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 President operating in the Non Profit space. If you think a President 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.
Ian Marchant
Honorary President of Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
Ian was Chief Executive of SSE, one of the UK’s leading utility companies and Scotland’s largest industrial company for over ten years. He stepped down from that position in the summer of 2013. Ian is now Chairman of Infinis Energy plc, a renewable energy company; Independent Chairman of the oil services company, the John Wood group and Nova Innovation; as well as holding various advisory and non-executive positions in other organisations. Ian is a renowned and innovative leader in the energy industry, and was welcomed to Synaptec’s advisory board in July 2016.
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About Royal Zoological Society of Scotland: Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) promotes the study of zoology and kindred subjects.
Harry ‘Tomi Davies
Co-Founder and President of African Business Angel Network
Harry Tomi Davies (TD) is a versatile technology business leader, keynote speaker and advisor with over two decades of outstanding experience building large-scale, national and regionwide IT infrastructure projects across Africa. He has held a variety of executive and non-executive leadership roles with influential global brands like Ernst & Young, Marks & Spencer, Elf, Sapient and the One Laptop Per Child project. Over the last decade TD has looked after a growing portfolio of Africabased tech-enabled early stage businesses and is the Founder of the Lagos Angel Network (LAN). He is also President of the African Business Angel Network (ABAN). He is a seasoned technology strategist and project development expert with significant market intelligence, research and project management skills. Author and regular keynote speaker with a substantial network of connections globally including on most major social media platforms. He is an inspiring thought leader TD is a volunteer to a number of non-profit organizations and Guest lecturer at the Pan Atlantic University’s Enterprise Development Centre. His rich and varied experience has been leveraged by organisations for advisory services, speaking engagements and nonexecutive board roles at companies like MBO Capital Limited (Private Equity), TextNigeria Limited (Telecoms) and Sproxil Nigeria (Anti-Counterfeit Technologies)
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About African Business Angel Network: ABAN is a non-profit association that seeks to promote a culture of Angel investing across Africa.
Cornelia Bargmann
President, Chan Zuckerberg Science of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Cornelia Bargmann is the Torsten N. Wiesel Professor and head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior at The Rockefeller University, New York. She has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 1995. She is a neurobiologist who studies the relationships between genes, neural circuits and behaviour using C. elegans, a tiny roundworm, as the model for her work. Many of the genes and neural pathways in C. elegans are similar to those of mammals and their study provides an insight into the development and functioning of neural circuits. Cori holds a degree in biochemistry from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied oncogenes with Robert Weinberg. She pursued a postdoctoral fellowship with H. Robert Horvitz at MIT until 1991, when she accepted a faculty position in the Department of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco, spending 13 years there, latterly as Vice-Chair of the department. She took up her current position at The Rockefeller University in 2004. Cori was the recipient of the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, one of nine individuals presented with awards by The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia in 2015. The award is for her contributions to neurobiology that have led to major discoveries elucidating the relationship between genes, neurons, neural circuits and behaviour.
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About Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, The Rockefeller University: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative supports community-driven solutions to accelerate progress in science, education, and justice.
Adrian Lovett
President & CEO of World Wide Web Foundation
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About World Wide Web Foundation: Organization for Web Advancement
Mustapha Rashid
President of British Orthopaedic Trainees Association
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About British Orthopaedic Trainees Association: Supporting the orthopaedic trainees of today, for the patients of tomorrow
Karl A L Smith
President of Agile World
Karl Smith is a holistic transformation leader and strategist more involved with how humans have to deal with technology and transformation than the technology or TOM itself. He has been a consultant and innovator in Business Transformation and Human Centred Design since 1989 and in Agile since 2004 involved in supporting both business and technology in the adoption of Customer Centricity and Agility. Karl Smith builds companies and new capabilities working as leader and consultant to deliver the change clients are seeking. His current focus is on self funding Ways of Working Transformations delivering ROI in a constant iterative flow. He has established both new businesses and core competencies in existing global enterprises and national businesses that directly impact efficiency, market capability and value creation. He has published several books focused on the evolution of human centred design practices into agile transformation patterns. He has established both new businesses and core competencies in existing global enterprises and national businesses that directly impact efficiency, market capability and value creation. His recent focus has been on combining HCD and Agile in Enterprise Agile Portfolio management as an extension of SAFe. Karl Smith is a Fellow of the British Computer Society FBCS, a member by invitation of BCS ELITE the CIO & CTO group and European CIO Association and has supported various Westminster Parliamentary Groups since 2003. He is a polymath combining, design, engineering, science, business opportunism and the humanities into his work. He works on global programs and hold both a UK passport and an EU passport through dual nationality. He has a track record since 1989 of designing, launching and delivering global and national new business models, organisational designs, professional services, capabilities and client services working with VC, consulting companies or hired direct by clients. Working with legacy or greenfield contexts he turns them into successful ecosystems, engagements, revenue generating offerings though a Business Agility, Organisational Design (Agility), Lean-Agile Leadership and Human Centred (UX and CX strategy) Design. He has always been fascinated by how technology can augment the lives of humans; “My desire was not to build things that humans already do but to find out how technology could evolve our human experience.”
