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 London based Director operating in the Internet 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.
Ben McOwen Wilson
Director, Europe & Sub-Saharan Africa of YouTube
Ben is the Director of Partnerships for YouTube where he leads the development of content and business strategy across Northern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. His remit includes working with some of YouTube’s largest global News, sports and traditional media partners as well as many of the platform’s most-recognised endemic creators – our YouTubers. Ben has led YouTube’s growth in various roles in EMEA for 6 years. Prior to starting with YouTube, Ben was a Management Board Director at ITV Plc – the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster – for six years, where he oversaw the launch and growth of ITV’s digital and new media businesses. During his tenure, he co-created, launched and was Chairman of Project Kangaroo – the proposed VoD joint venture between BBC, Channel 4 and ITV. Previously a Partner in a strategy consulting firm, Ben has over twenty years experience in the field of media, entertainment, telecommunications and the internet. He has lived and worked on five continents. Ben is married with three children.
Follow Ben McOwen Wilson:
About YouTube: YouTube is a video-sharing platform, allows users to upload, view, and share videos, including movie and music clips and amateur content.
_______
Raphaël Vergnaud
Senior Sales Director of Zendrive
Follow Raphaël Vergnaud:
About Anatole, Zendrive: Zendrive leverages mobile sensor data to provide actionable insights that improve safety for passengers and drivers worldwide.
Zsolt Pocsaji
Senior Director, Personalisation of Optimizely
Follow Zsolt Pocsaji:
About Optimizely: Optimizely is a platform that provides digital experience solutions.
Orhan Hasanov
Director of SwiftGift
Follow Orhan Hasanov:
About GiftMagic, SwiftGift: SwiftGift is the world’s first Instant Gift Messenger App which allows you to send real gifts to anyone in your phone’s contact book.
Tracy Figliola
Director of Global Mobility and Global HR Shared Services of Equinix
Tracy Figliola Responsible for the strategy, policy and execution of all Global Mobility services for the Equinix Group. Building a first class Global Mobility program to facilitate and enable a growth business agenda and nurture talent. In addition global responsibility for HR Shared Services, building the function to deliver core HR services to Equinix. At Equinix, Tracy is part of a dynamic and fast growing team working to deliver significant customer value to organisations who are increasingly viewing their data center strategy as a source of competitive advantage.
Follow Tracy Figliola:
About Equinix: Equinix is an internet company that provides data center services for companies, businesses, and organizations.
Michael Winterson
Managing Director of Equinix
Follow Michael Winterson:
About Equinix, SixFortyEight: Equinix is an internet company that provides data center services for companies, businesses, and organizations.
Hui Xie
Deputy Director of Mobile Business Department of China Telecom
Follow Hui Xie:
About China Telecom: China Telecom as China’s major basic telecom operators, is implementing the transformation and upgrading strategy.
Sebastian Gray
Managing Director of Dugout
Sebastian began his career with Quest Software working in their Microsoft sales team, leaving after a number of years to establish his own company developing mobile apps. This progressed into user interactions and digital media and led him to create Sport Digital, a digital media company that specialises in the management and commercialisation of the digital landscape for athletes, actors, musicians and celebrities. Two years after its founding, Sport Digital now looks after over 300 athletes, including Gareth Bale, Anthony Joshua, and Adam Lallana, utilising and developing their digital and social media footprint with the long-term objective of optimising their digital media value.
Follow Sebastian Gray:
About Dugout: Dugout is an innovative new digital football platform.
Adrian Drury
Group Technology Strategy & Insight Director of Liberty Global
Adrian leads Liberty Global’s technology strategy group within the Liberty Technology & Innovation group, defining the roadmaps and assessing the technology choices, for entertainment and connectivity service delivery platforms that enable Liberty’s product roadmap. Adrian is educated at London School of Economics and London Business School.
Follow Adrian Drury:
About Liberty Global, Liberty Global, Liberty Global: Liberty Global is an international cable company providing television, broadband internet, and telephony services.
John Paul
Managing Director, Advanced Advertising and Data of Liberty Global
John Paul is Managing Director, Advanced Advertising and Data for Liberty Global and is based in the Company’s London office. He is responsible for the development of new advertising models, partnerships and employment of data across the company. John has over 25 years experience in the broadcast and cable sector with a focus on operations and emerging product strategy. Before rejoining Liberty Global in 2014 he was CTO of Special Broadcasting Service (SBS Australia), COO of Australia Network, and Founder & Managing Partner of Trident Media Partners where he advised Tier 1 media firms: NBC, News Corporation, Telstra and Foxtel on strategy and infrastructure. Prior to this, he was part of UGC, Liberty Global’s predecessor, where he worked in Australia on the launch of AUSTAR and its triple-play products and helped the company explore investment opportunities in Asia. He was a principal architect of Australia’s early pay TV industry – with Australis Media and has served on the boards of SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand and Australia Rugby) and Freeview Australia. He began his career in family trade publishing businessTV Editorial Corporation and NBC Affiliate operations. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from American University and is a Dux graduate of the Royal Australian Naval College.
Follow John Paul:
About Liberty Global: Liberty Global is an international cable company providing television, broadband internet, and telephony services.
George Livingston
Director of Data Infrastructure of Farfetch
Follow George Livingston:
About Farfetch: Farfetch is an online luxury fashion retail platform.
Andreas Lane
Creative Director of Smarter
Andreas Lane is an award winning designer and has an extensive background in product design and manufacturing. Andreas has previously set up his own business in interior design and retail. As a founding partner at Smarter, Andreas works alongside the CEO, is responsible for the planning and management of product development and design. Andreas manages a team of manufacturers, engineers and developers in the UK and manufacturers in Asia. He oversees the entire product development cycle from concept, feature creation to design and mass production. Andreas is responsible for the development of Smarter’s brand and design. He has created the Smarter product range from physical products, packaging and print to the software and its apps.
