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 Hardware 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.
Renaud Di Francesco
Director – Europe Technology Standards of Sony
Renaud Di Francesco joined Sony in 1998 to develop its external R&D cooperation, then leading its first Digital Cinema project. He is now in charge of the standardisation activity for Europe, with projects involving R&D and committee contributions. His current interests include energy efficiency, network architectures, M2M, multimedia from large venue cinema to personal wrist-watch formats, Mobility, M2M, industrial Internet and real time systems, user interface and accessibility, AAL. In previous assignments, he has worked for the European Commission, coordinating the preparation of Telecom Councils of Ministers, and earlier he managed the portfolio of network management, security and e-commerce in the Advanced Communications Technologies and Services programme. He started his career as a researcher in real time detection and speech coding (PhD, patent) at France Telecom, where he then became department head for new satellite services. His next move was to develop the multi-operator projects of France Telecom in core network (SDH, IP over ATM), service (ACE2000) and R&D (Eurescom).
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About CEN and CENELEC, Institution of Engineering and Technology, Sony: Sony develops and manufactures audio, video, communications, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets.
Christopher Schmidt
Director Technology of Verizon Wireless
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About Verizon Wireless: Verizon Wireless offers wireless telecommunications services, devices, and solutions.
Mike Greer
Director of Software Experience of Kano
Mike Greer is the VP of software product at Kano Computing with experience in conceptualizing, scoping, designing and managing web, desktop, and mobile apps. Mike also co-founded Guevera in 2013 and has served as a designer and creative technologist at Havas Worldwide London.
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About Kano: Kano provides a system of kits and coding platform that enables users to develop apps, games, and music.
Aaron Hinchion
Executive Creative Director of Kano
Aaron Hinchion is the executive creative director at Kano Computing. Prior to this, Aaron has worked as a creative director at Hinchion & Sons for over 15 years. Aaron holds a bachelor’s degree in visual communications from Birmingham City University.
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About Kano: Kano provides a system of kits and coding platform that enables users to develop apps, games, and music.
Mike Greening
Product Director of CityFibre
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About CityFibre: CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings plc is the UK’s largest independent provider of fibre infrastructure in secondary cities
John Franklin
Director of Engineering & CTIO of CityFibre
John Franklin is the director of engineering at [CityFibre](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/cityfibre#/entity), an independent provider of fiber infrastructure. He was previously the chief operating officer of euNetworks. Franklin spent a number of years working in the telecoms industry for companies such as British Telecom, Level 3 Communications, Alcatel Telecommunications, and GPT Telecommunications. Most recently he was cluster director at British Telecom.
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About CityFibre: CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings plc is the UK’s largest independent provider of fibre infrastructure in secondary cities
Jon Koplin
Managing Director EMEAR, Cisco Investments and Corporate Development of Cisco
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About Cisco: Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, telecommunications equipment, and other technology services and products.
Lewis Mitchell
Senior Director, EMEA of Taulia
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About Taulia: Taulia is a FinTech startup that provides working capital management and electronic invoicing services for supply chain companies.
Neil Sawyer
Commercial Channel & Edu/SMB Director of HP
Neil Sawyer is Director of Education for HP in the UK&I. Over the last 15 years Neil has developed a broad knowledge of the key solutions, partnerships and insights that have helped a number of schools, colleges and Universities in their decision making and investment in educational technology.
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About HP: HP is a manufacturer and seller of personal computers, printers, computer hardwares, and business solutions.
Frances Keeth
Member of the Board of Directors of Arrow Electronics
Frances Keeth is a Member of the Board of Directors at Arrow Electronics. Frances was Executive Vice President of Royal Dutch Shell plc, a global energy company, from 2005 to 2006 and was President and Chief Executive Officer of Shell Chemicals LP from 2001 to 2006. During her long tenure at Royal Dutch Shell, Frances served in a number of other positions of responsibility, including Executive Vice President, Finance and Business Systems and Executive Vice President, Customer Fulfillment and Product Business Units. Prior to these positions, Frances was Controller and Principal accounting officer of Mobil Corporation. Frances has served as a Member of the Board of Directors at Arrow Electronics, Inc. since 2004 and, in the past five years, she has served as a Member of the Board of Directors at Peabody Energy Corporation. Frances’ career with Shell has provided her with substantial experience in managing worldwide operations and strategic partnerships in a capital-intensive business. Frances’ expertise provides the Board with critical skills in the areas of financial oversight, aligning financial and strategic initiatives, and risk management. Frances has served as a Member of the Board of Directors at Verizon since 2006. Frances is Lead Director, Chair of the Corporate Governance and Policy Committee and a Member of the Audit Committee and the Finance Committee.
