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 Surrey based CEO’ operating in the Information Technology space. If you think a CEO’ 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.
David Grant
Chief Executive Officer of Westcon-Comstor
With more than 25 years of IT industry and channel experience, David Grant is Westcon-Comstor’s COO, responsible for the operational leadership and management of all commercial operations in the business across EMEA and APAC. David has held several executive leadership roles with the company serving as EVP of Global Partner Sales and Business Operations and as SVP of Solution Practices and Vendor Management in EMEA. He came to Westcon-Comstor from European distributor Crane Telecommunications, where he served as CEO until the company’s acquisition in 2007. David also held leadership roles with Canon in the UK across direct sales, marketing, investments and acquisitions, retail and channel management. His advanced education includes a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Brunel University and the Senior Executive program at Henley Management College.
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About Westcon-Comstor: Westcon-Comstor is a value-added technology distributor of category-leading solutions in security.
Neil McEvoy
Chief Executive Officer of Consult Hyperion
Neil is a founding Director of Consult Hyperion. He specialises in security for financial transactions and smart identity cards. He is the inventor of Consult Hyperion’s Structured Risk Analysis method. Every working day, hundreds of billion of pounds of financial transactions are settled through secure networks that Neil has specified and procured. Millions of citizens carry smart identity cards that he has specified. Neil’s expertise has been provided to clients as diverse as the Bank of England , the Hong Kong government, American Express and the European Space Agency. Prior to founding Consult Hyperion, Neil worked as a consultant specialising in the transmission of scientific data from spacecraft, network management and cryptography. He graduated in 1980 from University College, Oxford in chemistry. Neil is the author of papers on several topics, most recently on information risk analysis, secure transactions and identity cards.
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About Consult Hyperion: Consult Hyperion is an independent strategic and technical consultancy.
Aaron Mason
Founder and CEO of Combine AI
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About Combine AI, Snap Out: Combine AI is a software company that specializes in intelligent business productivity tools.
Tom Higgins
CEO of Gold-i Ltd
Tom Higgins is founder and CEO of Gold-i. His experience in financial technology spans over 25 years, having spent most of his career working in the City, London. His career history includes: Management Consultant at PA Consulting Group, Chief Technology Officer at The IPE, Head of IT Business Strategy at NYSE Euronext, COO Europe & Asia at Reuters and Chief Technology Officer at online broker, ODL Securities. He holds an MBA from Cass Business School in London. With an in-depth knowledge of the trading technology industry, Tom Higgins spotted a gap in the market to enhance the FX trading process for retail brokers, providing them with the same tools as institutional brokers at a fraction of the cost. He left ODL in 2008 to set up Gold-i. Under Tom’s leadership, Gold-i has grown from start-up business to global market leader in trading systems integration, renowned throughout the industry for its innovation, award-winning products and high service levels. With his open management style and strong leadership, Tom has created a culture with clear values, where employees are motivated to deliver the best products and services in the industry. Tom has won numerous awards in recognition of his leadership skills and in 2014, led the company to win the UK’s ultimate business accolade, The Queen’s Award for Enterprise. He was invited to an event at Buckingham Palace, attended by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate the business’ achievements. As the inspiration and driving force behind Gold-i, Tom has played a major role in disrupting the retail FX market, giving opportunities to brokers across the globe which did not previously exist. Moving forward, Tom plans to use his market insight to continue to drive innovation, introducing additional products to further disrupt the market. Tom has four children – aged 18, 16, 14 and 6, 1 dog, 2 cats, 4 chickens, and one wife! In the small amount of spare time he has, he enjoys restoring his classic car – a 1964 Triumph Herald.
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About Gold-i Ltd: Gold-i is the global market leader in trading systems integration
Jack Culpan
Founder & CEO of Sponsor My Society
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About Sponsor My Society: We connect university clubs and societies with businesses.