Follow Andreas Lane:
About Smarter: Smarter develops connected kitchen products that bridge the gap between the traditional and smart kitchen.
Isabella Lane
Managing Director of Smarter
Isabella is responsible for ensuring that the visions and strategic plans of the Board and CEO are realised and translated into the day-to-day running of the business. Isabella has oversight of each department from finance to customer services keeping the various teams motivated and driven to reach Smarter’s goals and targets. As a founding partner at Smarter, Isabella has extensive experience in all aspects of the business. Being instrumental alongside the CMO for strategic partnerships, Isabella has worked with some of the largest names in the industry e.g. Bosch, Unilever, Amazon, John Lewis.
Follow Isabella Lane:
About Smarter: Smarter develops connected kitchen products that bridge the gap between the traditional and smart kitchen.
Darren Barson
Finance Director of Smarter
As Finance Director at Smarter, and in addition to overall ownership of the core Finance function, Darren is part of the management team and provides commercial insight and support across a variety of key business decisions. Darren joins Smarter having spent the past 7 years working in Asia across various commercial finance roles, most recently as Head of Financial Operations for St James’s Place Wealth Management (FTSE). “Joining the Smarter team was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever had to make. The industry leading products, global opportunity and the team translates into a journey I had to be part of.”
Follow Darren Barson:
About Smarter: Smarter develops connected kitchen products that bridge the gap between the traditional and smart kitchen.
Ran Janda
Executive Director of Smarter
Ran heads Internal Operations and is the Executive Director at Smarter, London. Ran has visibility of all the departments in the business. She has over five years’ experience in technology startups. Ran is responsible for ensuring that the business has the best working environment and processes in place. To this end, she has grown the business from four to 30 employees, overseen a major office move from Croydon to London. Ran is also responsible for HR, day-to-day internal management and also manages logistics for major exhibitions and conferences the Smarter attends. Before joining Smarter, Ran worked for Xively Ltd, an IoT connected product management platform. She had overall responsibility for the day-to-day financial management as well as supporting the growth of the company in recruitment and HR. Over the course of two years, the company experienced rapid growth and was acquired by Boston-based remote access firm LogMeIn in 2011 for $15M.
Follow Ran Janda:
About Smarter: Smarter develops connected kitchen products that bridge the gap between the traditional and smart kitchen.
Raja Al-Khatib
Group Customer Experience Programme Director of Vodafone
Raja has been at Vodafone since 2000, during which time she has held various roles across commercial, HR, communications, governance and strategy. Her most recent roles were Group Organization Director (2013 – 2015) and Chief of Staff to Group CEO/Group Director of Internal Communications (2009 – 2013). Prior to Vodafone, Raja worked for Dell Computer Corp. (Europe). Raja has worked in France, the UK and Japan. She is of Lebanese origin and holds an MBA and a BSc in Computer Management.
Follow Raja Al-Khatib:
About Vodafone: Vodafone is a mobile telecommunications company that offers voice, messaging, and data services.
Paul Chapple
Director of Mobile Products and Services of Vodafone
Paul Chapple is Vodafone’s Mobile Products & Services Director. Paul is responsible for the strategic relationships with key suppliers as well as all aspects of hardware and services customization and development. Paul joined Vodafone from T-Mobile U.S. where he was Vice President of Supplier and Product Management. His primary focus was developing T-Mobile’s 5G and IoT road maps and then successfully bringing those products to market. His team managed the day-to-day relationships with established suppliers like Samsung, Apple and Google as well as finding new suppliers capable of meeting the evolving needs of the wireless ecosystem. Prior to T-Mobile, Paul held executive roles with both Samsung Electronics and Nokia Inc.
Follow Paul Chapple:
About Vodafone: Vodafone is a mobile telecommunications company that offers voice, messaging, and data services.
Luc Vandevelde
Board of Director of Vodafone
Follow Luc Vandevelde:
About : Vodafone is a mobile telecommunications company that offers voice, messaging, and data services.
Andrew Dunnett
Director of Vodafone
Andrew joined Vodafone as Director of the Vodafone Foundation in 2006. Andrew was previously an adviser to the Sustainable Development unit at the UK Department of Trade and Industry with specific responsibility for the CSR Academy, the lead initiative of the DTI’s CSR programme. Andrew has fifteen years experience in corporate responsibility, community investment and public affairs, including advising organisations such as BTEC, the BBC, the Commission for Racial Equality and Thames Water. He also led a corporate community investment project in the City of London whilst Director of the St Ethelburga’s Foundation. In addition to his work directing Vodafone’s foundation programme, Andrew is a Trustee of the M-Pesa Foundation (Kenya) and a Board member of the M-Health Alliance (USA) and served as a member of the UK Government’s Longitude Committee.
Follow Andrew Dunnett:
About Vodafone: Vodafone is a mobile telecommunications company that offers voice, messaging, and data services.
Michaela Peicheva
Director, People and Operations of Wefarm
Follow Michaela Peicheva:
About Wefarm: Wefarm is a farmer-to-farmer digital network that enables users to share information via SMS.
Glenn Lindley
Senior Director of Talent Acquisition of PubMatic
Glenn Lindley is the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at PubMatic.
Follow Glenn Lindley:
About PubMatic: PubMatic is an automation solutions company for an open digital media industry.
Mario La Pergola
Director of Operations UK & Ireland of Virtuo
Mario is a co-founder of Pulp. Before his made his way into wine, Mario spent time in investment banking and private equity firms. Mario is an avid athlete & president of a racing team, and a keen photographer.