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About : Arrow Electronics designs, manufactures and distributes electronic components for industrial and commercial sectors.
Alberto Spinelli
Director – Digital Services Business, Europe of Canon
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About Canon, Fing: Canon is a manufacturer of business and consumer imaging products.
Jonathan Woolf
Program Director, Intelligent Journey Orchestration of O2
Jonathan Woolf serves as the Program Director, Intelligent Journey Orchestration at O2.
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About O2: O2 provides services such as non-voice services, including text, media messaging, games, music, and video, as well as data connections.
Colin Roughan
Managing Director, Asia Pacific of SquareTrade
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About SquareTrade, The Natural Edition: SquareTrade is an independent warranty provider for consumer electronics and appliances.
Simon Gauntlett
Director of Imaging Standards and Technology of Dolby Laboratories
In his role as Technology Director of the DTG, Simon is responsible for setting the organisation’s strategic technical vision, supporting DTG Technical Council, Chairing DTG Testing’s Advisory Board, directing the group’s technical programme and managing the DTG’s technology team. Since joining the DTG in 2006, Simon has edited and published an updated version of the D-Book – the technical specification for digital terrestrial television in the UK, and has established working groups for IPTV and the forthcoming HD D-Book. In early 2008 he supported the launch of the UK’s free-to-air satellite platform, Freesat, with a test and conformance project, and is currently working with the Group’s membership to facilitate the introduction of HD on the DTT platform using the new DVB-T2 standard. Prior to working for the DTG, Simon spent seven years at the BBC’s Research and Development (R&D) department, where he specialised in compression technologies for High Definition video and the delivery of HDTV, working on the BBC’s HD trial on the satellite, cable and terrestrial platforms.
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About Dolby Laboratories, SMPTE: Dolby creates surround sound, imaging, and voice technologies for cinemas, home theaters, PCs, mobile devices, games, and more.
Tanaz Gould
Consultancy Practice Director of Claranet
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About Claranet: Claranet is an expert in modernising and running critical applications and infrastructure.
Merrion Edwards
Director, Global Market and Technology Development of Corning
Merrion Edwards is currently the director of market and technology development, optical fibre and cable, for Corning Optical Communications. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of telecommunications and is the author of 60 papers in industry journals, covering a broad range of applications: Core, Metro, Access, DataCenter, Transport and Photonics. During her career at Corning, Dr. Edwards has become a knowledge expert on emerging telecommunications trends and synergetic innovation of optical fibre, cable and components to enable advancement of telecommunications transport systems. Prior to joining Corning, Edwards conducted research into photonic devices for telecommunications and sensing. Edwards holds a PhD from the Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.
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About Corning: Corning is a manufacturer of building materials including glass, ceramic, related materials and technologies, and more.
Christine Adshead
Non Executive Director of Ultimate Products
Christine Adshead is a Partner at PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers).
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About Ultimate Products: Ultimate Products is a brand and product development house in the UK that specializes in house-ware and electrical goods.
Colin Howes
Director Of Sales And Business Development of Crypto Quantique
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About Crypto Quantique, Lnkedin.pro: Crypto Quantique offers hardware based cyber-security solution for authentication and encryption in a wired local network.
Jonathan Davies
Director of Digital of Three
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About Three: Three is a British telecommunications and internet service provider.
Stephen Lerner
General Counsel & Regulatory Affairs Director of Three
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About Three: Three is a British telecommunications and internet service provider.
Stephen Lerner
General Counsel & Regulatory Affairs Director of Three
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About Three: Three is a British telecommunications and internet service provider.
Alan Carlton
Senior Director, Innovation Labs of InterDigital Communications
Alan Carlton is Vice President InterDigital Europe, Ltd where he leads 5G and IoT R&D activities. Alan has over 20 years wireless industry experience spanning 2G through the now emerging 5G. He has been with InterDigital for over ten years and has held a variety of senior positions in their development, systems, standards and technology strategy organizations. Prior to InterDigital, he held positions at Nortel, Siemens and a variety of wireless startups both in Europe and United States. Alan is an EEE graduate of the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and also holds a MSc. in Communications & Signal Processing from Imperial College, London.
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About InterDigital Communications: InterDigital Communications is a mobile technology firm that designs and develops digital wireless technology solutions.
