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 Chairman operating in the Electronics space. If you think a Chairman 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.
Richard Grogan
Founder & Executive Chairman of Zenaura
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About Zenaura: Zenaura is a IoT controlled home fragrance with aspirational design.
John Hughes
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Spectris
John Hughes CBE has more than 30 years’ experience leading global, high-technology businesses. He has significant experience of managing growth companies, especially those supplying complex solutions and services to business customers and the development of leadership teams. He previously held senior executive positions at Thales Group, Lucent Technologies and Hewlett Packard, and was non-executive chairman of Intec Telecom Systems plc, a non-executive director of Chloride Group plc and the Vitec Group plc. Until 2015 he was executive chairman of Sepura plc. In 2016 he stepped down as executive chairman of Telecity Group plc. Non-executive chairman of Just Eat plc. Non-executive director of CSG International Inc. and Equinix Inc. (both NASDAQ-listed companies). Ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society.
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About : Spectris is a supplier of productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls.
Guy Hands
Chairman of EMI Group
Guy is Terra Firma’s Chairman and Founder. He is the Chief Investment Officer and sits on the boards of the general partner of each of the Terra Firma funds. Guy started his career with Goldman Sachs International where he went on to become Head of Eurobond Trading and then Head of Goldman Sachs’ Global Asset Structuring Group. During this time, Guy was a leading pioneer in the development of securitisation, extending the practice beyond simple debt instruments to include assets such as shopping malls, mobile home parks and distressed loans. Guy left Goldman Sachs in 1994 for Nomura International plc, where he established the Principal Finance Group (‘PFG’). PFG went on to undertake ground-breaking deals involving trains, housing and pubs, among other areas, using securitised debt to finance acquisitions. In 2002, he led the spin-out of PFG to form Terra Firma. Since 1994, Guy has overseen the investment of more than €17 billion in 34 businesses with a total enterprise value of more than €48 billion. Guy has an MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Mansfield College, Oxford University. He was elected a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 2000 in recognition of his achievements. In 2012, Guy was named the 20th most influential figure in Private Equity International’s ‘100 Most Influential of the Decade’. Guy is the President of ‘Access for Excellence’, a campaign based at Mansfield College, Oxford which promotes the broadest possible access to higher education in the UK. He is a Bancroft Fellow of Mansfield College and supports the college’s Annual Hands Lecture. He is also a member of the University of Oxford Chancellor’s Court of Benefactors. Additionally, Guy is a Fellow of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme.
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About EMI Group, Terra Firma: EMI is a multinational music recording and publishing, and electronics device and systems manufacturing company.
Dame Patricia Hodgson
Chairman of Ofcom
Patricia Hodgson was appointed Chairman of Ofcom for a 3 year term from April 2014. She was appointed as a Member of the Ofcom Board in July 2011 and became Deputy Chairman in January 2012. She is Chairman of Ofcom’s Nominations Committee and a member of Ofcom’s Remuneration Committee and Risk and Audit Committee. Having begun her career as a producer and journalist, she was Director of Policy and Planning at the BBC from 1993 to 2000, where she was responsible for Charter and licence renegotiations and for project managing the BBC’s switch to digital. From 2000 to the end of 2003 she was Chief Executive of the Independent Television Commission. She is a member of the independent cross party Commission established by Government in July 2015 to review the Freedom of Information Act 2000. She was Chair of the School Teachers’ Review Body (2012 – 2014), Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge (2006 – August 2012), a non-executive director of The Competition Commission (2004 – end 2011) and a Member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (2005 – Sept 2011). She also chaired the Higher Education Regulation Review Group (2004 – 2006). Patricia was a Member of the Wellcome Trust from 2004 – 2008 and of the Committee for Standards in Public Life for the same period. She has also served as a non-executive director of GCap plc and as a Member of the Statistics Commission. She was a Member of the BBC Trust from its inception until June 2011.
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About : Ofcom is the UK’s communications regulator.
Mike Tobin
Chairman of Ultraleap
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About : Ultraleap is working to create the most remarkable connection between people and technology.
Richard Constant
Executive Chairman of Living PlanIT SA
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About Living PlanIT SA, Planit Ventures: Living PlanIT SA is a software development and data analysis company that developed the first Urban Operating System.