Justin Anderson
Chief Executive Officer of Xpert AI
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About Xpert AI: Xpert AI is an international R&D lab that combines Computer Vision and Augmented Reality technology
Peter Bance
Chief Executive Officer of Origami
Peter started working with Octopus in early 2012 as ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’. In this consulting role, he supports the management teams of a number of Octopus’ portfolio companies in the delivery of their growth plans, in particular when dealing with large corporations. Peter also helps to identify and assess prospective new deals for Octopus, specialising in businesses with intellectual property based technology and products. Outside of Octopus, Peter sits on a number of Boards of high growth businesses as a non-executive director, including Goodwolfe Energy, and is a member of a number of public-private organisations informing UK government policy on innovation and investment, including The Energy Technologies Institute. Prior to Octopus, Peter was CEO of Ceres Power, an AIM listed cleantech business, following an earlier career in corporate venturing and technology consulting at Generics Group and PA Technology.
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About Origami: Intelligent trading and automation software for short term power trading. SaaS.
James Butler
CEO of Cloud Business
James has always loved Business and IT. Combining the two came in 2009 when he founded Cloud Business to seize the opportunity to specialise in a newly forming technology wave, namely, Cloud Computing. Having spent 5 years previously with Microsoft, he was well placed to see the change in buying and delivery of IT to leading UK customers. Now that the business is established, James concentrates on managing the company and meeting with customers and partners which he loves. When not behind the desk or wheel, James enjoys cycling, cars and spending time with his young family.
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About Cloud Business: Cloud Business are cloud specialists, enabling organisations to make the most of a new wave of services and products.
Anmar Rassam
Founder & CEO of U-Linc
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About U-Linc: U-Linc is a technology company spun out from the UK’s 5G Innovation Centre.
Craig McDermott
Chief Executive Officer of Idenprotect
Craig McDermott joined iDENprotect as Chief Executive Officer in 2013.
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About Idenprotect: Idenprotect gives you swift, simple and secure access to all your corporate applications without ever needing to use a password.
Derrick Bilsby
Chief Executive Officer of ITAL
Derrick has over 40 years’ experience in the rail and transport industry, specialising in both strategic and operational management systems. He has an in-depth understanding of the complexity of rail operations gained initially through working as a control manager for British Rail. He then went on to manage IT projects that updated and reimagined systems and software to improve train operations, ticketing, fleet engineering and finance, first for British Rail and then for Connex.
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About ITAL: ITAL develops software solutions to businesses who rely on people and systems for their day-to-day activities.
Derrick Bilsby
Chief Executive Officer of ITAL
Derrick has over 40 years’ experience in the rail and transport industry, specialising in both strategic and operational management systems. He has an in-depth understanding of the complexity of rail operations gained initially through working as a control manager for British Rail. He then went on to manage IT projects that updated and reimagined systems and software to improve train operations, ticketing, fleet engineering and finance, first for British Rail and then for Connex.
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About ITAL: ITAL develops software solutions to businesses who rely on people and systems for their day-to-day activities.
Niklas Palaghias
CEO and Founder of Quadible
Dr Niklas Palaghias is the CEO and Founder of Quadible, offering a game-changing AI-based continuous behavioural authentication solution. He has a native interest in human behaviour recognition and cyber security. He was a PhD Researcher at the Home of 5G Innovation Centre at the University of Surrey, where he received his PhD in understanding different aspects of human behaviour by using mobile devices. He was working as a software engineer for 4 years in telecommunications consultancy at UIT Athens
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About Quadible: Quadible provides the easiest and most secure way to authenticate your phone.
Simon Thompson
Co-Founder and CEO of Improved Apps
Simon Thompson joined Improved Apps back in May 2012. He serves as the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Improved Apps.
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About Improved Apps: Boost user engagement, process compliance & sales enablement of your workforce with the #1 Salesforce digital adoption solution
Tirath Bansal
CEO of Myorb Limited
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About Myorb Limited: Myorb is an application that enables its users to upload and share data with others.
Alan Parkinson
CEO and Founder of Hindsight Software
Alan Parkinson is the CEO and founder of Hindsight Software.
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About Hindsight Software: Hindsight Software provides enterprise grade tools and training to help companies integrate BDD into their software development process.
