Andrew Webster is the Chief Operating Officer of Polymateria.
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About Polymateria: Polymateria is a London-based startup advancing science to help nature deal with plastic pollution.
Ronald J. Lewis
Chief Operating Officer of Ball Aerospace
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About Ball Aerospace: Ball Corporation is a provider of metal packaging of aerospace and other technologies and services
James Day
Chief Operating Officer & Co-Founder of Mous
James Day is the Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Mous.
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About Mous: Mous is a fashion tech brand that designs and manufactures protective accessories.
Bibi Nelson
COO & Co-Founder of Bare Conductive
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About Bare Conductive, LAIIER: Bare Conductive is a design and technology company that uses printed electronics technology to integrate electronics into the environment.
Mike Sellers
Chief Operating Officer of Keit
Mike Sellers has worked for 26 years in global high-tech companies including Siemens Medical in Germany and GE Healthcare in the US. More recently, he provided freelance consultancy for clients such as the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Samsung & GE Healthcare. Mike earned his Engineering degree from Cambridge University.
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About Keit: Keit’s microFTS® design is a Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer that is smaller, lighter and more rugged than any current system.
Andrea Pozzi
Chief Operating Officer of C&C Group Plc
Andrea Pozzi is the Group’s Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for the Group’s manufacturing, logistics, procurement and IT functions as well as leading the Group’s businesses in Great Britain, covering both the Scotland and C&C Brands Business Units. He joined C&C in 2010 and has had a number of roles within the Group, including Group Manufacturing Director and Managing Director International (EMEA). Before joining C&C, Andrea held various management positions with the Carlsberg Group, Brasseries Kronenbourg and Masterfoods.
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About C&C Group Plc: C&C Group plc is a manufacturer, marketer and distributor of alcoholic drinks, particularly cider.
Phil Carpenter
COO of Aeromet International
Phil Carpenter is the chief operating officer of Aeromet International.
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About Aeromet International: Aeromet International manufactures aluminum and magnesium sand castings, aluminum investment castings for aerospace and defense industries.
John Rudin
Founder, CTO, and COO of Folium Optics
John studied Engineering at Durham University, and Optics at Reading University. After working as a product design engineer he joined Hewlett Packard and helped found their UK based displays research group. In 2013 he and Steve Kitson set up Folium Optics to further the commercialisation of colourful, low power plastic displays.
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About Folium Optics: Folium Optics was founded in November 2013 by Steve Kitson and John Rudin.
Dimitris Nikolaidis
Co-Founder and COO of Perceptual Robotics
Dimitris Nikolaidis is the COO and co-founder at Perceptual Robotics.
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About Perceptual Robotics: Perceptual Robotics is creating intelligent automation to make wind turbine and other infrastructure inspection simple and fast
Sukhi Jutla
Co-Founder & COO of MarketOrders
Sukhi Jutla is an award-winning entrepreneur and author of 3 books. She is the co-founder of MarketOrders, an online B2B platform for the gold and diamond jewellery industry. She is a leading international speaker, influencer and thought leader in tech and a qualified IBM Blockchain Foundation Developer. She is recognized by a number of industry awards including the Asian Women of Achievement Awards, Management Todays ’35 Women Under 35? and named a Top 100 European Digital Pioneer by The Financial Times and Google. In April 2018 Sukhi made global headlines when she became the World’s First #1 Bestselling ‘Blockchain’ Author.
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About Department for International Trade, Haymarket, MarketOrders, UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies, University of West London: MarketOrders is a B2B tech-enabled marketplace connecting retailers directly to manufacturers to source gold & diamond jewellery products
Steve Regis
COO of ARX Defence
Steve Regis is the Chief Operations Officer & Co-Founder at ARX Defence.
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About ARX Defence: We design, manufacture and deploy effective and sustainable security.
John Cheese
Chief Operating Officer of ChargeBox
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About ChargeBox: ChargeBox They pride Theirselves for providing the easiest to use, most trusted and innovative charging solutions for public spaces.
Adrien Hitz
Co-Founder and COO of Materialize.X
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About Materialize.X: Data-Driven Directors for Manufacturing
Marcus Dixon
COO of ChAI
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About ChAI: Predicting commodity prices with AI on Alternative Data to mitigate price volatility for manufacturers.
Jonathan Neale
COO of McLaren Group
Graduating from Nottingham University in 1984 with an honours degree in physics, Jonathan Neale began a lengthy career in the commercial and defence aerospace industry. Beginning at Philips Defence Systems, he became a chartered electrical and electronic engineer and went on to lead the advanced development group within the electronic warfare division. He moved to BAE systems in 1991, working as a project design engineer leading major systems projects for commercial aircraft. Promoted through the company, he became director of operations and support operations at the Manchester and Prestwick Sites and was responsible for aircraft production, customer support and training. He returned to defence systems and aircraft, taking charge of the Hawk Fast Jet Programme as managing director 1999. He gained his MBA during the 1990s and participated in the government cabinet office’s prestigious Top Management Programme working with public and private sector colleagues. Jonathan joined McLaren Racing as operations director in 2001 to oversee the race team’s operations and engineering processes. He was appointed the company’s managing director in 2004, and Chief Operating Officer and acting CEO in 2014. Jonathan is currently a fellow of the Institute of Directors and occupies a principal role within the organisation, managing overall technical and operational strategy for the whole team.