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About Agile World, Agile World, Agile World, Agile World Inc., Agile World Institute, Agile World Resources, The Human Centered Design Society, Think Agile, UbiNET Inc.: Agile World is a philanthropic 501(c)(3) Public Charity organisation
Danny Jack
Digital and Social Lead to COP26 President (secondment) of Cabinet Office – GOV.UK
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About Cabinet Office – GOV.UK: Cabinet Office – GOV.UK is the cabinet branch of the United Kingdom government.
William Haseltine
Chairman and President of ACCESS Health International
William A. Haseltine, PhD, has an active career in both science and business. He was a professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health from 1976 to 1993, where he was founder and the chair of two academic research departments, the Division of Biochemical Pharmacology and the Division of Human Retrovirology.He is well known for his pioneering work on cancer, HIV/AIDS, and genomics. He has authored more than two hundred manuscripts in peer reviewed journals and is the author of several books, including Affordable Excellence: The Singapore Healthcare Story, published in 2013. He is the founder of Human Genome Sciences, Inc., and served as the chairman and CEO of the company until 2004. He is also the founder of several other successful biotechnology companies. Companies he has founded account for seven drugs currently on the market. He is chairman of the Haseltine Foundation for Science and the Arts. He serves as an advisor and board member of several innovative healthcare companies.
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About ACCESS Health International, Demetrix: ACCESS Health International is a nonprofit think tank and advisory group dedicated to improving access to high quality.
Jean-Jacques Sahel
Vice President, Europe of ICANN
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About ICANN: ICANN (pronounced eye-can) is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. It’s a non-profit corporation that was created in
Cathy Turner
Vice President of Unicef UK
Until April 2011, Cathy Turner was Director of Human Resources at Barclays Bank plc where she played an instrumental role in the set-up and growth of the UNICEF and Barclays partnership: Banking on Brighter Futures. She was appointed as Group Human Resources Director in April 2005 and in July 2008 her remit extended to include Strategy and Corporate Affairs. Cathy joined Barclays in August 1997 as a Compensation Manager. Following a period in Personal Financial Services, Cathy became Executive Compensation Director. She was also Investor Relations Director within Finance for four years. In June 2014, Cathy was appointed Non-Executive Director to the Board of Aldermore. Prior to Barclays, Cathy was a Practice Leader at Ernst and Young between 1994 and 1997. Previous experience has been gained through HR roles, specialising in performance management and compensation at Deloitte, Watson Wyatt, Percom and Volex. She is a Board Member of the IFS School of Finance and a Non-Executive Director of the Royal College of Art. She has a BA (Hons) in Economics from Lancaster University. Cathy was made a Vice President of UNICEF UK in 2011 and has recently completed her first field visit to Liberia with UNICEF UK President, Lord Paddy Ashdown, and other UNICEF UK VPs – Lord Michael Hastings and Mark Makepeace, CEO of FTSE.
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About Unicef UK: We are the world’s leading children’s organisation in the UK and around the globe.
