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 Cambridge based Director operating in the Information Technology 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.
John McLoughlin
Director Product Strategy of VMware
Follow John McLoughlin:
About VMware: VMware is a software company providing cloud and virtualization services that powers complex digital infrastructure.
William H. Janeway
Director of O’Reilly
William H. Janeway is a board member of Magnet Systems, Inc. Currently, Mr. Janeway is a senior advisor at Warburg Pincus. Mr. Janeway received his doctorate in Economics from Cambridge University, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He was valedictorian of the class of 1965 at Princeton University. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus in 1988, where he was responsible for building the information technology practice, he was executive vice president and director at Eberstadt Fleming. Mr. Janeway is a director of Fortent Corp., NYFIX Inc., O’Reilly Media, Nuance Communications, and Wall Street Systems, and a member of the board of managers of Roubini Global Economics. He is also chairman of the board of trustees of Cambridge in America, University of Cambridge, co-chair of Cambridge’s 800th Anniversary Capital Campaign, and a founder member of the board of managers of the Cambridge Endowment for Research in Finance (CERF). Mr. Janeway is a member of the board of directors of the Social Science Research Council.
Follow William H. Janeway:
About Cambridge Endowment for Research in Finance, Cambridge in America, Fortent, Nuance Communications, Roubini Global Economics, LLC, Social Science Research Council, Wall Street Systems: O’Reilly provides technology and business training, knowledge, and insight to help companies succeed.
Marta Piekarska
Director of Ecosystem, Hyperledger of Linux Foundation
Follow Marta Piekarska:
About Cambridge Blockchain Society, Hyperledger, Linux Foundation: The Linux Foundation builds sustainable ecosystems around open source projects to accelerate technology development and industry adoption.
Chris Ballesteros
Senior Director, Business Development and Sales Enablement of OM1
Follow Chris Ballesteros:
About OM1: OM1 is a healthcare technology company that leverages real-world clinical data for medical research and personalized medicine.
David Mrva
Speech Recognition Director of Speechmatics
Follow David Mrva:
About Speechmatics: Global experts in deep learning and speech recognition
Alon Rivel
Director of Marketing of Outcomes4Me
Alon Rivel has been the Director of Global Sales & Marketing at Jack’d since March 2018. He first joined the company as the Brand Manager for Jack’d in October of 2016 and was then promoted to Director of Global Marketing in March of 2017. Alon heads the entire marketing, advertising sales, & creative departments for all brands and products within the Online Buddies umbrella internationally. Alon is a marketing & advertising media sales, buying, & planning professional with expertise in all aspects of digital, TV, mobile/tablet, radio, and print mediums. He has held roles in some of the biggest brands in the industry such as The New York Times, OMD, and Bloomberg. Alon was raised in NYC and brings that attitude and energy to the Online Buddies Boston office. He has an undergraduate degree with a double major in Communication & Legal Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst which he completed with highest honors. He is also IAB Certified in Digital Media Sales as of 2015.
Follow Alon Rivel:
About Outcomes4Me: Outcomes4Me is a developer of a free mobile app and platform to navigate cancer treatment and care.
Paul Wilson
Director of Product Marketing of Kandou Bus
Follow Paul Wilson:
About Kandou Bus: KANDOU specializes in the design of high-speed, and pin- and energy-efficient chip-to-chip links, SerDes, and associated technologies.
Jen Gold
Director Of Product Marketing of Arity
Follow Jen Gold:
About Arity: Arity is a insights technology company focusing on revolutionizing transportation by using data & predictive analytics to evaluate risk.
Stoyan Smoukov
Co-Principal Investigator & Board of Directors of Xanofi
Stoyan was co-principal investigator in the development of the Xanofi technology. He holds a PhD in Chemistry from Northwestern University. Stoyan has 10 years of polymer research and engineering experience and the past 6 years spent specifically on nanoscience and nanofiber technology.
Follow Stoyan Smoukov:
About Queen Mary University of London, Xanofi: Xanofi is a nanotech company specializing in the production of nanofiber applications.
Magdeline Pokar
Founder, Managing Director of Asia Research News
Maggie is the managing director of Asia Research News, overseeing all aspects of this innovative startup.
Follow Magdeline Pokar:
About Asia Research News: Asia Research News connects researchers with international media, policy makers, fellow collaborators and the science-hungry public.
Kelly Courtney
Managing Director, WomenAchieve of The Achieve Institute
Kelly Courtney is a strategic advisor with over 20 years designing and launching new initiatives at the intersection of industry, government and academia. As Founder and President of Pipeline Management, Kelly has led high profile initiatives with major policy implications and has provided strategic counsel to C-level Fortune 500 executives, major universities, investors and federal, state, local and international government officials. Her current work includes developing and launching a new business unit for The Achieve Institute. WomenAchieve is designed to help companies optimize the performance of women leaders, retain talent and narrow the gender leadership gap. Previously, Kelly served in The White House and the United States Small Business Administration. She holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BA from the School for International Training.
Follow Kelly Courtney:
About The Achieve Institute: The Achieve Institute, our vision is to help people, teams and organizations experience their greatness through achievement.
