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 London based Director operating in the Energy Efficiency 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.
Yiannis Ventikos
Co-founder and Non-Executive Director of First Light Fusion
Yiannis Ventikos is the Co-founder and Non-Executive Director of First Light Fusion.
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About First Light Fusion: First Light Fusion is an energy company that focuses on researching energy generation by inertial confinement fusion.
George Coehlo
Managing Director of Good Energies
George Coehlo is the Co-Founder and Partner of Astanor Ventures. He joined Good Energies from Balderton Capital, formerly known as Benchmark Capital, Europe, which he co-founded in 2000. Good Energies has actively invested in technology companies in all stages of development in both Europe and North America. George previously led Intel Corporation’s strategic venture capital investment outside the U.S. and, prior to that, was a founder of the group that evolved to become Intel Capital. He has served in a number of senior positions in corporate finance. George holds a B.S. from The American University and an MBA from The George Washington, D. C. University. He is a Member of the Board of Directors of the UK chapter of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs).
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About Astanor Ventures, Good Energies, PROfounders Capital: Good Energies is a New York-based investment company focused on the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries.
Jonty Graham
Director, Head of Institutional Capital of Foresight Group
Jonty Graham joined Foresight Group in 2015 and currently works as a Director and the Head of the Institutional Capital team in the London office. He has over 10 years of experience. Jonty is responsible for building and managing relationships with institutional clients, through fundraising, strategy and deal co-ordination across all mandates and geographies. Prior to joining Foresight Jonty worked at Bloomberg as a Senior Relationship Manager where he focused on sales of Fixed Income Cash and Derivatives products to Investment Banks, Pension Funds, Asset Managers, Central Banks and Sovereign Wealth Funds across EMEA. He has also held roles at a merchant bank, a global real estate investor, and was a Second Lieutenant in the British Army. Jonty holds an MA in Classics and French from Edinburgh University, and has an Investment Management Certificate from CFA UK.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Hugi Clarke
Director of Foresight Group
Hugi Clarke joined Foresight Group in 2016 and currently works as a Director in the London office. He has over 19 years of experience. Hugi is responsible for developing sales, marketing and customer satisfaction for Foresight. Prior to joining Foresight Hugi worked at Octopus as an Area Director where he focused on managing a regional sales team. He has also worked as a Sales Manager at Zurich, managing a regional team. Hugi holds a BSc in Psychology from Nottingham Trent University.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Rodney Appiah
Director of Foresight Group
Rodney joined Foresight in 2016 from the Business Growth Fund where he spent 5 years providing minority growth capital and board support to UK SMEs. Prior to BGF, Rodney was an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, advising PE sponsors and TMT corporates on leveraged finance transactions and M&A activity. In his spare time, Rodney is a business advisor to a number of start-up businesses and a school governor for an East London based Academy. Rodney holds a Bsc in Economics from Royal Holloway, University of London.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Louise Chesworth
Director, Head of Institutional Investor Relations of Foresight Group
Louise Chesworth joined Foresight Group in 2015 and currently works as Director and Head of Institutional Investor Relations in the London office. She has 17 years of experience. Louise is responsible for the management and development of Foresight’s relationships with institutional investors and oversees client reporting. Prior to joining Foresight, Louise worked at Hermes GPE as an Investor Relations Manager, responsible for the group’s private equity and infrastructure clients. She also worked in IR at Gartmore Private Equity prior to the merger with Hermes Private Equity, and was previously a private equity journalist with Thomson Financial. Louise holds a BA in European History from the University of East Anglia.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
John Holden
Director of Foresight Group
John joined Foresight in November 2016 to work on deploying the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund and is a specialist investor in technology. John has worked in and managed technology investment teams at businesses such as 3i Group, ANGLE and Imperial Innovations, where he spent five years investing in and working with early stage technology and medtech companies, before working on his own advisory and funding businesses. John is a graduate of Durham University and has a MBA with Distinction from Cranfield University.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Suzie Ruffley
Director, Head of People of Foresight Group
Suzie Ruffley joined Foresight in January 2017 to set up Foresight’s HR function, she is a Director and the Head of People. Suzie has 14 years of HR experience and is responsible for all aspects of people strategy across the group. Prior to joining Foresight Suzie was Head of HR Operations at Royal Botanical Kew and before that held a breadth of HR roles for State Street. Suzie holds a MSc in Occupational Psychology from Liverpool John Moores University.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Ben Thompson
Group Marketing Director of Foresight Group
Ben Thompson joined Foresight Group in 2011 and currently works as the Group Marketing Director in the London office. With over thirty years of integrated communications experience both on the agency side and within financial companies, Ben is responsible for marketing activities for the group, including brand and corporate communications for all offices. Prior to joining Foresight Ben was Marketing Director at Espirito Santo Investment Bank where he focused on launching the Portuguese bank into the London market. Ben holds a BA in Music from Durham University.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Sarah Cole
Director, Institutional Capital of Foresight Group
Sarah joined Foresight in 2012 and is responsible for Foresight’s institutional client relationships. Prior to joining the firm, Sarah started her career at Barclays in corporate finance and has focused upon institutional investors and their alternative investments since 2004, establishing Citigroup’s European Capital Introductions effort, followed by 3 years in the US advising public and corporate pension funds on hedge fund portfolios totalling over $3bn, before joining Winton Capital as a VP within their UK/US institutional team. Sarah holds a BA in Politics from The University of Nottingham.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Matt Hammond