Follow Mario La Pergola:
About Virtuo: Virtuo provides car-on-demand services.
Jenny White
Director of Sales and Marketing, Registrar Channel of Donuts
Jenny White has over 12 years of domain industry experience and has been involved in the development of the new gTLD program at the registry level since its infancy. Prior to joining Donuts, Jenny gained extensive registry operations experience at registry service provider CentralNic. Jenny played an integral part in the company’s growth, managing key registry-registrar partner relationships and developing operational procedures to successfully bring new domain extensions to market. Previously, Jenny implemented effective processes to support a dramatically increasing customer base at an internet service provider.
Follow Jenny White:
About Donuts: Donuts is a domain name registry offering new domain names in multiple languages and character sets.
Mike Parton
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Arqiva
Mike brings a wealth of relevant experience from the telecoms and technology industry to Arqiva. Mike started his career as a Chartered Management Accountant, working for a number of UK technology companies including ICL, GEC, STC and Marconi. He moved into General Management in 1995 at Marconi, and became CEO in 2001. Between 2001 and 2006 Mike was CEO of Marconi before overseeing a sale of the company to Ericsson. In 2007, Mike became Chairman of Damovo and joined the Board of Tele2, becoming Chairman there in 2010. Mike stepped down from the Board of Damovo in 2015 following a sale of the company.
Follow Mike Parton:
About : Arqiva is a communications infrastructure and media services company.
Maria Lam
Non-Executive Director of QPQ
Maria Lam is a Director at QPQ.
Follow Maria Lam:
About QPQ: QPQ is a network infrastructure to enable a digital universe.
Magnus Jakobson
Corporate Finance Director of Kinnevik AB
Follow Magnus Jakobson:
About Kinnevik AB: Kinnevik is an entrepreneurial investment group focused on building digital consumer businesses.
Ashley Read
Editorial Director of Buffer
Follow Ashley Read:
About Buffer, The Media: Social Media Management Software for Growing Brands
Dana Pressman Tobak
Founder, CEO and Managing Director of Hyperoptic
As joint founder and Managing Director of Be Un limited, the record-breaking 24 Meg broadband provider of 2005, Dana took the business from start to launch in just six months. By placing the consumer at the heart of success (Be customer support continues to win awards to this day) and generally refusing to take no for an answer, Dana has been building successful global businesses for over 20 years. Co-founder and director of Hyperoptic, Dana brings expertise in commercial agreements, financial business practice and purchasing, and an unshakeable vision for Hyperoptic’s success.
Follow Dana Pressman Tobak:
About Hyperoptic: Hyperoptic is a fiber-based internet service provider.
Vikas Tripathi
Managing Director of Heliocor
Follow Vikas Tripathi:
About Heliocor: Heliocor is a regulatory technology company.We are building a global anti fraud ecosystem based on our Robolitics and Dokstor SaaS products.
Patrick Falconer
Executive Director of The New York Times
Patrick Falconer is Managing Director of The New York Times global office in London and is responsible for advertising sales across all NYTG platforms in Northern Europe and the Middle East and Africa. He first joined the International Herald Tribune (now the International New York Times) in 1988 and then again in 1999 after a 3 year spell at Time Inc. where he managed advertising sales for Fortune magazine in the UK and the Netherlands. In his time at the IHT/NYT he worked on the successful launch the first ever monthly IHT magazine – International Fund Investment and was instrumental in launching the highly successful IHT Luxury Conference series in 2001 now in its twelfth year. Patrick was a founding member of the World Media Group in 1998 and served as President of the group in 2009 – 2010. He has also been a board member of British American Business since 2008. He is a History graduate, is married, has four children and lives in Winchester in the UK.
Follow Patrick Falconer:
About The New York Times: The New York Times creates, collects, and distributes news, information, and entertainment through a daily newspaper and a website.
James Carter
Finance Director of Thread
Follow James Carter:
About Thread: Thread operates as an online personal styling platform designed to help men find clothes.
Shaunie Brett
Style Director of Thread
Follow Shaunie Brett:
About Thread: Thread operates as an online personal styling platform designed to help men find clothes.
Claire Cherry
Investment Partner/UK Director of Social Starts
Claire covers the consumer sector across Europe and the US. Prior to Social Starts, she ran the seed and pre-seed consumer fund at True, backing businesses across beauty, femtech, sexual wellness, mental health, and many more. With almost a decade of experience in venture, Claire is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs breaking new ground. Outside of investing, she can be found hiking the cliffs of Guernsey with her dog, or attempting to grow vegetables (sometimes successfully) in her garden.
Follow Claire Cherry:
About Social Starts: Social Starts is a set of early-stage venture funds that uses analytics to uncover and invest in the strongest companies in the strongest segments. Based on a uniquely data-driven methodology, Social Starts has discovered and backed companies with huge value in e-commerce, employment platforms, digital brands, next-generation food, and education. The current fund, “Social Starts Health and Happiness,” focuses on startups that help people live longer, live better, or both.
Martin Arumemi
Co-Founder & Managing Director of EE
Arumemi-Ikhide is the MD and Founder of EE. He also serves as the MD of Hansworth Ltd and General Manager of Engineering for Rockson Engineering. In both Hansworth and Rockson Engineering he is responsible for the leadership, execution and construction of the 4 NIPP power plants in FGN. He has lead the firm to the successful commissioning of the first phase of the 1074MW Alaoji CCGT plant. He is also progressing the completion of the 225MW Omoku, 225MW Gbarain and 338MW Egbema OCGT also based in FGN. Prior to joining Hansworth, Dr Arumemi-Ikhide worked for GE Power and Water for more than seven years as a Senior Project Manager, overseeing the execution of several landmark projects. At GE he was the Project Manager for two combined cycle plants that were using GE 9FB based in Spain and Turkey notably. Whilst at GE, he was on the fast track of the firm’s world renowned leadership programme. Dr Arumemi-Ikhide holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering from Warwick University. He also holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from University of Birmingham. He possesses and is attending a number of business management executive courses including leadership programme from Boston University and is currently completing a leadership programme at Oxford University Business School.
