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 Service Industry 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.
Jonathan Robinson
Executive Chairman of Afilias
Jonathan Robinson has extensive executive and non-executive experience in the Domain Name industry over many years. He was a co-founder of NetBenefit in 1995, a supplier of Domain Name management and associated services, which was admitted to AIM in June 1999. Jonathan served as a main board director at NetBenefit from 1999 to 2009, which was subsequently renamed Group NBT plc in 2004, and then renamed NetNames in 2011 following its acquisition by HgCapital. He previously served two terms as a non-executive director on the board of Nominet. Jonathan is currently Chair of the ICANN GNSO (Generic Names Supporting Organization) Council. He has served as a director of Afilias since 2001 and was appointed Executive Chairman in 2014. Jonathan is 48 years old.
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About : Afilias provides back end domain name registry services, DNS, idn and RFID services.
Robert Milton
Chairman of the Board of Directors of United Airlines
Robert Milton is a Member of the Board of Directors at United Continental Holdings Inc. since April 2016. Robert was Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. and was Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada. Having joined Air Canada in 1992 in a consulting capacity, Robert moved from the role of Senior Director of Scheduling to Vice President of Scheduling and Product Management, Senior Vice President of Marketing and In-Flight Service and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Robert became President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada in 1999. Robert is currently the Lead Director of Air Lease Corporation, a Member of the Board of Directors of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and a Trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation Inc. Robert was a past Member of the Board of Directors of US Airways, Inc., and was also a past Chairman of the Board of Governors of IATA (The International Air Transport Association). Robert graduated in 1983 from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Industrial Management.
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About Air Canada: United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 5,000 flights each day to more than 370 destinations throughout the world.
Sherry Coutu
Founder & Executive Chairman of Founders4Schools
Sherry Coutu is an angel investor and serves on the boards of companies, charities and universities.As an entrepreneur, Sherry established and successfully sold two businesses in the financial services industry. The first (acquired by Euromoney plc) has operations in more than 70 countries. The second was floated in 2000 on London and Nasdaq and the company was valued at more than $1 billion before being acquired (by AMP plc). Sherry is active in early stage investing and has raised several rounds of venture capital and public equity totaling more than $200 million. Sherry has decades of experience serving companies which range from fast growth private early stage to public and boards with turnover of more than £ 1 bn.She is a frequent public speaker, a national judge of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards, and presents regularly at the top business schools. She specialises in consumer, internet, information services and clean energy. Current university affiliations include Cambridge University and Harvard Business School. Charitable / Government affiliations include the Prince’s Trust, Cancer Research UK and NESTA.
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About Cambridge Angels group, Cambridge Assessment, Founders4Schools, London Stock Exchange, PrimeLocation.com, Raspberry Pi Foundation, Silicon Valley Comes to the UK, The Digital Property Group, University of Cambridge, Workfinder: Founders4Schools is a free service that enables teachers to invite founders of successful, businesses to visit schools, to inspire learners.
John Armitt
Chairman of the Board of Directors of National Express Group
Sir John Armitt is chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, the body responsible for the venues, infrastructure and transport for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Since November 2012 he has also been a member of the Airports Commission, which is to present options to the government to maintain the UK’s status as an international hub for aviation. Sir John has extensive experience in the construction and transport sectors. Previously, he was chief executive of Network Rail (2002–2007) and of Railtrack plc (from 2001). From 1986 to 1993 he was chairman of Laing’s international and civil engineering divisions, a company he joined as a graduate in 1966. From 1993 to 1997 he was chief executive of Union Railways, the company responsible for development of the high-speed Channel Tunnel rail link. In 1997 he became chief executive of Costain, a position he held until 2001. Sir John is chairman of National Express Group and of City and Guilds. He is also deputy chairman of the Berkeley Group and a member of the board of Transport for London. He is a former chairman of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and vice-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
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About Institution of Civil Engineers: National Express is one of the most recognised brands in the UK.
Peter Burridge
Chairman of the Board of Director of Team Telecom Group
Peter became Chairman of TTG in May 2008 having previously worked as group managing director since 2003.Prior to this he spent many years in the technology investments and restructuring sectors in various senior roles.
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About : Operating in markets ranging from the emergency services and transport, to mobile networks and airports, each of our companies has a
Constantine Logothetis
Executive Vice Chairman of Libra Group
Based in London, Constantine Logothetis, shares the principal executive responsibility for the Libra Group. He began his career in the Logothetis family’s London based shipping company, Lomar Shipping, in 2000 where he was a key member of the management team before becoming the founding Executive Vice Chairman of the Libra Group when it was formed in 2003. As Executive Vice Chairman, Constantine Logothetis has been at the forefront of the group’s diversification from shipping into other asset classes, notably the finance, hospitality, real estate and renewable energy sectors.
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About : The Libra Group is a privately-owned international business group
David Landsman
Chairman of Cerebra Global Strategy
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About India Business Group (IBG): Cerebra Global Strategy integrates financial, legal, and reputational concerns into solutions.
Adam Anderson
Chairman and CEO of T. Parker Host
Adam Anderson joined the company as a boarding agent in 1998, where he gained hands-on waterfront experience, and quickly became an influential part of business development for the company. By the age of 24, he developed and negotiated Host’s first terminal operation contract. During his first 13 years with the company, he had many jobs including truck loader, stevedore, terminal manager, business development manager, marketing, and regional manager. When he became executive vice president, he was able to take his first-hand knowledge developed on the docks and grow Host’s top and bottom lines by more than 600% in eight years. In 2011, he was elected to his current role of president. In this position, he is responsible for setting the vision for the Host company and leading our team through rapid scalable growth across all of our platforms. He currently sits on several maritime board associations and has become a recognized industry expert who shares his wealth of knowledge within the maritime industry through conferences, forums, and events.
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About T. Parker Host: T. Parker Host is a solutions provider for customers’ terminal, stevedoring, marine asset, and agency needs.
Greg Davis
Chairman of Catalyst Development
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About Catalyst Development: Catalyst provides regulatory-driven change, organisational improvement, and talent development programs to financial markets companies.