Lord Ashdown
President of Unicef UK
Paddy Ashdown was born in New Delhi in 1941. Between 1959 and 1972 he served as a Royal Marines Officer. After leaving the Marines 1972, he joined the Foreign Office where he was posted to the British Mission to the United Nations in Geneva where he was responsible for Britain’s relations with a number of United Nations organisations.. After leaving the Foreign Office in 1976, Paddy worked in local industry in the Yeovil area in South-West England between. In 1981, he went to work as a Youth Worker with the Dorset County Council Youth Service, where he was responsible for initiatives to help the young unemployed. He stood as the Liberal Parliamentary candidate for the Yeovil constituency in 1979 raising the Liberal vote there to its highest ever level. After entering Parliament in the 1983 General Elections, Paddy was appointed as the Liberal spokesman on Trade and Industry Affairs within the Liberal/SDP Alliance team at the House of Commons. He became Education spokesman in January 1987. He was elected Leader of the Liberal Democrats in July 1988 and was appointed as a Privy Councilor on 1 January 1989. Paddy stood down as the leader of the Liberal Democrats in 1999 and retired from the Commons in 2001. He was made a KBE in 2000 and a peer in 2001. He was awarded the GCMG in the 2006 New Year’s Honours List, for his work in Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 1978 until 2002, Paddy served on the Main Board of the Independent newspaper and on the international advisory board of Independent News and Media PLC. In 2002, he was High Representative and EUSR in Bosnia. During the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Paddy was one of the leading advocates for decisive action by the international community. On return to Britain in 2006, he was awarded the GCMG for his work in Bosnia. He is the author of six books including Swords and Ploughshares: Bringing Peace to the 21st Century (2007) with a seventh to be published in September 2012. In 2009, Paddy was appointed President of UNICEF UK. Over the last 3 years he has worked tirelessly to fulfill our numerous requests for his knowledge and expertise. He has helped UNICEF to engage with a wide range of important stakeholders through hosting personal meetings, chairing events, speaking at conferences, being an advocate for children’s rights in government, publishing newspaper articles as well as writing personal letters and emails, among his otherwise very demanding schedule. He has visited UNICEF programmes in Ethiopia, South Africa (for International Inspiration) and most recently Liberia.
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About Unicef UK: We are the world’s leading children’s organisation in the UK and around the globe.
Oren Yakobovich
President of Videre
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About Videre, Videre: Videre is a global network that equips oppressed communities
Joe Barrett
President of Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA)
Joe is the founder of VisionComs Ltd, a strategic marketing and communications consultancy focusing on innovative marketing programs that target the wireless generation. Joe is a creative thinker with a proven career as a senior strategist, marketing executive and public speaker benefiting from 25+ years experience of advancing wireless technologies into dynamic and fast growing industries, at start-up and Fortune 500 companies. Joe has held senior executive positions at Qualcomm Europe, where he launched the Qualcomm Halo™ Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging brand, at Nokia Networks where he was part of the 3G-business team and at Flarion Technologies helping drive the adoption of its OFDMA 4G technology. Joe has been involved in numerous telecommunications marketing campaigns and initiatives and has been a regular speaker at industry events and investor/analyst meetings where he has promoted wireless technologies into industry.Joe holds an MSc. in Marketing from the University of Glamorgan and an Advanced Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
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About Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), VisionComs Ltd: The Global mobile Suppliers Association aims to promote the GSM, 3G, WCDMA, HSPA, and LTE mobile phone standards worldwide.
Laura Brodie
Vice President/Director of Partnerships and External Relations of International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD)
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About International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD): International Alliance is a not-for-profit organization that addresses harmful drinking and promoting responsible drinking.
Dinesh Dhamija
President of The Indus Entrepreneur (London Chapter)
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About The Indus Entrepreneur (London Chapter): TiE is a non-profit, global community welcoming entrepreneurs from all over the world.
Bianca Jagger
Founder & President of The Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation
Bianca Jagger is the Founder and President of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation (BJHRF), Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Executive Director’s Leadership Council of Amnesty International USA. She is a prominent international human rights, social justice and climate change advocate. For over three decades she has been a voice for the most vulnerable members of society, campaigning for human rights, civil liberties, peace, social justice and environmental protection throughout the world. She is the recipient of numerous prestigious international awards for her human rights and humanitarian work, including: in 2004, The Right Livelihood Award, also known as the “alternative Nobel prize.” In 1997, The Amnesty International USA Media Spotlight Award for Leadership. In 1994, The United Nations Earth Day International Award. In 2006, The World Citizenship Award from The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. In 2004, she was presented with The World Achievement Award by Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1997, The Green Globe Award from the Rainbow Alliance. In 1998, she was awarded the American Civil Liberties Union Award.
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About The Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation: The Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation is hosting its first benefit gala “Arts for Human Rights.”
Tom Goddard
President of World Out of Home Organization
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About World Out of Home Organization: The global trade association for OOH operators.