Follow Martin Arumemi:
About EE, Rockson Engineering: EE is a telecommunications company that provides 4G mobile and fixed fiber broadband services to personal and business customers.
Sorush Lajevardi
Director, Data Science of Bain & Company
Follow Sorush Lajevardi:
About Bain & Company: Bain & Company is a management consulting firm that provides solutions on change in management, strategies, and technology.
Arthur Holcombe
Managing Director of Snupps
Responsible for operations, marketing and business development. Arthur has 15 years experience building dynamic startups and early growth companies in the wireless and Internet sectors. Previously Arthur was the Chief Revenue Officer at MobileWave, an AIM listed Company, and prior to that worked at Coordinate Technologies (Founder), The Cloud, Coremetrics (co-Founder; sold to IBM) and Dow Jones China. Arthur is a graduate from Georgetown University, with an MBA from Thunderbird.
Follow Arthur Holcombe:
About Snupps: Snupps helps people organize, share and discover the stuff they own and value.
Christian Woolfenden
Managing Director of Photobox
Follow Christian Woolfenden:
About Photobox: PhotoBox is Europe’s leading community for sharing, printing and personal publishing with over 30 million members.
Ianina Lucca
Growth Director of Skyscanner
Ianina leads Marketing Foundations Tribe for Skyscanner across both Product and Marketing. Previous to Skyscanner she was Director of Growth at Just Eat and before that she held multiple roles in Marketing and Product at Hotels.com (Expedia Inc.). Ianina holds a MBA from Wharton and a MA in International Studies from Lauder Institute. When she’s not in a plane for work or pleasure, she loves spending time with her family and teaching her young children how to bake and ski.
Follow Ianina Lucca:
About Skyscanner: Skyscanner operates as a trips meta-search engine company.
Zarir Vakil
Non Executive Director of WRLD
Follow Zarir Vakil:
About : A 3D cloud-based platform of real-world environments to create digital twins.
Zarir Vakil
Non Executive Director of WRLD
Follow Zarir Vakil:
About : A 3D cloud-based platform of real-world environments to create digital twins.
Gerry O’Sullivan
Board of Directors of Piksel
An International Media Executive with extensive experience in broadcasting, Pay TV and Media sectors including the executive management of commercial, editorial, creative, marketing, operational and technical teams for leading broadcasters and MSO’s across three continents. Gerry has worked with the most senior people in entertainment, news and sports worldwide and offers a unique perspective on how digital content and new technologies can support and create new revenue streams for the business. After a career starting at the BBC, he launched Australia’s first 24 hour news channel, a Business and Sports channel in New York and then was asked to lead the engineering and operational teams for Fox News, New York. Returning to the UK, Gerry managed the strategy and execution of BSKYB’s TV user proposition, where he was responsible for launching Sky + HD, Sky Broadband, Sky VOD, Sky + EPG, Sky 3D and Sky’s online and mobile innovations. After 10 years at Sky, he was asked to lead Deutsche Telecom’s Global TV and Entertainment businesses where he launched a multichannel offering including IPTV, Satellite, hybrid and a range of video and media OTT and 2nd screen platforms across Europe. As Interim CEO for Digicel’s TV group, he launched a number of next generation cloud based IPTV and quad play services throughout the Caribbean, South America and the Pacific. Gerry was recently invited to join the board of Piksel and is an independent consultant to the pay tv and technology industries.
Follow Gerry O’Sullivan:
About : Piksel designs, builds, develops and manages successful video solutions.
Gerry O’Sullivan
Board of Directors of Piksel
An International Media Executive with extensive experience in broadcasting, Pay TV and Media sectors including the executive management of commercial, editorial, creative, marketing, operational and technical teams for leading broadcasters and MSO’s across three continents. Gerry has worked with the most senior people in entertainment, news and sports worldwide and offers a unique perspective on how digital content and new technologies can support and create new revenue streams for the business. After a career starting at the BBC, he launched Australia’s first 24 hour news channel, a Business and Sports channel in New York and then was asked to lead the engineering and operational teams for Fox News, New York. Returning to the UK, Gerry managed the strategy and execution of BSKYB’s TV user proposition, where he was responsible for launching Sky + HD, Sky Broadband, Sky VOD, Sky + EPG, Sky 3D and Sky’s online and mobile innovations. After 10 years at Sky, he was asked to lead Deutsche Telecom’s Global TV and Entertainment businesses where he launched a multichannel offering including IPTV, Satellite, hybrid and a range of video and media OTT and 2nd screen platforms across Europe. As Interim CEO for Digicel’s TV group, he launched a number of next generation cloud based IPTV and quad play services throughout the Caribbean, South America and the Pacific. Gerry was recently invited to join the board of Piksel and is an independent consultant to the pay tv and technology industries.
Follow Gerry O’Sullivan:
About : Piksel designs, builds, develops and manages successful video solutions.
Kim Ludlow
Managing Director of mySupermarket
Follow Kim Ludlow:
About mySupermarket: mySupermarket designs a supermarket shopping and comparison website that helps users to compare prices across different stores.
Alex Sladen
Marketing Director of Western Union
Alex Sladen is the Marketing Director of Western Union.
