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 Service Industry 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.
Paul Morris
Non Executive Director of Willis Towers Watson
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About : Willis Towers Watson is a global advisory and solutions company that helps clients around the world turn risk into a path for growth.
Guillaume Sampic
Strategy Director and Internet of Things of BT Global Services
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About BT Global Services: BT Global Services plc is a division of United Kingdom telecommunications operator BT Group.
Robert Milton
Chairman of the Board of Directors of United Airlines
Robert Milton is a Member of the Board of Directors at United Continental Holdings Inc. since April 2016. Robert was Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. and was Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada. Having joined Air Canada in 1992 in a consulting capacity, Robert moved from the role of Senior Director of Scheduling to Vice President of Scheduling and Product Management, Senior Vice President of Marketing and In-Flight Service and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Robert became President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada in 1999. Robert is currently the Lead Director of Air Lease Corporation, a Member of the Board of Directors of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and a Trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation Inc. Robert was a past Member of the Board of Directors of US Airways, Inc., and was also a past Chairman of the Board of Governors of IATA (The International Air Transport Association). Robert graduated in 1983 from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Industrial Management.
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About Air Canada: United Airlines and United Express operate approximately 5,000 flights each day to more than 370 destinations throughout the world.
Toby Horry
Brand and Content Director of TUI Group
Toby Horry is the brand and content director at TUI.
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About TUI Group: TUI Group is an international tourism and hospitality organization that offers a range of tour, flights, cruises, and more.
Andrew Michael
CEO, Director & Founder of Bark.com
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About Bark.com: A new better way to buy services online
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.
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About Skyscanner: Skyscanner operates as a trips meta-search engine company.
Will Wynne
Managing Director, Co-Founder & Chief Executive of Arena Online Ltd
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About Arena Online Ltd, Smart Pension: Flowers & gifts, London, UK & Europe
Martin Bloom
Non Executive Director of Renesola Pty Ltd.
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About Renesola Pty Ltd.: ReneSola is a leading global manufacturer of solar wafers and PV modules
Mauricio Lazala
Deputy Director & Head of Europe Office of Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Mauricio, a Colombian & UK national, joined the Resource Centre in 2006. Until Feb. 2011 he served as Senior Researcher and Head of Latin America & Middle East. He oversees the Centre’s Latin America and Eastern Europe & Central Asia researchers, is involved in the production of briefings and research materials, and manages work streams such as the “Business, Conflict & Peace” project. Mauricio also co-ordinates joint initiatives with Resource Centre partners, and led the recent redevelopment of the Resource Centre’s website. Mauricio previously served as law clerk at International Criminal Court, Programme Manager at Mexican Commission for the Protection & Defence of Human Rights, and Outreach Coordinator at B’Tselem (Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories). Mauricio has published various articles on business & human rights. In 2014 he was invited to join the board of director at EIRIS – Empowering Responsible Investment. Mauricio has a Law degree (honours) from University of Cambridge, and a BA in Political Sciences and History from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is fluent in Spanish, English & Hebrew.
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About Business & Human Rights Resource Centre: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre is dedicated to advancing human rights in business and eradicating abuse.
Gen Ashley
Director of Women Who Code
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About TechKnow Day, Women Who Code: Women Who Code is a global organization dedicated to inspiring women to pursue and excel in technology careers.
Anna Foat
Director, Global Digital Transformation Office of Sun Life
Anna grew up in business at BlackBerry. She joined RIM in 1999 when the company was pre-300 employees and thrived as the company grew exponentially executing deals with IBM, Visa and Mastercard in her tenure. In 2011 when Blackberry had grown to 16,000 employees she switched gears and left to join IBM as the Worldwide Managing Editor of MobileFirst Platform leading content digital marketing strategy. In 2016 she was invited to act as the Executive in Residence for the first cohort of the Fierce Founders Accelerator at Communitech. In 2017 she was named a top 30 Women to Watch in Technology by BetaKit. She today is a Director in the Global Digital Transformation Office at Sun Life Financial as well as a bestselling author. She is proud to have earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Waterloo. She now teaches Design Thinking at the University of Western Ontario. When she’s not hustling for the next deal or talking to entrepreneurs you can find her either sipping wine with friends or locked in a hot yoga class trying to find that elusive balance.
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About Sun Life: Sun Life Financial provides wealth management, financial security, and stability to its worldwide customer base.
Nick Fincham
Strategy and Regulation Director of Thames Water
Before joining Thames Water, Nick spent six years as Director of Economic Regulation and Competition Policy at the Civil Aviation Authority.Prior to that, he held senior positions at a number of economic regulators (OFFER, Ofgas, Ofgem and Postcomm).He has also run his own consultancy business, providing economic and strategic advice to the UK Government and economic regulators.
