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 Hardware 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.
Rafi Razzak
Chairman of Centerprise International
Rafi Razzak is the founder and Chairman of Centerprise International. With an engineering background, having graduated from Imperial College London and after an initial career of seven years with IBM, Rafi started Centerprise in 1983. More than 30 years on, Rafi still has an insatiable passion for business and is very much involved in the day-to-day running of the company. Rafi is an entrepreneur through and through and a well-known and well liked personality in the industry, borne out by many awards and accolades for his achievements to date.
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About Centerprise International: Centerprise International specialises in public sector services and system building, delivering IT solutions.
Andy Richards
Co-Chairman of Sensiia
Andy Richards CBE is an entrepreneur specialising in healthcare and life sciences. He is currently Chairman of Arecor Limited, Congenica Limited, Abcodia Limited and Novacta Biosystems Limited as well as being a Director of Silence Therapeutics plc, Ieso Digital Health Limited and Sensiia Limited. He was a founder of Chiroscience Group plc and an executive director through its merger with Celltech plc in 1999. Andy has a track record as a founder, diector and active investor in more than 25 innovative healthcare and life science companies., including Vectura and Arakis. He is Chariman of Babraham Bioscience Technologies (the Babraham Campus), a director of Cancer Research Technologies, and a member of CRUK. Andy is a graduate of the University of Cambridge with a PhD in Chemistry and is also a founder member of the Cambridge Angels.
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About Abcodia, Ixico, Sensiia, Virtua UK Ltd: Sensiia is a wearable monitoring devices intended to track multiple elements of physiological measurement.
Nigel Litchfield
Chairman of Antenova
Nigel Litchfield served as Acting Chief Executive Officer of Liquavista B.V. until August 19, 2009. Litchfield served as President of Vertu , the wholly owned luxury mobile phone subsidiary of Nokia from 2002 to 2004. Litchfield served as Senior Vice President of Nokia Mobile Phones responsible for APAC region based in Singapore and Hong Kong, where he established Nokia as the leading brand in Asia. He served as Senior Vice President of Global Product Marketing of Nokia Mobile Phones from 1992 to 1996, Managing Director of Nokia Mobile Phones UK and he served as a member of the Nokia Mobile Phones Board for over 10 years from 1992 to 2002. He held management positions in retail marketing and purchasing for major retailers such as Currys, Dixons, Texas Homecare. Litchfield served as Purchasing Director of Granada Rental and Retail. Litchfield has more than 14 years of executive and product management experience within Nokia Mobile Phones. He has been Chairman and Director of Liquavista B.V. since May 2008. Litchfield served as Chairman and Director of Antenova Ltd.
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About Antenova: Antenova develops and supplies standard and custom antennas, and radio frequency antenna modules.
Henry Thomson
Chairman of Anglo Scientific
Henry Hyde-Thomson is Co-Founder at Phasor Solutions. He is Founder & Chairman at Anglo Scientific.
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About Anglo Scientific, Anglo Scientific, Phasor Solutions, SeeQuestor Ltd: Anglo Scientific is in the business of seeking out technology and business opportunities and creating and growing companies around them.
Roger Wilson
Chairman and Founder of Adept Technology Group Plc
Roger has worked in telecommunications since 1993. In addition to being the first Managing Director for Telewest’s residential consumer business in the UK he spent 3 years in Poland successfully building a business for American investors. He was Managing Director of the European Competitive Telecommunications Association until January 2006.
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About Adept Technology Group Plc: Adept Technology Group is one of COMMS Integrators offering best-in-class breed solutions from any UK network, customized to your needs.
Gary Pollak
Chairman of Communications Software
Gary started working in computers in 1965 when he joined the Automobile Association as a trainee programmer, before joining the supermarket giant J Sainsbury in their embryonic IT department. Whilst at J Sainsbury, Gary met Dick Rawcliffe and together they formed Commsoft. Their philosophy was to create quality software and to care for their customers in long-term mutually beneficial relationships. In the mid-1970’s, Commsoft was contracted by Laker Airways to write all of their applications, including reservations, flight costing, flight planning, revenue accounting, inventory and maintenance planning. From these beginnings, Gary and his co-directors have developed a specialist aircraft maintenance systems company with a global customer base.
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About Communications Software: Commsoft supports aircraft maintenance organisations through OASES.