Follow Alex Sladen:
About Western Union: Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world.
Paula Bacariza
Director, Business Development, Northern Europe of AppNexus
Paula Bacariza is a director of business development for Northern Europe at AppNexus.
Follow Paula Bacariza:
About AppNexus: AppNexus operates a cloud-based software platform that enables and optimizes programmatic online advertising.
Phil Elliott
Director of Indie Publishing of Square Enix
Follow Phil Elliott:
About Square Enix: Square Enix develops, publishes, and markets interactive entertainment titles worldwide.
Jonathan Woolf
Program Director, Intelligent Journey Orchestration of O2
Jonathan Woolf serves as the Program Director, Intelligent Journey Orchestration at O2.
Follow Jonathan Woolf:
About O2: O2 provides services such as non-voice services, including text, media messaging, games, music, and video, as well as data connections.
Dominic Grounsell
Managing Director – UK & Eire Sports Brands of Entain
Follow Dominic Grounsell:
About Entain: Entain is a multinational sports betting and gaming group operating in the online and retail sector.
Mike Teasdale
Founder and Planning Director of Harvest Digital
Follow Mike Teasdale:
About Harvest Digital: Harvest Digital create involving experiences for consumers and deliver great results for their clients.
Patrick Wehrmann
Group Managing Director & CEO, StepStone UK of StepStone
Patrick Wehrmann joined StepStone 2012 as member of the supervisory board. In February 2014 he was appointed to his current role as Group Managing Director with specific responsibilities for the group businesses (Totaljobsgroup, Jobsite, SAON UK) in the UK, Mergers and Acquisitions and international HR. Before joining StepStone as Group Managing Director, Patrick served as Managing Director of Axel Springer Digital Classifieds. In this position he held several supervisory and advisory board positions in the digital classifieds businesses of Axel Springer worldwide. Previously, he was Commercial Publishing Director / CFO of the BILD Group and the Axel Springer Magazine Division as well as COO/CFO of the Axel Springer Magazine and International Division. In the beginning of his career he held several positions in the French, German, US and UK businesses of Axel Springer. Patrick graduated in Business Administration (Diplom-Kaufmann) at European Business School (EBS) in Oestrich-Winkel. He also studied at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Dijon (France) and at the University of Colorado.
Follow Patrick Wehrmann:
About StepStone: StepStone is a leading international provider of software and services for the human capital management sector.
Charles Cooper-Driver
Chairman, Investor & Director of Limitless
Follow Charles Cooper-Driver:
About : The Limitless GigCX platform enables businesses to connect customers with qualified experts to solve customer service enquiries on-demand.
Eve Cross
EMEA Marketing Director of MiQ
Follow Eve Cross:
About MiQ: MiQ is an independent marketing intelligence company with the people and technology that help businesses win.
Hugo Drayton
Independent Non-Executive Director of Future
Follow Hugo Drayton:
About Future: Future creates high-quality multi-media products which reach their audiences online, on mobile and in print.
Tom Horne
Co-Founder/Director of L’Estrange London
Follow Tom Horne:
About L’Estrange London: Reimagining smart-casual for the man on the move.
Patrick Simpson
Managing Director, Renewals of CPA Global
Follow Patrick Simpson:
About CPA Global: CPA Global provides intellectual property services.
Olivier Stapylton-Smith
Sales & Marketing Director, Co-founder of Moteefe
Follow Olivier Stapylton-Smith:
About Moteefe: Moteefe is an e-commerce platform that allows anyone to sell customized merchandise through social media.
David Mills
VP / Global Supply Director of Iglu Cruise
Follow David Mills:
About Iglu Cruise, Iglu Cruise: Iglu Cruise is an internet-based travel agency specializing in the sale of snowboarding and ski holidays, cruises and Christmas holidays.
Pradeep Menon
Director of dealgobbler
Follow Pradeep Menon:
About dealgobbler: dealgobbler.com is a social e-commerce site providing users with a one-stop-shop to fantastic deals
Georgina Holt
Managing Director UK+ of Acast
Follow Georgina Holt:
About Acast: Acast is an audio-on-demand and podcast platform that hosts, monetizes, and distributes audio content globally.
Steve Webster
Co-Founder & Director of Technology of Tails.com
Follow Steve Webster:
About Tails.com: Tails.com is an online pet nutrition service that provides tailor-made food designed to deliver perfectly optimised nutrition for dogs.
Suman Saha
Co-Founder, Medical Director of Doctify
Follow Suman Saha:
About Doctify: Doctify provides a solution for the millions of patients who want to search and compare healthcare and social care providers online.
James Lort
Director of Inogesis
James is a partner at John Moore & Co and a founding partner of Inogesis. James is passionate about technology transfer and gained an understanding of its potential importance to the UK whilst working with Allied Minds, a US based Technology Company, initially helping it raise $100 million pre IPO in 2013 before aiding with its IPO on the LSE in June 2014. He has previously worked at Savills and Legal and General, is MRICS qualified and has passed Level 1 of the CFA Program.
Follow James Lort:
About Inogesis: Inogesis is a collaboration platform designed to drive impact between SME innovators and corporates.
Brad Pietras
Director of Technology of Inogesis
Brad has over twenty-years of experience in advanced programmes for Lockheed Martin, where he has led R&D initiatives around the world and with UK universities and industry. He is also presently a Ph.D. candidate in Neuroscience at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine in Baltimore. Brad joined Inogesis in 2016 and focuses on creating new start-up companies, advising our portfolio members, and shaping Virtual Technology
Follow Brad Pietras:
About Inogesis: Inogesis is a collaboration platform designed to drive impact between SME innovators and corporates.
