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 CFO’ operating in the Oil and Gas space. If you think a CFO’ 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.
Euan Leask
Chief Financial Officer of Centurion Group
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About Centurion Group: Centurion Group is an Aberdeen headquartered specialist rental equipment provider primarily to the offshore global oil & gas industry.
Andy Agg
Group CFO of National Grid
Career and experience: Prior to joining National Grid in 2008, Andy served in a number of roles with PricewaterhouseCoopers, including a secondment to the United States. Since then, he has worked in a range of senior finance leadership roles, including Group Financial Controller, UK CFO and, most recently, Group Tax and Treasury Director. Andy is a Chartered Accountant and member of the ICAEW. Skills and competencies: Andy has a breadth of financial management experience combined with a deep understanding of the energy and utility sectors across the UK and US. The experience gained from his range of finance leadership roles across the Group, together with his previous international experience, leave Andy well placed to support the Board and the Executive Committee in the delivery of group strategy and performance.
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About National Grid: National Grid facilitates electricity and gas transmission system and focuses on delivering clean energy.
Richard Preston
Chief Financial Officer of Ceres Power
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About Ceres Power: Ceres Power Holdings PLC is a world leading developer of low cost, next generation fuel cell technology.
Colin Judd
Chief Financial Officer of Trans European Oil & Gas
After obtaining an honours degree in Engineering and Management, Colin joined Price Waterhouse where he qualified as a chartered accountant in 1979. Colin’s experience with Price Waterhouse included various professional accounting positions in the UK, Europe and the Far East. Colin joined Christian Salvesen plc in 1987 and, following an initial role as Group Internal Auditor, moved to the company’s mobile power and temperature control division – Aggreko – where he established the financial management system of a newly-acquired business in Singapore. Colin then moved to Aggreko’s European head office in the Netherlands where he took on the role of European Finance Manager, covering operations in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and Finland. In 1994, Colin joined a private-equity-backed oil services business in Aberdeen as Financial Director to assist the company in its expansion into the USA and the Far East. Colin subsequently joined another private-equity-backed oil services business to assist the company in enabling a successful exit route for the private equity providers. In 1999 Colin joined Star Energy Limited as a founder member and Financial Director, responsible for all aspects of the company’s financial management. Colin took the accounting of the business in-house and developed a highly skilled and motivated finance team. He was instrumental in the company’s successful listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2004, various subsequent share placings, and the company’s ultimate sale to Petronas.
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About Trans European Oil & Gas: A new platform from the founders and former management team of Star Energy
Richard Stewart
Group CFO of A-Gas
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About A-Gas: World leader in the supply and lifecycle management of refrigerants, blowing agents, industrial gases, halon and fire suppressants.
Tim Weller
CFO of Petrofac
Significant experience of the energy and utilities sectors and serving FTSE 250 CFO. An accountant by training, joined KPMG in 1985, rising to partnership in 1997 before joining Granada plc as director of financial control. Between 2002 and 2010, he gained significant further experience in the energy and utilities sectors holding CFO positions with Innogy (one of the UK’s leading integrated energy companies at the time), RWE Thames Water (the world’s third largest water and wastewater service company) and United Utilities Group PLC (a UK-based water and wastewater service company). He was Chief Financial Officer of Cable & Wireless Worldwide plc between 2010 and 2011. CFO of Petrofac Limited, the international oil and gas service provider and a non-executive director of the Carbon Trust.
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About G4S, Petrofac: Petrofac is a provider of oilfield services to the international oil and gas industry. It is registered in Jersey, with its main corporate
Yomi Amunikoro
Chief Financial Officer of Silixa
Yomi is the Chief Financial Officer, which incorporates all finance functions together with human resources and corporate administrative functions. He also holds the position of Company Secretary. He is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), with over 15 years’ experience in Accounting and Finance, and holds a first degree in Zoology. Yomi has been responsible for delivering outstanding service to the business covering accounting, finance, budgeting, forecasting, implementing and driving corporate and financial strategies and policies.
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About Silixa: Silixa is a provider of fiber-powered data solutions for the natural resources and mining sector.
Luca Benedetto
Chief Financial Officer of Zenith Energy
Luca joined Zenith as Finance Director of the Company’s Italian subsidiary in 2013, and was subsequently appointed to the position of Group Financial Controller. He was appointed to the position of Chief Financial Officer of the Company in 2017. Luca Benedetto trained in Italy as a registered accountant with further education in IFRS accounting and consolidation at IPSOA Milan. He has more than twenty-five years of accounting, auditing and financial administration experience. He is a former Italian soldier and was deployed to Somalia as part of the Unified Task Force in Operation Restore Hope.
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About Zenith Energy: Zenith Energy is a Engineering Consultancy and Project Management company.
Thomas Berg
Chief Financial Officer of Seajacks
Thomas holds an MSc in Engineering Management from Stanford University. He has experience of various finance functions and was employed as Partner in Whitecliff from 2000 to 2005 and as an investment banker in Orkla Finans from 1995 to 2000.
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About Seajacks: Seajacks owns and operates self-propelled jack-up vessels that safely and efficiently install and maintain offshore wind farms worldwide.
Graham Forbes
Chief Financial Officer of Ithaca Energy
Graham joined Ithaca in March 2010 bringing to the company over 20 years of oil and gas experience in the UK and in Africa. Having initially worked as a Chartered Accountant for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Graham moved to ExxonMobil where over 5 years he worked on a variety of operational and acquisition based projects for the company. In 2002, he moved to First Oil Group Limited as Finance Director for the group. In 2007 Graham took up the position of Chief Director for First Oil Limited where over 3 years he grew the profitability of the company and led it to be the UK’s largest privately owned E&P company.
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About Ithaca Energy: A North Sea oil and gas operator focused on the delivery of lower risk growth through the appraisal and development of UK
Panos Benos
Chief Financial Officer of Energean Oil & Gas
Mr. Benos has extensive experience of working on international projects in the oil & gas sector, both in banking and industry, with a long track record of upstream financings in emerging markets. He joined Energean from Standard Chartered Bank, where he worked as a Director in their London Oil & Gas team to deliver a number of significant projects and acquisitions in Africa, Asia and Middle East. Mr. Benos previously worked for ConocoPhillips, where he held positions in European Treasury, North Sea Economics and International Downstream, with a focus on the North Sea, Central Europe and Middle East business. Mr. Benos began his career with Royal Bank of Scotland. He is a Chartered Accountant (ICAS) and holds an MSc in Shipping, Trade & Finance from Cass Business School.
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About Energean Oil & Gas: Energean is an independent E&P company focused on the Eastern Mediterranean region.
Christopher Leigh
Chief Financial Officer of Versarien
christopher leigh joined Versarien Plc as Chief Financial Officer in 2013.
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About Versarien: Versarien is an engineering materials company, provides engineering solutions for various industry sectors.
