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 Director operating in the Social News 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.
Tim Davie
CEO & Director-General of BBC
Before he took up the role of CEO BBC Worldwide and Director, Global, Tim Davie was made Acting Director-General following the resignation of George Entwistle on 10 November 2012. Prior to this Tim was Director of BBC Audio & Music (now known as Radio). He had overall responsibility for BBC Radios 1, 2, 3, 4 and the BBC digital-only stations 6 Music, 1Xtra, Radio 4 Extra (formerly Radio 7) and the Asian Network. He also oversaw the three BBC orchestras in England, the BBC Singers and the BBC Proms. Classical Music & Performance Television, Television Music Entertainment, Factual Radio and Radio Drama production are all within his remit, under the A&M Production department. Tim was appointed to the role of Director, Audio & Music on 1 September 2008. Previously he was Director of the BBC’s Marketing, Communications & Audiences division from April 2005 and before that Vice President, Marketing and Franchise, PepsiCo Europe. He read English at Cambridge University and from there joined Procter and Gamble’s marketing department, becoming a Brand Manager in 1991. He is a trustee of BBC Children in Need, Board member of RAJAR and Board member of DRUK. Tim is married with three young sons.
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About BBC: BBC is a large-scale broadcasting corporation that offers content to inform, educate, and entertain people.
Holly Goodier
Director Digital – BBC Portfolio of BBC
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About BBC: BBC is a large-scale broadcasting corporation that offers content to inform, educate, and entertain people.
Howard Stringer
Non Executive Director of BBC
Howard served as Chairman and CEO of the Sony Corporation from June 2005 until June 2012 when he became Chairman of the Board of Directors, retiring in June 2013. Howard joined Sony in May 1997 and was named Chairman and CEO of the Sony Corporation of America in 1998, responsible for Sony’s entertainment companies, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, and Sony Music Publishing. Prior to joining Sony, Howard was President of CBS from 1988 to 1995, which became the first network to rise from last to first place in one season. From 1986 to 1988, Howard served as President of CBS News. He was executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather from 1981 to 1984, the dominant network evening newscast of its day. From 1976 to 1981, while he was executive producer of the CBS REPORTS, the documentary unit won more than 30 Emmys including nine individual awards. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Modern History from Oxford University. He also serves on the Board of Directors for TalkTalk and Time Inc., he is Chair of the School Board at Said Business School, Oxford University, Chair of the Board of Trustees for the American Film Institute and Chairman of Board of Advisors, Department of Opthalmology, Columbia University Medical Centre. Howard has also received Honorary Doctorates from Oxford University, the University of Glamorgan, the University of the Arts London, the American Film Institute and the University of Swansea. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and of Merton College, Oxford.
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About BBC: BBC is a large-scale broadcasting corporation that offers content to inform, educate, and entertain people.
Nicholas Hytner
Board of Directors of BBC
Nicholas Hytner is a Non-Executive Director of the Executive Board. He joined the Board on 1 April 2014 and has been appointed for an initial term of three years, until 31 March 2017. Nicholas Hytner was Director of the National Theatre 2003- 2015. Under his directorship, the National has brought in a new community of artists, produced in equal measure the classical repertoire and new work, and introduced the Travelex ticket seasons which celebrated their tenth anniversary in 2012 and National Theatre Live cinema broadcasts worldwide. His many productions for the National include The Hard Problem, Great Britain, Othello, People, Timon of Athens, Collaborators, One Man Two Guvnors, Hamlet, London Assurance, The Habit of Art, Phèdre, England People Very Nice, Much Ado About Nothing, Rafta Rafta…, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, His Dark Materials, The History Boys, Stuff Happens, Henry V, The Wind in the Willows, The Madness of George III and Carousel. He also directed Live from the National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage, a gala evening of live performance and glimpses from the archive celebrating the NT’s 50th anniversary, which was seen live on BBC Two and in cinemas around the world. He was educated at Cambridge University and worked widely in repertory theatre, at the Northcott Theatre Exeter, Leeds Playhouse, the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Other London theatre work has included Miss Saigon (also Broadway and worldwide), The Importance of Being Earnest and The Lady in the Van. His film credits include The History Boys, The Madness of King George,The Crucible and the forthcoming The Lady in the Van. Nicholas Hytner’s opera productions include, for the Royal Opera House and Metropolitan Opera, Verdi’s Don Carlo; for English National Opera: Handel’s Xerxes and Mozart’s The Magic Flute; and for Glyndebourne: Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte and La Clemenza Di Tito. He has received, in addition to the BAFTA and Evening Standard awards for best British film, many other awards including four Olivier Awards, five Evening Standard Awards, the London Critics’ Circle Award, two NY Drama Desk Awards and two Tony Awards. He was Visiting Professor of Theatre at Oxford University in 2000. He is Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall Cambridge and a member of the Board of the Royal Opera House. He was knighted in 2010.