Mats Granryd
Director General of GSMA
Follow Mats Granryd:
About GSMA: The GSMA is a trade group that represents network operators using GSM technology for their networks.
Luciana Camargos
Senior Director Future Spectrum of GSMA
Luciana Camargos is the GSMA’s Senior Director of Future Spectrum. She is responsible for the coordination and applicationof mobile industry positions on spectrum plans and is the manager of the future spectrum team, which looks after the GSMA’s WRC and ITU-R activity. She is also responsible for the GSMA’s Future Spectrum Group, the global committee of industry experts focused on future spectrum issues for mobile. She is a specialist with long experience in mobile telecommunications and spectrum policy. In 2012, Luciana joined GSMA Brazil, after having worked in the UK for consulting firm Access Partnership from 2009.
Follow Luciana Camargos:
About GSMA: The GSMA is a trade group that represents network operators using GSM technology for their networks.
Amol Jadhav
Director of Market Engagement of GSMA
Amol Jadhav is the Director of Market Engagement at GSMA.
Follow Amol Jadhav:
About GSMA: The GSMA is a trade group that represents network operators using GSM technology for their networks.
Jade Nester
Director of GSMA
Jade Nester is Director, Consumer Policy, at the GSMA, a trade association representing the interests of mobile network operators worldwide. Previously, she was at Promontory Financial Group, an IBM company, where she advised clients on compliance with privacyand data protection laws and regulations. Jade has over 13 years of experience working on information and communicationstechnology policy and regulatory issues. Between 2006 and 2014, she held a number of roles within the U.S. government, including Senior Advisor for Internet Policy at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in the Commerce Departmentand Director, Internet Public Policy at the State Department.
Follow Jade Nester:
About GSMA: The GSMA is a trade group that represents network operators using GSM technology for their networks.
Yolanda Sanz
eSIM Technical Director at GSMA of GSMA
Follow Yolanda Sanz:
About GSMA: The GSMA is a trade group that represents network operators using GSM technology for their networks.
Pablo Iacopino
Director of Ecosystem Research of GSMA
Pablo leads the Ecosystem Research practice at GSMA Intelligence. He oversees the direction and production of content for a range of research streams such as industry megatrends, technology developments, 5G and network transformation, telecoms and media convergence, and the future of the digital consumer. Pablo has more than 15 years’ experience in the telecoms industry in different roles, including investor relations, equity research and industry research. He holds a Master’s degree in business administration and a postgraduate Master’s degree in statistics and economics from University degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’.
Follow Pablo Iacopino:
About GSMA: The GSMA is a trade group that represents network operators using GSM technology for their networks.
John Hoffman
CEO & Director of GSMA
John Hoffman is the CEO and Director at GSMA.
Follow John Hoffman:
About GSMA: The GSMA is a trade group that represents network operators using GSM technology for their networks.
Stacey Edwards
COO, CFO & Director of Ad-Lib.io
Stacey Edwards is the COO, CFO and Director at Ad-Lib.io.
Follow Stacey Edwards:
About Ad-Lib.io: Powering Creative Effectiveness
William McMullan
Director of Sales – eCommerce of Trustly
Follow William McMullan:
About The Carlyle Group, Trustly: Pay directly from your online bank
Lorenzo Franzi
Co-Founder & Managing Director of Zipjet
Lorenzo is Co-Founder & Managing Director of ZipJet. ZipJet is an urban pick-up & delivery service for laundry & dry cleaning in London and Berlin. Previously, Lorenzo worked with McKinsey & Company as a consultant. Prior to McKinsey, he worked with Voice.ee a micro polling start up. Lorenzo started-off his professional career at JP Morgan in London. Lorenzo holds an MBA from INSEAD and Msc in Finance from the University of Maastricht.
Follow Lorenzo Franzi:
About Zipjet: Zipjet is an online laundry and dry cleaning service that enables its users to order laundry and dry cleaning pickup and delivery services.
Vernon Dias
Founder and Managing Director of Made by Fire
Follow Vernon Dias:
About Made by Fire: We create digital products for our ambitious clients with a team of over 100 specialists.
Eamonn O’Hare
Independent Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors of Dialog Semiconductor
Eamonn joined the Board in May 2014 as an independent non-executive Director. He was appointed as Chair of the Audit Committee in December 2014 and was replaced by Alan Campbell in July 2015. Eamonn has spent over two decades as CFO of some of the world’s fastest-growing consumer and technology businesses. From 2009 to 2013, he was CFO and main board member of the UK’s leading entertainment and communications business, Virgin Media Inc. and led its successful sale to Liberty Global Inc. in 2013. From 2005 to 2009, he served as CFO of the UK operations of one of the world’s largest retailers, Tesco plc. Before joining Tesco he was CFO and Board Director at Energis Communications and led the successful turnaround of this high profile UK telecoms company. Prior to this Eamonn spent ten years at PepsiCo Inc. in a series of senior executive roles in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Eamonn spent the early part of his career in the aerospace industry with companies that included Rolls-Royce PLC and BAE Systems PLC.
Follow Eamonn O’Hare:
About : Dialog Semiconductor makes energy-efficient, highly-integrated, and mixed signal ICs for mobile, IoT, and solid state lighting applications.
B. Nick Popovici
Co-Founder & Managing Director of Vita Mojo
B. Nick Popovici is the Co Founder and Managing Director of Vita Mojo.
Follow B. Nick Popovici:
About Founders Pledge, Vita Mojo: Vita Mojo’s menu allows anyone to eat for anyones’ individualized needs.