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About Thames Water: Thames Water Utilities Limited is a U.K.-based water and sewerage company that provides clean and take away waste water.
Andrew Smith
Business Development Director of 4me
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About 4me: 4me is an IT and Enterprise Service Management & Workflow application, providing complete visibility and control of service cost & quality.
Jane Kingston
Member of the Board of Directors of National Express Group
Jane Kingston served as Group Human Resources Director for Compass Group PLC from 2006 until her retirement in 2016. Prior to this, she served as Group Human Resources Director for BPB PLC from 2002 until its acquisition by Saint Gobain SA in 2006. Jane Kingston earlier career in HR has spanned a variety of sectors including engineering and building materials with Enodis PLC and Blue Circle PLC (now Lafarge SA) and garment and textiles with Coats Viyella PLC, as well as the British car industry. JaneKingston has significant international experience, having had responsibility for the people agenda in most parts of the world at some point during her career.
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About : National Express is one of the most recognised brands in the UK.
Jorge Cosmen
Member of the Board of Directors of National Express Group
Jorge Cosmen was appointed to the Board at the time of the ALSA transaction. He was appointed Deputy Company Chairman in October 2008. Jorge Cosmen was Corporate Manager for the ALSA Group from 1995, becoming Chairman in 1999. Between 1986 and 1995, he worked in sales, distribution and banking. He is a Business Administration graduate and has an International MBA from the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid. He is a Non-Executive Director of Bankia, as well as of other private companies.
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About : National Express is one of the most recognised brands in the UK.
John Armitt
Chairman of the Board of Directors of National Express Group
Sir John Armitt is chairman of the Olympic Delivery Authority, the body responsible for the venues, infrastructure and transport for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Since November 2012 he has also been a member of the Airports Commission, which is to present options to the government to maintain the UK’s status as an international hub for aviation. Sir John has extensive experience in the construction and transport sectors. Previously, he was chief executive of Network Rail (2002–2007) and of Railtrack plc (from 2001). From 1986 to 1993 he was chairman of Laing’s international and civil engineering divisions, a company he joined as a graduate in 1966. From 1993 to 1997 he was chief executive of Union Railways, the company responsible for development of the high-speed Channel Tunnel rail link. In 1997 he became chief executive of Costain, a position he held until 2001. Sir John is chairman of National Express Group and of City and Guilds. He is also deputy chairman of the Berkeley Group and a member of the board of Transport for London. He is a former chairman of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and vice-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
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About Institution of Civil Engineers: National Express is one of the most recognised brands in the UK.
Michael Roberts
Communications Strategy Director of 72andSunny
Michael is Communication Strategy Director at 72andSunny in Amsterdam. He blends his strategy and media expertise with passion and enthusiasm for data, technology and internet culture. He has led communications strategy for Google software and hardware, and eBay. Most recently has been crafting digital transformation strategy for IKEA and helping fintech company Klarna develop a comms strategy focussed on fame and conversation.
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About 72andSunny: 72andSunny drives transactions by making brands matter in culture. They have offices in Los Angeles and Amsterdam.
Mark Jenkins
Experience Design Director of 72andSunny
Mark is Experience Design Director at 72andSunny in Amsterdam. He believes in planning strategically to design across the full lifecycle of the UX process. Designing with informed decisions, Mark understands that a fantastic experience is one where the combination of how things look, read and work end up providing true value for people, where the best design is with intent.
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About 72andSunny: 72andSunny drives transactions by making brands matter in culture. They have offices in Los Angeles and Amsterdam.
Sheeraz Ahmed
Operations Director of ONLICAR
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About ONLICAR: They use Formula1 techniques to deliver scalable solutions that create actionable value for our customers.
Volker Buscher
Director of Arup
Volker Buscher is a Director of Arup and the leader of their IT and Communications Systems practice. A project director for public and private sector clients in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Arfrica and SE Asia. Volker is part of the Future of Cities leadership team in Arup. A multi-disciplinary group developing strategies and solutions for cities striving to deliver a great place to live and work, decoupled from critical resource constrains. Volker is a member of the Smart London Board advising the Mayor of London regarding the role of technology in the economic, environmental and social development of our great city and a member of the national Smart City Forum chaired by UK Ministers Clarke and Willets.
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About Arup: Arup is an independent firm of designers, planners, engineers and technical specialists offering a broad range of professional services.
Emma Wilson
Director of Client Operations of First Protocol
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About First Protocol: First Protocol is an international events agency.
Sophia Petrides
Global Account Director of First Protocol
Sophia has over 18 years’ experience working in events within investment banking and is highly regarded within the industry for her operational and team development expertise. Sophia has built a strong international network throughout her career, which has proven invaluable in her role as Global Account Director at First Protocol, where her objective is to develop a global strategic approach to enhance the client experience and align best practice across the regions.