Douglas Higgins
Founder & Director of Mujo Mechanics
Douglas Higgins is the Founder & Director at Mujo Mechanics.
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About Mujo Mechanics: Mujo Mechanics provides smart devices and intelligent cloud platform for a data-driven approach to musculoskeletal health.
Geri McMahon
Non-Executive Director of Mujo Mechanics
Geri McMahon Managing Director joined MUJO following eight years in investment banking to coordinate and drive the team to deliver the MUJO vision. Geri brings a focus on operational excellence, and a wealth of international business experience having worked with government institutions and corporates across EMEA, APAC and AMERICAS regions. Geri holds a combined Finance and Commerce degree with Chinese language from the University of Sydney and previously worked on the trading floors of both RBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Sydney and London.
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About Mujo Mechanics: Mujo Mechanics provides smart devices and intelligent cloud platform for a data-driven approach to musculoskeletal health.
Joanna Montgomery
Founder & Director of Little Riot
Joanna Montgomery started her own company, Little Riot, to develop a product called Pillow Talk. In the last few years, the company has grown from strength to strength, securing vast amounts of funding and winning several awards.
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About Little Riot: Little Riot mission is to alleviate loneliness and empower people to use technology to communicate without staring at a screen.
Carolyn Van Dongen
Marketing Director of Musaic
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About Musaic: Musaic is a manufacturer/developer of wireless HiFi systems based in the heart of London.
Paul Thomas
Co-Founder & Development Director of Cupris Health
Paul Thomas is the Co Founder & Development Director at Cupris Health.
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About Cupris Health, PD HIVE: Cupris Health develope communication software and smartphone-connected medical devices.
Anjola Awofisoye
Director of Education of Mazedon
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About Mazedon: Mazedon Inc. is an American start-up technology company focused on the development of intelligent shopping and sales of consumer goods
Tuhel Alom
Finance Director of dsp
Tuhel joined dsp in 2009 and has since been committed to helping dsp achieve its goals by providing senior level counsel, executing strategy and ensuring financial stability. Tuhel has been involved in a number of projects within dsp ranging from company acquisitions, financial audits and system implementation to employee engagement projects. A valued member of the board, Tuhel’s deep understanding of dsp makes him a primary point of contact in all decisions. The ability to have a holistic view of the business allows Tuhel to enhance the dsp brand and value. Prior to dsp Tuhel spent 6 years at MS&L, part of the Publicis Groupe, as a Financial Analyst helping the business gain deep insight to key performance drivers.
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About dsp: Award-Winning Microsoft & Oracle Databas
Brett Pytel
UK Director of Sales of Park Place Technologies
Brett is the DUK Director of Sales for the EMEA Region at Park Place Technologies. He is responsible for the overall EMEA sales strategy at Park Place Technologies with a specific focus on end user sales. Beyond sales strategy, Brett also works with all of our team functions in the EMEA region to ensure that a fully integrated, seamless, corporate go-to-market strategy is in place when entering new geographical territories within EMEA.
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About Park Place Technologies, Park Place Technologies: Park Place Technologies is an IT company that provided organizations around the globe with post-warranty maintenance and support solutions.
Alex Clough
Creative Strategy Director of Splendid Communications
Alex Clough is the Creative Strategy Director at Splendid Communications, an award-winning creative communications agency with a ‘People-First’ approach to creativity. He leads the development of communications strategies for Splendid’s variety of clients to deliver ideas that travel freely through PR, live, search, digital and social, and that remain consistent and intact wherever they come to life. During his career, Alex has worked with some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Jack Daniel’s, Hendrick’s, Smirnoff, Greggs, MoneySupermarket.com, Tesco and The AA.
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About Splendid Communications: Splendid is a communications agency that creates brand stories for the real world.
Alex Clough
Creative Strategy Director of Splendid Communications
Alex Clough is the Creative Strategy Director at Splendid Communications, an award-winning creative communications agency with a ‘People-First’ approach to creativity. He leads the development of communications strategies for Splendid’s variety of clients to deliver ideas that travel freely through PR, live, search, digital and social, and that remain consistent and intact wherever they come to life. During his career, Alex has worked with some of the world’s most iconic brands, including Jack Daniel’s, Hendrick’s, Smirnoff, Greggs, MoneySupermarket.com, Tesco and The AA.
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About Splendid Communications: Splendid is a communications agency that creates brand stories for the real world.