Jimmy Kyriacou
Founder & Director of Unbox
Jimmy Kyriacou is the creator of #BehindTheFace and UNBOX, which is a collective of like minded entrepreneurs, creatives, scientists, artists and film makers with a shared vision of the future. UNBOX merges art, music & cutting edge technology with a specific focus on Augmented Reality. Enquiries & INFO : hello@unboxlondon.com
Follow Jimmy Kyriacou:
About Unbox: Unbox is a blog site about electronics and the way they work and operate.
Janis Thomas
Marketing Director of deltatre
Janis joined Deltatre, a global leader in the sport business, at the beginning of 2019. She is an expert in using digital marketing to deliver sales and revenue growth in subscription and ecommerce businesses. She has grown diverse brands from Birchbox to Playboy. She has held senior consumer marketing roles at digital media and entertainment businesses across film, TV and publishing. Janis will be responsible for leading Deltatre’s B2C marketing. This function will help Deltatre’s sport and entertainment clients grow their direct-to-consumer streaming subscription services.
Follow Janis Thomas:
About deltatre: deltatre is a sports media services company that provides consulting services for videos, webs, graphics, and sports businesses.
Hadiya Masieh
Director of CENTRI
Hadiya Masieh is Director of CENTRI, an organization dedicated to addressing issues of Islamist radicalization amongst Muslim youth as well as educating and training organizations on the nature of radical groups, their theology and their practices. She is currently working on a unique piece of research commissioned by the UN on the subject of female radicalization. In addition, Hadiya works as a Community Cohesion Coordinator in London as part of the U.K. Counter Extremism Strategy for the Home Office.
Follow Hadiya Masieh:
About Barnet Council, CENTRI, Institute for Strategic Dialogue, PopTech, UK Home Office: CENTRI provides advanced security for the internet of things.
Seb Chakraborty
Executive Director (Digital CTO) of Virgin Media
Follow Seb Chakraborty:
About Virgin Media: Virgin Media is a UK-based company offering TV, broadband, landline phone and cellular services.
Dan Vanrenen
Managing Director of Taskeater
Follow Dan Vanrenen:
About Taskeater: Taskeater builds low-cost offshore teams for high-growth companies
Matteo Cuellar
Director of Product Design and UX of iROKO Partners
Follow Matteo Cuellar:
About iROKO Partners: iROKO Partners is an online Nigerian entertainment media distribution company that offers online media products.
Liz Lumley
Managing Director of Rainmaking
Liz Lumley is Managing Director, Thought Leadership at Rainmaking – a corporate innovation consultancy and Startupbootcamp-branded accelerator programmes. Lumley served as managing director of the 2015 Startupbootcamp FinTech London accelerator programme and she has spent over 20 years working in the financial technology space, most recently as an editor at financial services and technology newswire, Finextra. In addition to being an internationally recognised conference speaker and moderator, she is also a regular host on Brett King’s Breaking Banks radio show on the VoiceAmerica Business channel.
Follow Liz Lumley:
About Rainmaking: Rainmaking is a startup incubator that launches startups, builds them into solid businesses, and eventually exits them.
Helene Panzarino
Managing Director of Rainmaking
Helene Panzarino is a highly experienced FinTech Programme Director, Investment Readiness Consultant, Exited Entrepreneur, and Educator, and most recently MD of the global Rainmaking Colab FinTech Programme, a world-first, post-accelerator programme connecting Series A+ FinTechs to Tier 1 banks financial institutions. Helene successfully created and launched the Inaugural Programme of Education and Events for Innovate Finance and is an Associate Professor with LIBF, the Lead Fellow (and creator) on a world-first FinTech Pathway in a Masters in Tech Entrepreneurship Degree for UCL, and co-creator and lead delivery partner on the Imperial College FinTech Executive Education Programme. Her specialist subject areas are Digital Banking and Alternative Finance (SMEs). She is a regular judge, speaker and moderator for the FIA Award, Global Mobile Congress, The Alt Fi Finance Awards, EFMA (European Finance), Money Live on FinTech/Corporate Collaboration, the Retail Banking Conference, and Lendit. Helene is a member of The FinTech Advisory Board for the BSI (British Standards Institute), and representative for UK in the EU. Named on the Computer Weekly 100 Women in Tech Award 2019, she was also recently inducted into the St George’s Leadership Foundation at Windsor Castle. She is currently co-writing a book on the reinvention of banking.
Follow Helene Panzarino:
About Rainmaking: Rainmaking is a startup incubator that launches startups, builds them into solid businesses, and eventually exits them.
Hattie Willis
Director of Rainmaking
Hattie Willis is an Associate Partner and Head of Training at Rainmaking, working to unleash the power of entrepreneurship to build and scale new business, with startups and corporates. Hattie has deep experience in entrepreneurship education, from embedding Innovation Accelerators into organizations with 14,000+ employees, to running Top 400 training for DPHL, supporting new Venture creation for Jaguar Landrover or designing culture change programs for Lloyds Banking Group to name a few. Most recently, she designed and developed Rainmaking’s Digital Learning Platform to help companies scale the skills and mindsets used by the most successful startups across established organizations to drive and democratize innovation. In her spare time Hattie has been testing ways to take Lean Startup skills into the Social Impact Space whether working on Impact Accelerator Programs as a coach or 1:1 with charities. She is currently fascinated by all things relating to education, learning and cultural engineering.
Follow Hattie Willis:
About Rainmaking: Rainmaking is a startup incubator that launches startups, builds them into solid businesses, and eventually exits them.