Director of Foresight Group
Matt Hammond joined Foresight Group in 2015 and currently works as a Director in the London office. He has over 20 years of experience. Matt is responsible for new infrastructure investment opportunities and enhancing investor returns by optimising financing structures within Foresight’s renewable energy infrastructure portfolio. Prior to joining Foresight Matt worked predominantly at Macquarie as a Director where he focused on infrastructure and renewable energy advisory, investing, and lending. He has also worked at Henderson, BT Alex Brown and the WHEB Group where he raised and invested two renewable energy funds investing across Europe. Matt holds a degree in Engineering (Industrial Automation) from the University of Sydney, an MA in Political Economy from London School of Economics and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from the Australian Securities Institute.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Yanti Falangola
Director – Head of Institutional Capital Southern Europe of Foresight Group
Yanti joined the Institutional Capital Team at Foresight in April 2016 from Cheyne Capital Management, one of Europe’s leading alternative investment fund managers. While at Cheyne, Yanti was responsible for the business development in Southern Europe and the Far East. Prior to this, he has been a fund analyst in two London based fund of hedge funds. Yanti holds a B.A. degree in Business Administration from Lynn University and a Master’s degree in International Business from Florida Atlantic University.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Beth Watkins
Director of Foresight Group
Beth Watkins joined Foresight Group in 2015 and currently works as a Director in the London office. She has over 14 years of experience in project finance, project development and law. Beth is responsible for leading the origination, execution and monitoring of Foresight’s investments in the bioenergy and waste infrastructure sectors. Prior to joining Foresight Beth worked at Balfour Beatty Investments on the development of projects to finance, build and operate new straw fired and wood fired biomass renewable energy plants and a wide range of PFI and PPP projects. Beth is a solicitor, having trained and qualified with Pinsent Masons, and holds a Law degree from Bristol University.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Charles Sheldon
Director of Foresight Group
Charles joined Foresight in 2013 after four years at management consultancy Oliver Wyman, where he specialised in Financial Services, running projects for Investment and Retail banking and Private Equity clients. Prior to that he worked at Monitor Group. Charles is a PE graduate from the University of Oxford.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Stephen Thayer
Director of Foresight Group
Stephen Thayer joined Foresight Group in 2012 and currently works as a Director and the Head of Finance in the London office. He has over 13 years of experience. Stephen is responsible for overall financial reporting and control across the group, both on the corporate and fund sides of the business. Prior to joining Foresight Stephen worked at Marks & Spencer as a Senior Finance Manager where he focused on the international subsidiaries and franchise partners plus the general merchandise supply chain and logistics. He has also worked as an Audit Executive at EY, working in their Consumer Products audit division, focusing on a number of large listed and privately owned businesses. Stephen holds an MA in Chemistry from Oxford University and is a Chartered Accountant (ICAS).
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Richard Kelly
Director & Head of New Product Development of Foresight Group
Richard Kelly joined Foresight Group in 2014 and currently works as a Director in the London office. He has over 11 years of experience. Richard is responsible for the development and launch of innovative investment products and new business divisions. Prior to joining Foresight Richard worked at Accenture as a Strategy Manager where he focused on merger and acquisition strategy across a variety of industries. He has also worked as an Intern at Oxford Capital Partners, focusing on investment business plan screening and portfolio company performance improvement. Richard holds a BA in Business & Management from Exeter University.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Carlos Rey Micolau
Director of Foresight Group
Carlos joined Foresight in December 2011. Prior to that, he covered several roles at Renewables Energy Source “RES” project developer and technical consultant in the international Renewable Energy sector with a particular focus on the Spanish and Italian markets. Based in Foresight’s UK HQ, Carlos is responsible for the origination, arrangement and execution of infrastructure investments in Southern Europe, primarily in the renewable energy sector and has led Foresight’s investments in subsidy-free solar assets in the Iberian peninsula. Carlos graduated in Industrial Engineering and Industrial Management Engineering from UPC Barcelona and is fluent in Spanish, Catalan, Italian and English.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Tom Moore
Director of Foresight Group
Tom Moore joined Foresight Group in 2014 and currently works as a Director in the London office. He has over 10 years of experience. Tom is responsible for the asset management of the global renewable energy infrastructure assets. Prior to joining Foresight Tom worked at Jubilee Financial Products as a Financial Controller where he was responsible for internal finance, operations and compliance. There he also performed advisory work for M&A transactions and corporate restructurings. Tom is a Chartered Accountant and holds a BSc (Hons) in Economics from the University of York.
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About Foresight Group: Foresight is an infrastructure and private equity investment manager that manages funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients.
Chris Joly
Board of Director of Upside Energy
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About : Upside Energy reduces greenhouse gases by enabling people to make smart choices about when to use energy.
Ning Zhang
Co-Founder & Executive Director of Limejump
Ning Zhang is the Co-founder at Limejump.
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About Limejump: Limejump is a Technology-Driven Utility: harnessing the power of big data to positively disrupt and transform today’s energy market.
Paddy O’Clery
Business Development Director of Amber Energy
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About Amber Energy: AMBER is a for profit cooperative with the goal of growing community based green energy generation in Ontario by engaging residents.
Allan ‘Noel-edge’ Okello
CEO & Founder / Director of Plexus Wifi
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About Plexus Wifi: City wide Solar powered payg wifi for African cities