Paul McConkey
Co-Founder & Technical Director of Imagen Ltd
Paul McConkey is Co-Founder & Technical Director at Imagen Ltd.
Follow Paul McConkey:
About Cambridge Medical Communication, Imagen Ltd: Imagen Ltd is a modular enterprise video platform that enables content owners to publish and monetize media archives.
Tony Blake
Founder Director of Imagen Ltd
Tony Blake is Co-Founder at Imagen Ltd.
Follow Tony Blake:
About Imagen Ltd, Screenocean: Imagen Ltd is a modular enterprise video platform that enables content owners to publish and monetize media archives.
Elizabeth Ayer
Public Benefits Portfolio Director of 18F
Follow Elizabeth Ayer:
About 18F: 18F is a digital services agency built on the lean startup model based within the United States federal government.
Daniel Watts
Founder & Managing Director of Aluminati Network Group
Daniel leads the Aluminati team and has overall responsibility for defining the company’s technical and business strategies and with his deep sector knowledge he leads product innovation. Daniel founded the company in 2002 when he graduated from Oxford with an honours degree in Computation. An expert in online engagement, Daniel is regularly invited to speak at industry conferences and is in regular attendance at multiple CASE events per year. In his spare time Daniel enjoys the physical and mental challenges of basketball and has also coached the Darwin College ladies team to Cambridge championship titles for 4 consecutive years.
Follow Daniel Watts:
About Aluminati Network Group: Aluminati Network Group provide online services and platforms to unite alumni, student and member networks.
Robert Tulloch
Co-Owner/Technical Director of Walnut Medical
Bob drives overall strategic vision of Walnut Medical while being responsible for the technical and research side of the business. While working as an external market researcher for Frost & Sullivan, Bob found out that there is a demand for the way that the medical information should be structured. Having a clear idea in mind, he coded the entire database on his own, which now has been used by the largest medical and consulting companies in the world.
Follow Robert Tulloch:
About Walnut Medical: Walnut Medical provides detailed data on over 19,000 European hospitals in 25 countries plus.
Victor Zhitomirsky
Managing Director of Alterix Ltd
Victor Zhitomirsky is managing director at Alterix Ltd.
Follow Victor Zhitomirsky:
About Alterix Ltd: Alterix offers Windows 8 certified electronic solution for large size capacitive multi-touch digitisers.
Brindha Muniappan
Director of Programs of MIT Museum
Brindha Muniappan is the Director of Education and Public Programs at the MIT Museum. She actively produces programs for the public, including educational workshops for middle and high school students, speed-geeking science programs for adults, and hands-on explorations of engineering and technology for people of all ages. Prior to joining the MIT Museum, she developed exhibit content for the Marian Koshland Science Museum and explored multiple methods for public communication of science — including presentations for museum visitors, live TV segments, and podcasts — as an educator at the Boston Museum of Science. Brindha holds degrees in environmental engineering and biological engineering from MIT. Her passion for science communication led her from the research bench to the field of informal science education. She is delighted to be able to assist the JEI team in widening its efforts to connect with aspiring scientists.
Follow Brindha Muniappan:
About MIT Museum: Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a world leader in research and education.
John Stalker
Director of Project Management of Core Informatics
John Stalker is Director of Product Management. John guides the development of Core’s Platform for Science and products. Prior to joining Core, John was a customer while he was the head of LIMS automation and integration at Moderna Therapeutics. Before Moderna, John was at the Broad Institute for 11 years, where he worked on the in-house LIMS development team, then started a software engineering group focused on lab automation. By the end of his time at the Broad, he was the Manager of Automation and Engineering, handling all of the organization’s liquid handling and integration efforts.
Follow John Stalker:
About Core Informatics: Core Informatics delivers scientific platforms by providing data management solutions like LIMS, ELN,SDMS and platform for science.
Alex Lorman
Director Of Engineering of ThayerMahan
Alex is the Director of Engineering at ThayerMahan, specializing in long-duration cloud-connected intelligence gathering from the oceans. ThayerMahan harnesses the knowledge gained by careers spent in the US Navy’s submarine force with the modern advances in sensors, cloud computing and AI to form a new level of theater awareness and threat detection. Previously, Alex was the founding CTO of Sea Machines, also specializing in robotic systems for the maritime domain. He built a prototype vessel that was featured in many local news articles and TV spots while it was on sea-trails in the Boston area, thankfully never causing any major maritime mishaps. He started his maritime career with Titan Salvage during the Costa Concordia project, helping to upright then re-float the stricken cruise ship. He has spoken at numerous panels both about robotics, cloud computing and maritime salvage.
Follow Alex Lorman:
About ThayerMahan: ThayerMahan is a provider of marine robotic solutions for the government and industry.
Matt Blumberg
Founder and Executive Director of GridRepublic
Follow Matt Blumberg:
About GridRepublic: GridRepublic plugs you into a novel form of digital philanthropy: Volunteer Computing.