Ronnie Smith
Corporate Finance Director of TiG Data Intelligence
Ronnie joined TIG as a Non-Executive Director in July 2016, he qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young in 1988. Ronnie has held a variety of finance roles in a number of listed and private equity backed UK and US businesses, including Sigma Aldrich Inc., ICN Biomedicals Inc., The Ritchie Group Plc and The Rope Company Group Limited. His experience covers a range of sectors including manufacturing, bioscience, distribution and telecoms. Ronnie has worked on a number of Pan-European roles that have involved cross-border M&A. Between 2006 to 2010 Ronnie was CFO at Spiritel plc, his appointment here brought significant M&A experience that was essential for executing their buy and build strategy. On leaving SpiriTel plc in November 2010, Ronnie teamed up with Alastair Mills to raise private equity and bank funding to complete the core acquisitions that launched Six Degrees Group where he held the role of CFO until April 2015 and then Corporate Finance Director until April 2017.
Follow Ronnie Smith:
About TiG Data Intelligence, TiG Data Intelligence: TIG is a provider of cloud services, unified communications, and infrastructure solutions.
Laura Zverko
Account Director of TiG Data Intelligence
Follow Laura Zverko:
About TiG Data Intelligence: TIG is a provider of cloud services, unified communications, and infrastructure solutions.
Dave Birch
Director and Innovator of Zappi
Follow Dave Birch:
About Zappi: Zappi helps global brands make faster and better decisions to drive business growth.
Vince Gunn
Non Executive Director and Shareholder of Pagazzi Lighting
Vince Gunn has served as Managing Director of Crocs Europe since arriving at the company in October 2011. Mr. Gunn currently oversees Crocs’ European business, encompassing the wholesale, retail and e-commerce operations. Prior to joining Crocs, Mr. Gunn held senior roles at The Body Shop International, including Head of Global Retail and Managing Director at The Body Shop UK. He also served on the Board of Thomson Travel Group and Mothercare as Retail Development and Operations Director, developing a number of new retail concepts and brand repositioning projects. At Blackwell UK, Mr. Gunn served as Chief Executive Officer and secured numerous industry accreditations for the company, including Bookselling Company of the Year and Retail Chain of the Year. In addition, Mr. Gunn ran his own consultancy and delivered turnaround and special projects for leading brands including Virgin Group and KRM AG – ECCO Group. Additionally, Mr. Gunn currently serves on the board for Pagazzi Lighting.
Follow Vince Gunn:
About : Pagazzi Lighting is an online retailer offering lighting and mirrors.
Rannia Leontaridi
Co Founder and Director of Crown Hosting Data Centres
Rannia Leontaridi is the Director for Business Growth at the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy since May 2016. Rannia leads the Government’s work to start up, grow and scale productive businesses in the economy. She also focuses on the role that technology plays in creating economic value and disruption in existing sectors as well as the creation of new business and new emerging sectors in the economy. Rannia is the joint Director lead for Artificial Intelligence in government and has been leading recently the AI Sector deal and AI grand Challenge in the Industrial Strategy. She is also the Government’s senior sponsor for the British Business Bank and “Be the Business”, the new organisation created by the Productivity Leadership Group, chaired by Sir Charlie Mayfield. Rannia began life as an entrepreneur and later went on to be an Assistant Professor in Economics. She is a Carnegie Scholar and holds a PhD in Labour Market Economics. She began her career in the civil service in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in the Cabinet Office and has held senior positions in the University sector, Cabinet Office and the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Rannia is a co-founder and sits on the board of Crown Hosting Services, a start-up and joint venture between Government and Ark Data centres, set up to deliver hosting services for legacy public sector infrastructure. In February 2016 Rannia received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for public service.
Follow Rannia Leontaridi:
About Crown Hosting Data Centres: Crown Hosting Data Centres helps in delivering efficiency and transparency of data centre hosting utilisation.
Andrew Fisher
European Managing Director of Blucora
Follow Andrew Fisher:
About Blucora, Chairman Mentors International, Marks & Spencer, RightMove, Thomson Directories Business Ventures: Blucora is a provider of Internet-related services that operates a diverse group of internet businesses.
Juan Juan Clemente Lopez
Creative Director of Favorey
Follow Juan Juan Clemente Lopez:
About Favorey: We are building a community of trust, where we can all ask for help from trusted contacts, and use our skills to help others.
Jonathan Davies
Director of Digital of Three
Follow Jonathan Davies:
About Three: Three is a British telecommunications and internet service provider.
Stephen Lerner
General Counsel & Regulatory Affairs Director of Three
Follow Stephen Lerner:
About Three: Three is a British telecommunications and internet service provider.
Stephen Lerner
General Counsel & Regulatory Affairs Director of Three
Follow Stephen Lerner:
About Three: Three is a British telecommunications and internet service provider.
Wil Benton
Cofounder & Director of Metta
Wil Benton is Cofounder & Director at Metta.
Follow Wil Benton:
About Ada Ventures, FatKidOnFire, Kickstart Global, Metta: Metta company supports startups, industry & governments with sustainable technology.
Talal Cheaib
Partner / Operations Director of Slidr
Follow Talal Cheaib:
About Slidr: SLIDR is a dynamic pricing technology allowing customers to buy products/services at prices always lower than retail
James Elias
Managing Director of AVADO
Follow James Elias:
About AVADO: AVADO delivers transformative learning that helps businesses gain critical digital skills.
Amy Crawford
Managing Director, AVADO Professional of AVADO
Follow Amy Crawford:
About AVADO: AVADO delivers transformative learning that helps businesses gain critical digital skills.
Amy Crawford
Managing Director, AVADO Professional of AVADO
Follow Amy Crawford:
About AVADO: AVADO delivers transformative learning that helps businesses gain critical digital skills.
Martin Wren-Hilton
Director of Wireless Innovation of TalkTalk
Follow Martin Wren-Hilton:
About TalkTalk, Talktalk Group: TalkTalk is a phone and broadband company that offers fixed and mobile telephony and broadband services to consumers.