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About : BBC is a large-scale broadcasting corporation that offers content to inform, educate, and entertain people.
Ciara Riordan
Assistant Editor/ Deputy Director of BBC
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About BBC: BBC is a large-scale broadcasting corporation that offers content to inform, educate, and entertain people.
Ciara Riordan
Assistant Editor/ Deputy Director of BBC
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About BBC: BBC is a large-scale broadcasting corporation that offers content to inform, educate, and entertain people.
Antonia Bonello
Associate Creative Director of BuzzFeed
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About BuzzFeed: BuzzFeed is a cross-platform digital media company delivering news and entertainment content to a global audience.
David Buttle
Global Marketing Director, Commercial of Financial Times
David is the FT’s Global Commercial Marketing Director, leading on all advertiser-facing marketing campaigns for the business. He has been with the FT for over 5 years and has held his current position since July 2017. Prior to this he was Head of Commercial Marketing and before that, Head of Commercial Marketing for EMEA. David joined the FT from Pearson where he led the UK skills marketing team, having previously held a number of education-focused corporate communications roles both in the private and public sector. David holds a BA in Philosophy from the University of London and is currently undertaking a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at Warwick Business School.
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About Financial Times: Financial Times is a business news organization providing essential news, comments, data, and analysis for the global business community.
Sarah Wells
Technical Director for Operations & Reliability of Financial Times
Sarah Wells is the Technical Director for Operations & Reliability at Financial Times.
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About Financial Times: Financial Times is a business news organization providing essential news, comments, data, and analysis for the global business community.
Barry T. Whyte
FT Strategies, Managing Director of Financial Times
Ever since he was given a Nintendo Virtual Boy in the late 1990s, Barry has been obsessed with Virtual Reality. Inspired by the endless stream of people coming to his apartment to play around on his HTC Vive, he founded Veero, a location-based virtual reality centre focusing on immersive independent cinema. It will be London’s first VR cinema when it opens in 2018. Prior to Veero, Barry was a furtive entrepreneur in the corporate world, firstly in advertising at Ogilvy & Mather then in consulting at Bain & Company. In 2013 he joined Decoded as COO in early 2013, leading growth from 7 people in a cupboard to a global team of over 100 in three years, scaling through international expansion to New York, Sydney and Amsterdam. Decoded delivers technology education that changes the way businesses behave. Tens of thousands of business people now have digital skills thanks to their signature product “Code in a Day”. Barry is also a co-founder of Series Q, a non-profit with a mission to empower LGBT entrepreneurs; and sits on advisory board of EurOut at London Business School. He speaks at conferences, including Cannes Lions, London Tech Week and SXSW. Barry holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, blogs for the Huffington Post, and makes seriously good homemade soup. More important than all the above, he also spent a fabulous six months as a Starbucks barista. So if you ask him really nicely, he might make you a coconut flat white.
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About Financial Times, Series Q: Financial Times is a business news organization providing essential news, comments, data, and analysis for the global business community.
Niko Vijayaratnam
Director of Product of Financial Times
Niko Vijayaratnam is Head of Product for FT Core who develop platforms that support the wider FT Product and Technology division. Prior to working for the FT, Niko has developed products for global media companies such as the BBC and Dow Jones & WSJ.
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About Financial Times: Financial Times is a business news organization providing essential news, comments, data, and analysis for the global business community.
Joshua Nino De Guzman
CEO, Co-Founder & Director of Dexerto
Joshua Nino De Guzman is the CEO & Co-Founder at Dexerto
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About Dexerto: Dexerto is the world’s largest digital esports and gaming lifestyle platform news platform.
Chris Marsh
Co-Founder & Director of Dexerto
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About Dexerto: Dexerto is the world’s largest digital esports and gaming lifestyle platform news platform.
Mike Kent
Co-Founder & Director of Dexerto
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About Dexerto: Dexerto is the world’s largest digital esports and gaming lifestyle platform news platform.
