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 Chairman operating in the Infrastructure space. If you think a Chairman 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.
Paul Ellis
Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Electron
Paul Ellis is co-founder and CEO at Electron, a new platform focusing on reinventing the retail energy market in the UK using the Ethereum blockchain. Prior to Electron, Paul spent 13 years in Investment Banking. He founded a development business and fin tech incubator. He then created and ran an electronic trading platform for credit derivatives for a number of years.
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About Electron: Electron is accelerating the energy industry’s transition to Net Zero by making granular, market-based interactions possible.
Sundeep Bahanda
Chairman of Azura-Edo IPP
Sundeep Bahanda is the chairman of Azura-Edo and also the co-founder of Amaya Capital. Sundeep earned his bachelor’s degree at University of Strathclyde.
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About Azura-Edo IPP: Azura-Edo IPP is a 450MW open cycle gas turbine power station being constructed near Benin City in Edo State, Nigeria.
Bernard Fairman
Chairman of Foresight Group
Bernard Fairman co-founded Foresight Group in 1984 to raise a new fund for investment in unquoted technology companies based in the UK, the US and France. He has over 45 years of experience and acts as the Group’s Chairman. Bernard is responsible for strategic direction and management of Foresight through organic growth and acquisition to leading positions in the VCT and UK environmental infrastructure markets. Prior to joining Foresight Bernard worked at 3i Ventures as an Investment Manager where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating and negotiating investments. Bernard holds a BA in Applied Economics from the University of Nottingham.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Ivan Martin
Chairman of FDM Group
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About FDM Group: FDM Group is a professional services provider with a focus on IT and business recruitment for graduates and veterans.
Ivan Martin
Chairman of FDM Group
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About FDM Group: FDM Group is a professional services provider with a focus on IT and business recruitment for graduates and veterans.
Graham Gilbert
Non-Exec Chairman of Little Fish (UK)
Graham Gilbert is an experienced entrepreneur, CEO and Chairman in the IT industry, with particularly relevant experience in IT outsourcing as Founder, CEO and Chairman of ComputerLand UK plc, and now as Chairman and primary shareholder of Little Fish (UK) Ltd. When Graham is not mentoring Executive Management teams or deal-making, he enjoys skiing, travel and spending time with his family. Graham founded ComputerLand UK in 1989, a business that specialised in providing IT infrastructure support services to corporate and public sector clients. The business had four main product offerings, Managed Services, Project Services, Hardware Support and Managed Product Supply. Notable clients included O2, Experian, Comet, and Heinz. In September 1997 Graham floated the business on the AIM list of the LSE and continued to grow the organisation until it was sold to Capita in April 2008, with a turnover of £70 million with a PBT of £3.1 million. The business employed 500 staff (April 08) of whom about 400 were involved in service delivery. During the 19 years as CEO and Chairman of ComputerLand Graham gained a wide range of expertise and experience in a number of areas including, floating a private company, managing the board of a public company, fund raising, acquisitions, managing city and investor relations, designing and implementing innovative service offerings and maintaining the highest standards of quality and customer service. Since leaving ComputerLand Graham has become investor and Chairman of the following companies and works extensively in the Private Equity sector. Little Fish (UK) Ltd – A rising star in the Managed IT Services sector
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About Giacom World Networks, Little Fish (UK): Littlefish is an award winning and rapidly growing Managed IT Services Provider.
Andrew Barron
Chairman of the Board of Director of Com Hem
Andrew Barron was COO of Virgin Media and MTG, CEO of Chellomedia, Executive Vice-President Walt Disney Europe and management consultant at McKinsey & Co.
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About : Com Hem is a communications company on a mission: to transform our business entirely around what customers want and need.
Bill Rylance
Founder & Chairman of WATATAWA
Bill has lived in Asia for 30 years during which he has and worked on some of the region’s most historic events and issues advising several Asian heads of state, government officials, CEOs and other senior executives. He managed the global communications programme for the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was integral to Korea’s bid and co-hosting of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He founded Korea’s largest independent strategic communications firm in 1989 and a decade later moved to Hong Kong to become Asia Pacific CEO and Worldwide Vice Chairman of a global PR firm, leading the regional network through a decade of profitable growth including a significant acquisition and entry into India. His experience includes working on major public affairs and international relations issues—among them the sovereign communications programme for South Korea as it sought to recover from the Asian financial crisis. He is a Member of the Hong Kong and Singapore Institutes of Directors and has served on several boards including the Marine Stewardship Council and the China High Growth Fund. Bill is a graduate of the University of London with an MSc in Management from the London Business School. He is based in London.
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About WATATAWA: WATATAWA is an Asia-based communications consulting firm.
Iain Anderson
Executive Chairman of Cicero/AMO
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About Cicero/AMO: Cicero/AMO is a full-service communications and market research agency.
Chris Barling
Chairman of The Bot Platform
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About Powered Now, The Bot Platform: Empowering people to build a better employee experience using bots, digital assistants and automation tools.
Matthew Skelton
Chairman of Scafld
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About Scafld: Helping acquire and convert customers with clever ways to create and deliver engaging customer journeys.
Matthew Skelton
Chairman of Scafld
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About Scafld: Helping acquire and convert customers with clever ways to create and deliver engaging customer journeys.
David Bell
Executive Chairman of GoReport
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About : GoReport provides a range of purpose-built solutions for a variety of survey types across the entire property sector.