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About First Protocol: First Protocol is an international events agency.
Nigel Pusey
Director of essDOCS
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About essDOCS: essDOCS enables paperless trade; focusing on digitizing paper-heavy shipping, trade and logistic processes.
Richard Cook
Services Director of GCI Com
A highly-experienced, successful business leader, Richard is largely responsible for spotting market opportunities for new products and services, as well as overseeing the performance of the business and looking after certain key customers. He was the Founder and Managing Director of Blue Chip Data Systems – which was acquired by GCI in July 2017 – and is now a member of the Executive Team at GCI.
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About GCI Com: GCI Telecom is a UK-based independent telecoms and data services company delivering cloud hosting and managed-cloud-solutions.
William Lankston
Managing Director of Timpson Direct of Timpson
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About Timpson: Timpson is the UK’s leading retail service provider.
Martin Wren-Hilton
Director of Wireless Innovation of TalkTalk
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About TalkTalk, Talktalk Group: TalkTalk is a phone and broadband company that offers fixed and mobile telephony and broadband services to consumers.
David Macfarlane
Managing Director – Direct of Gamma
David joined Gamma in 2012 following Gamma’s acquisition of his managed services business Varidion Limited and now heads up Gamma’s direct solutions arm. Prior to this, David was CTO at Sirocom and laterally the Group CTO at Azzurri Communications. He has gained over 30 years’ experience in creating and delivering managed communications services. Before becoming a supplier of services, David held senior IT roles in the NHS and major city law firm.
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About Gamma: Gamma is a leading supplier of voice, data and mobile products and services in the UK.
Serge Lubensky
Founder | Executive Managing Director of ReTool Ventures
Serge is a geek who enjoys finding pragmatic solutions to difficult problems. Along the way, he managed to become a successful entrepreneur with a track record of starting, growing and selling technology companies. Serge grew up in a family of scientists and artists. Not smart enough to become a scientist and not creative enough to be an artist, Serge chose to pursue a computer engineering degree in his hometown of Minsk strictly to avoid being drafted into the Russian Army during the Soviets’ invasion of Afghanistan. Serge’s first successful exit, from a failing 70-year old startup called the USSR, occurred in 1988. Fresh off the boat, Serge joined a computer company in Queens, NY, developing software for service contractors. Architecting and supporting a system that businesses relied on allowed Serge to learn the intricacies of the commercial repair and maintenance trades and ways to apply technology to solve real-life challenges for business owners and their field technicians. In the process, Serge and the company’s founder, Steven Gottfried, became friends and business partners and started to formulate plans for their next business venture. In 1999, Steven and Serge founded a cloud-based facilities management platform, ServiceChannel, with the goal of transforming the highly inefficient multi-billion dollar commercial repair and maintenance industry. As with their previous company, which was successfully sold, Steven was the idea generator and a master salesman, while Serge worked behind the scenes as CTO to help ServiceChannel achieve a dominant position in the global facilities management marketplace. In 2016, Serge moved to London to accelerate ServiceChannel’s expansion in Europe. In the summer of 2017, Accel, an elite technology VC firm, invested $54M in ServiceChannel continuing to fuel its growth and allowing Steven and Serge to realize a highly successful exit. Now Steven and Serge run ReTool Ventures, a technology investment firm.
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About Equip ID, ReTool Ventures: ReTool Ventures is a new technology investment firm that seeks to retool the facilities management industry by curating a “digital toolbox”
Tom Fitzherbert
CEO and Director of Fast2Fibre
Tom Fitzherbert is a highly-experienced CEO within the research and technology field and has a proven track record of establishing and building innovative and entrepreneurial start-up companies into successful businesses.
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About Fast2Fibre: Fast2Fibre is a provider of a highly efficient, cost-effective process for upgrading copper telecoms and power cables worldwide.
Kev Emery
Director of Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
Kev Emery is the Head of Optimization and Certification within the Chip Centre of Excellence at Discover. In this role, Kev is responsible for certification, outsourcing and managing various products within the Chip Centre of Excellence. Kev has spent nearly 15 years working in the payments Industry and has had various roles for payment schemes and technology vendors supporting Acquirers, Issuers and Merchants.
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About Underwriters Laboratories (UL): UL is a global independent safety science company offering expertise across five key strategic businesses: Product Safety, Environment,
Kev Emery
Director of Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
Kev Emery is the Head of Optimization and Certification within the Chip Centre of Excellence at Discover. In this role, Kev is responsible for certification, outsourcing and managing various products within the Chip Centre of Excellence. Kev has spent nearly 15 years working in the payments Industry and has had various roles for payment schemes and technology vendors supporting Acquirers, Issuers and Merchants.