Andrew Flewitt
Director and Co-Founder of Sorex Sensors
Follow Andrew Flewitt:
About Sorex Sensors, University of Cambridge, University of Cambridge: Sorex Sensors manufactures high sensitivity MEMS mass sensors to transform industrial and consumer products.
Robert Brady
Director of Cambridge IP
Robert is chairman of Undo and treasurer of the Cambridge Angels investment group. Twenty years ago he left his academic position in Cambridge University to found Brady plc, which listed on the London Stock Exchange and is now the largest European supplier of software solutions for global commodity trading. Robert has a physics PhD from Trinity College, Cambridge University. He enjoys hiking and skiing.
Follow Robert Brady:
About Cambridge IP: Cambridge IP is a business intelligence provider that offers technology intelligence and innovation strategy products and services.
David Gill
Managing Director of St John’s Innovation Centre
David is Managing Director of St John’s Innovation Centre in Cambridge, the longest-established business incubator in Europe for technology ventures. He set up and ran the Innovation & Technology Unit at HSBC Bank in London (1997–2004) before serving as an Executive Director of a venture fund focused on early-stage, technology-based investments. Educated at Cambridge, he qualified as a barrister before working in corporate finance for US and UK banks. A Sloan Fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in California (2005), David is currently an Official Visitor at the University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing, Non-Executive Chairman of Psonar Ltd (an angel-funded internet music startup), a Non-Executive Director of UK Business Incubation Ltd and a member of the Department for Business Access to Finance Expert Group. He was previously a Non-Executive Director of LINC (the Local Investment Networking Company Ltd), a predecessor organisation to the current British Business Angels Association, and of mo.jo (a pioneer crowdfunding website). David is also co-author of several studies on a country basis of innovation (2000–07) and of a review for the National Endowment for Science Technology & the Arts (NESTA) of the impact of business incubation on high-potential firms (2011).
Follow David Gill:
About Psonar, St John’s Innovation Centre: St John’s Innovation Centre provides early stage knowledge-based companies with tailored business services and flexible accommodation.
Bryn Williams
Director of London and Cambridge Executive Search
Bryn has 24 years line experience to VP level in commercial, operations and finance roles across Tech / Media / Comms VC-funded start-ups and blue chips including: Vodafone Internet Services; Virgin; Pinpoint Networks (Intel) and Universal. Before setting up London & Cambridge with Mads, Bryn headed up the Technology group within a group which includes the UK’s largest Executive Search firm. Bryn has a 1st Class Honors degree in Economics from King’s College, Cambridge University; a further degree in Marketing and is an Associate of the American Production & Inventory Control Society. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Marketing and a qualified Chartered Accountant. He applies his hybrid market network and experience for EMEA and North American clients.
Follow Bryn Williams:
About London and Cambridge Executive Search, London and Cambridge Executive Search: Technology Media Communications Search
Paul Bailey
Non-Executive Director of Bailey Fisher Executive Search
Paul co-founded Bailey Fisher Executive Search in 1998 and led the growth of the business as Managing Director for 20 years during which time he built the board and management teams for some of the most innovative companies to have emerged from the European technology market. After a successful exit in July 2018, he took on the role of Executive Chairman. Paul was named in the 2016 Maserati 100 and was recognised as one of the most influential business people in Cambridge in 2017. He has held advisory roles with NESTA Impact Investments and New Wave Ventures. Paul joined Martlet Capital in 2019. He is also currently Entrepreneur in Residence at Cambridge Enterprise.
Follow Paul Bailey:
About : Bailey Fisher is an independent executive search firm finding & attracting individuals who have a fundamental impact on business growth.
Sebastian Bain
Director & COO at Advanet Inc of Advanet
Follow Sebastian Bain:
About Advanet: Advanet Inc. is a leading provider of industrial embedded board computers and systems designed, developed, and manufactured in Japan.
Kate Hudson-Farmer
Director, Front-End Innovation, Drug Delivery of Medicom Innovation Partner
Kate Hudson-Farmer is Director, Front-End Innovation and Drug Delivery at Medicom Innovation Partner.
Follow Kate Hudson-Farmer:
About Medicom Innovation Partner: Medicom Innovation Partner is a provider of device strategy, product design and development services.
Joseph Coughlin
Founder and Director of MIT AgeLab
Follow Joseph Coughlin:
About MIT AgeLab: The MIT AgeLab was created in 1999 to invent new ideas and creatively translate technologies.
Esther Duflo
Director of J-PAL
Esther Duflo is the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a co-founder and co-director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). In her research, she seeks to understand the economic lives of the poor, with the aim to help design and evaluate social policies. She has worked on health, education, financial inclusion, environment and governance. Professor Esther Duflo’s first degrees were in history and economics from Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris. She subsequently received a Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in 1999.
Follow Esther Duflo:
About J-PAL: J-PAL headquarters is a center within the Economics Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology .
Eric Quesnel
Director of Services, Founder of Quesnel Technology Solutions
Follow Eric Quesnel:
About Quesnel Technology Solutions: Enterprise level technology specialists.
Andrea Sisneros
Director of Riodove Services Limited
Follow Andrea Sisneros:
About Riodove Services Limited: Riodove Services Limited
