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 United Kingdom based Founder operating in the Government space. If you think a Founder 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.
Simon Riggs
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of 2ndQuadrant
Simon Riggs is the Founder and CEO of 2ndQuadrant. Simon has worked with enterprise-class database applications and uses his operational experience to contribute to many features of PostgreSQL’s internal design and usability. He is also co-author of the “PostgreSQL Administration Cookbook” series.
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About 2ndQuadrant: 2ndQuadrant provides solutions for mission critical PostgreSQL databases, ensuring high availability, backup & disaster recovery, & more.
Luc Delany
CEO and Founder of Delany & Co
Luc Delany is the CEO of the ISGA. Luc is also the Founder and CEO of Delany & Co, a public policy and communications agency. He is a former policy executive at Google and Facebook, a Fellow of the British American Project, and sits on the University of Maastricht External Advisory Board of the Faculty of Arts and Science.
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About Delany & Co, International Social Games Association: Delany & Co. is a public policy and strategic communications agency that helps innovative tech organisations to achieve their objectives.
Paulina Sygulska
Founder and Director of GrantTree
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About GrantTree: GrantTree was started in 2010 with the explicit aim of helping innovative tech companies to access government funding.
John Johnston
Founder of Hardman Johnston Global Advisors
John Johnston has spent his entire career in investment management, initially in fund management then in equity sales. John began his career at General Accident as a trainee fund manager, subsequently working at Ivory & Sime, Murray Johnson and Legg Mason. In 2003 he established Revera Asset Management and was its Chief Executive Officer until 2007. In 2008, he joined Seymour Pierce as a managing director in Institutional Sales & Trading. In 2011 he left Seymour Pierce to join Nomura Code in a similar role. and after leaving Nomura Code he established Johnston Asset Management, which is his own consultancy.
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About Hardman Johnston Global Advisors: We run separately managed accounts and also commingled vehicles in U.S. domestic, international and global equity products
Sally Sfeir-Tait
Co-Founder & CEO of Regulations.gov
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About Regulations.gov: Regulations is an online web-based source and platform that enables its users to view and comment on federal government regulations.
Shelley Taylor
Founder & CEO of trellyz
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About Digital Fan Clubs, trellyz: trellyz, a cloud-hosted platform, powers the public services supply chain across diverse networks at scale
Shimon Sheves
Founder & Chairman of HolistiCyber
Deeply committed to Israel, Shimon Sheves works diligently in support of his homeland. And yet he is also a veteran businessman, and highly regarded international management and finance consultant with a deep knowledge of the intricacies of the corporate world. Sheves does not procrastinate. He is constantly on the lookout for ways in which he can increase his expertise and gain more experience. Early Years and Public Service Shimon Sheves was born in Israel and entered politics early in his life when he worked in the Ministry of Defense with Yitzhak Rabin, the former Prime Minister of Israel. Sheves was appointed as the personal assistant to Rabin when he was serving as the Defense Minister. During his tenure Sheves managed the implemented infrastructure initiatives and was in charge of maintaining the growth of these programs – particularly initiatives pertaining to the Jewish West Bank settlements. Sheves’ unique vision and contributions to this area of the government is widely recognized as a major factor in the successful implementation of economic policies in the future of Israel. In 1992, as the Yitzhak Rabin and the Labour Party were about to enter into a general election Shimon Sheves was appointed as campaign manager. His innovative approach and leadership skills helped Rabin achieve victory, and the party to achieve majority votes in the Knesset. These successes lead to Rabin appointing Sheves as his Chief of Staff and General Director. In 1995 Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated. Sheves experienced a deep sense of loss and resigned from Israeli politics. He continued his social work and also started working as consultant for various private sector companies. he has served as a crucial political advisor to prime ministers from Romania. Entrepreneurial Ventures The sudden rapid growth of the Israeli cyber industry years ago was an inspiration to Sheves. He started working with some of the most prominent cyber development and cyber security companies in the country. The massive expansion of tech companies in Israel over the past decade has given Sheves the opportunity to use his skills to help start-ups. Shimon Sheves co-founded RSLB, a consulting company located in Washington DC. The RSLB team of professionals consists of experts in politics, finance and business. They work with Sheves in the lead to promote Israeli companies around the globe and with various prominent cyber firms. The technology and cyber industries in Israel continue to experience exponential growth, and RSLB works closely with several Israeli start-ups interested in promoting and expanding their service offering to Europe and the US. Focus on Social Causes A vision and commitment to provide results-driven and sustainable long-term programs that bring about improvement is what drives Shimon Sheves. By facilitating collaboration between the international real estate markets and developing nations around South America and Africa, Sheves is helping local economies to be stimulated – and to benefit from international investment. He aims to help keep investments and skills within the countries to facilitate economic improvement. Sheves also devotedly supports the Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv and several non-profit organizations that focus on providing assistance to the disabled.
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About HolistiCyber: With many years of experience in the public and private secotr providing a nation-state level cyber security.
Alp Toker
Founder of Turkey Blocks
Alp Toker is the founder of Turkey Blocks, an organization that monitors real-time censorship data in Turkey.
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About Turkey Blocks: Turkey Blocks is an organization that monitors real-time internet censorship data in Turkey.
Rachel Maclean
Founder and Director of Skilled and Ready
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About Skilled and Ready: Skilled and Ready is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation which runs an innovative, business and government supported employability award.
Rachel Maclean
Founder and Director of Skilled and Ready
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About Skilled and Ready: Skilled and Ready is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation which runs an innovative, business and government supported employability award.
Deborah Wake
Founder/CEO of My Diabetes My Way
Dr. Deborah Wake (DW) (CEO/Co-Founder MyWay Digital Health, Senior Clinical Lecturer (University of Dundee), NHS Diabetes Consultant, (MBChB, BSc, Ph.D., Clin Ed Dip)) has a unique mix of business, clinical, educational and academic skills. She has a national clinical/ academic reputation for technology, informatics and automated support for diabetes care. She is a national clinical lead for internationally award-winning and cost-saving MyDiabetesMyWay offering online data access and education to all patients in Scotland with diabetes (>30,000 registrants). In 2017, she co-founded the MyWay Digital Health company to commercialize MyDiabetesMyWay outwith Scotland. She has won several business/entrepreneurship awards including; Scottish EDGE, Bio Dundee, Venture and was a top 3 finalist in AccelerateHER, and Women Ahead. Dr. Wake graduated MBChB (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh and subsequently gained a Ph.D. and Diploma in Medical Education. She is passionate about technology and education delivery. She has been a Principle Investigator for multiple research projects (>£2million funding, >40 publications)). 2010-2017, she was program director/ clinical lead for Kuwait Scotland e-Health Innovation Network, delivering formal postgraduate education to over 300 Kuwait diabetes health care professions. Dr. Wake has also developed and delivered a number of free Diabetes MOOCs (massive online courses) educating over 20,000 participants to date, and online structured education for patients. Dr. Wake was a Diabetes UK clinical champion (2015-17) and has an active role in public health communication. She contributes regularly to the radio, was a resident on-screen doctor for STVs flagship show ‘The Hour’ and Health Columnist for The Scotsman newspaper for many years. She developed the first medical podcast series in the UK (Dr. Pods Healthcast) in 2005. Her focus now is on driving MyWay Digital Health company to international success, transforming diabetes care.
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About My Diabetes My Way, MyWay Digital Health: My Diabetes My Way is an NHS Scotland interactive diabetes website to help support people who have diabetes and their family and friends.