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About Underwriters Laboratories (UL): UL is a global independent safety science company offering expertise across five key strategic businesses: Product Safety, Environment,
Ian Hobson
Co-Founder, CEO & Managing Director of ChargeBox
Ian has set and delivered the mission and objectives for ChargeBox which has seen the company grow rapidly. Involved since the companies inception, Ian took over control of the company and formulated the change in strategy driven by the smart phone market and Olympics in 2012. Ian is passionate about ChargeBox and passionate about bringing free charging to everyone who needs it everywhere they need it. A graduate of Imperial College, Ian’s career has taken him from Accenture to Hambrecht & Quist and Tibco, all the time delivering rapid growth and businsess development.
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About ChargeBox: ChargeBox They pride Theirselves for providing the easiest to use, most trusted and innovative charging solutions for public spaces.
Daniel Axsäter
Co-Founder & Managing Director of bySTORED
Daniel Axsäter works as a Co-Founder and Managing Director at bySTORED.
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About bySTORED, CronLab Sweden AB, CronLab Sweden AB: Taking the stress out of storage since 2013
Matthew McStravick
Creative Director of Deepr
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About Deepr: Deepr is a research lab that tackling culture, service design, and training problems.
Fiona McIntosh
Creative Director, Co-Founder of Blow
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About Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A, Blow: Blow is an online platform that provides its users with a range of beauty services.
Aneesh Sharma
Director of consean
Helping design and govern blockchain, smartcontracts and hyperledger based business use cases. Aneesh is a techno commercial expert with 20 years of global experience. He serves as the board of directors of Consean and has incubated two startups. He consult in highly converged and niche domains of business, process, data and service designs like blockchains, smart contract and hyperledger and is also instrumental in incubating conseio a cloud-based education delivery platform, which after incubation stage will be handed over to professional CEO to run and manage. With over 20 years of professional experience Aneesh has worked with some of the top organisations like IBM Global Business services, Microsoft, EMC (Now Dell / OpenText) and have hands on work experience in delivering consulting engagements for geographically and culturally diverse banking and non-banking organisations. He is a certified blockchain professional and currently, working on designing business services using blockchain, smartcontracts and hyperledger frameworks.
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About : Consean is a business consulting firm. We specialise in designing human regulated machine automated business services.
Sarah Aramesh
Co-Founder, Director of Josla
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About Josla: Work Movement uses power of people and business to create opportunities for everyone to achieve happiness, equality and success from their W
Omer Brakin
Co-Founder, Director of La-Terra
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About La-Terra: La-Terra provides end-to-end services to clients throughout the entire investment life cycle.
Stuart Knight
Commercial Director of Quintessential Promotions
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About Quintessential Promotions: Quintessential Promotions focuses on events production, experiential, events, branding, and conferences.
Francois Le Palec
Director of Service Delivery of Glue Networks
Francois is responsible for all aspects of Service Delivery for Glue in Europe and works closely with our European customers. Prior to Glue, Francois held the position of Director, Digital Media Operations at MTV Networks International in London – with a posting in New York – creating and supporting all int’l content production and delivery workflows for 164 territories across Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. Francois began his career at MTV Networks France as Department Manager for Internet and Mobile, followed by a position in London where he oversaw digital media and broadcast technical developments across the EMEA region as Project Manager for MTV Networks Europe.
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About Glue Networks: Glue Networks provides an enterprise-grade cloud networking service for service providers and value-added resellers.
Calan Horsman
Founder & Managing Director of Loogun
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About Loogun: The Loogun is a hand-held motorised device that cleans above and below the waterline in a toilet.
Philip Barker
Director of M&A of Oaklins
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About Oaklins: Investment banking and financial advisory firm that provides M&A, corporate finance, debt advisory, growth equity and ECM services.
Alexander Green
Managing Director of Zenchi
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About Zenchi: Digital Asset Consultation Firm.
Adrian Mills
Advisor / Director of Waste into Water
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About : Waste into Water aims to provide solutions to waste waters in mobile locations.
Phil Oram
Director of Premier Sustain
Phil Oram is a director at Premier Sustain. He also holds director positions at Premier Moves and Premier Systems IT. Phil is a former project manager at Premier Moves and quantity surveyor at Morrison Utility Services.
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About Premier Sustain: Premier Sustain provides services for the management and sustainable clearance of office furniture, IT, and redundant electrical equipment.
Susan Zhang
Co-founder & Managing Director of China Ambition Pty Ltd
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About China Ambition Pty Ltd: GET MORE CHINESE CUSTOMERS by avoiding embarrassing communication faux pas