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About McLaren Group, McLaren Racing: McLaren Group is an automotive, motorsport, and technology company that manufactures sports cars.
Luke Parkin
COO & Co-Founder of Phytoponics
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About Phytoponics: Phytoponics designs and manufactures Deep Water Culture (DWC) hydroponic growing systems for supply to commercial produce growers.
Simon Tyler
Chief Operating Officer of CatSci
Simon obtained an MA in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) from Hertford College, Oxford in 1995 and earned a PhD in 1998 after research on asymmetric synthesis in the group of Prof. Laurence M. Harwood. Then followed a two-year post-doctoral stint with Prof. Barry M. Trost at Stanford University, studying the catalysis of the Claisen rearrangement. In 2001, Simon returned to the UK to join Process R&D in AstraZeneca, gaining experience and understanding of the multi-disciplinary needs of drug development to lead significant process development projects ranging from candidate selection to Phase III, therein establishing a record of exploiting innovative synthetic and catalytic chemistry for the manufacture of drug candidates. After ten years in big pharma, Simon played a pivotal role as a co-founder of CatSci Ltd, negotiating the financial terms for the asset transfer and service agreement with AstraZeneca. After an initial operational role during the establishment of the new start-up, he subsequently took on commercial responsibility for the company, overseeing growth to a multi-million pound business. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer, focused on unleashing the talents of staff across the organisation to exceed the expectations of customers. As a dynamic leader, he is committed to the development of others through vision, participation and affiliation.
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About CatSci: CatSci provides innovative process research and development services to emerging, mid-sized and large pharma.
Padraig O’Kelly
Chief Operating Officer of TeraView
Padraig joined TeraView in February 2006 with well over 25 years’ experience within various high technology industries. Prior to joining TeraView he held various posts during a 14 year span at Applied Imaging, a medical device manufacturer, including Managing Director of its UK subsidiary as well as Corporate Vice President of Product Development. At various times he was also responsible for Manufacturing, worldwide sales and product support within the Company. He spent 10 years in GEC-Marconi in a wide variety of roles including Business Development and Project Management within its Simulation division. His career started at Ferranti Ltd where he was responsible for mathematical modeling of inertial navigation systems.
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About TeraView: TeraView develops terahertz instruments which can generate, detect and manipulate radiation to characterize a wide range of materials.
Andrew Matthews
Chief Operating Officer of Bremsen Technik Group
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About Bremsen Technik Group: Bremsen Technik Group is a manufacturing and distribution company that supplies automotive brake friction and related components.
Sebastian Bain
Director & COO at Advanet Inc of Advanet
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About Advanet: Advanet Inc. is a leading provider of industrial embedded board computers and systems designed, developed, and manufactured in Japan.
Steven Wood
COO and Director of EQUUS England
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About EQUUS England: EQUUS England is a cloth manufacturing company for horse riding.
Alex Warnock
COO of Gooch & Housego
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About Gooch & Housego: Gooch & Housego is a global leader in photonics technology.
Bryan Lyons
Chief Operating Officer of Lyons Motor Car
Lyons Motor Car, Chief Operating Officer. Bryan Lyons. One of the worlds most valuable automobiles needs a individual who can sweat the minute details guaranteeing perfection. Master of the end result of our flagship automobile. The ultimate automobile enthusiast a master composites and a ISO certified specialist in carbon fiber. Graduate of BOCES HVAC with certificates in heating ventilation and air conditioning special applications..
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About Lyons Motor Car: Lyons Motor Car has proven sales interest with media, clients and fans conjoining to create an explosive combination of support.
Sean Pollock
Founder & COO of Opus Medical
Doctor Sean Pollock researched and developed the Breathe Well technology over 5 years for his Masters and PhD in medical physics, transitioning into a full time role in the company after the completion of his PhD.
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About Opus Medical: Opus Medical designs and manufactures medical devices for use in motion management during cancer treatment.
Alasdair Bremner
Chief Operating Officer of Alusid’s Ltd.
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About Alusid’s Ltd.: Alusid’s SilicaStone is a new material made from fused recycled glass and ceramics.
Alasdair Bremner
Chief Operating Officer of Alusid’s Ltd.
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About Alusid’s Ltd.: Alusid’s SilicaStone is a new material made from fused recycled glass and ceramics.
