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 CFO’ operating in the Industrial space. If you think a CFO’ 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.
Euan Leask
Chief Financial Officer of Centurion Group
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About Centurion Group: Centurion Group is an Aberdeen headquartered specialist rental equipment provider primarily to the offshore global oil & gas industry.
Nitesh Shah
CFO of Metalysis
Nitesh Shah is the Group CFO, Power Resources Group of Metalysis.
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About Metalysis: Metalysis, a manufacturer of metals and alloys, offers both economic and environmental benefits over traditional metal production methods.
Katya Akulinicheva
CFO of ZeroAvia
Katya joined ZeroAvia in July 2019 and is Group CFO. Before ZeroAvia Katya spent over 3 years at SYSTEMIQ, a leading sustainability investment and advisory firm HQ’ed in London, setting up and leading the company’s early stage VC arm, raising $30m of capital and overseeing the first 6 investments, including ZeroAvia. Previously she worked in private equity at the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a $10bn co-investment fund backed by the Russian government, working on growth equity investments in Consumer, Retail, Industrials and Healthcare. She started her career in Mergers & Acquisitions focused on the Consumer & Retail sector in Europe, first at Lazard and then at Deutsche Bank, where she advised a number of public and private companies and private equity investors, including several $1bn+ transactions. She holds an MBA from INSEAD and BA/MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford.
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About London+Acumen, SYSTEMIQ, ZeroAvia: ZeroAvia produces practical zero emission aviation powertrain targeting 9-19-passenger airplanes to start replacing dirty jet fuel.
Colin Judd
Chief Financial Officer of Trans European Oil & Gas
After obtaining an honours degree in Engineering and Management, Colin joined Price Waterhouse where he qualified as a chartered accountant in 1979. Colin’s experience with Price Waterhouse included various professional accounting positions in the UK, Europe and the Far East. Colin joined Christian Salvesen plc in 1987 and, following an initial role as Group Internal Auditor, moved to the company’s mobile power and temperature control division – Aggreko – where he established the financial management system of a newly-acquired business in Singapore. Colin then moved to Aggreko’s European head office in the Netherlands where he took on the role of European Finance Manager, covering operations in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and Finland. In 1994, Colin joined a private-equity-backed oil services business in Aberdeen as Financial Director to assist the company in its expansion into the USA and the Far East. Colin subsequently joined another private-equity-backed oil services business to assist the company in enabling a successful exit route for the private equity providers. In 1999 Colin joined Star Energy Limited as a founder member and Financial Director, responsible for all aspects of the company’s financial management. Colin took the accounting of the business in-house and developed a highly skilled and motivated finance team. He was instrumental in the company’s successful listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2004, various subsequent share placings, and the company’s ultimate sale to Petronas.
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About Trans European Oil & Gas: A new platform from the founders and former management team of Star Energy
Chris FitzGerald
CFO of Surface Generation
Chris is a highly experienced accountant with over 30 years’ experience of operating in small, medium and large companies across a broad range of sectors.
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About Surface Generation, vfdnet: Surface Generation is a privately-owned high technology and manufacturing company.
Matthew Ritchie
Co-Founder & CFO of Dendra Systems
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About Dendra Systems: We equip you with the data and tools to restore biodiverse ecosystems at scale.
Yomi Amunikoro
Chief Financial Officer of Silixa
Yomi is the Chief Financial Officer, which incorporates all finance functions together with human resources and corporate administrative functions. He also holds the position of Company Secretary. He is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), with over 15 years’ experience in Accounting and Finance, and holds a first degree in Zoology. Yomi has been responsible for delivering outstanding service to the business covering accounting, finance, budgeting, forecasting, implementing and driving corporate and financial strategies and policies.
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About Silixa: Silixa is a provider of fiber-powered data solutions for the natural resources and mining sector.
Charles Bithell
Chief Financial Officer of Ainscough Crane Hire
Charles Bithell is the Chief Financial Officer at Ainscough Crane Hire.
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About Ainscough Crane Hire: Ainscough Crane Hire is a lifting services company that operates from 32 strategic locations.
Jiahao Huang
Co-founder, Director and CFO of Nuclera
A molecular biologist by trade, Jiahao has coordinated multi-national collaborative projects and experienced first hand the limitations of the current provision of DNA. This intimate knowledge of user requirements enables him to guide Nuclera’s commercial operations towards creating the right product for the right market. Jiahao holds a BSc from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge.
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About Nuclera: Nuclera makes biology accessible through desktop enzymatic protein and gene synthesis.
