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 Executive Director operating in the Social space. If you think a Executive Director 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.
Howard Stringer
Non Executive Director of BBC
Howard served as Chairman and CEO of the Sony Corporation from June 2005 until June 2012 when he became Chairman of the Board of Directors, retiring in June 2013. Howard joined Sony in May 1997 and was named Chairman and CEO of the Sony Corporation of America in 1998, responsible for Sony’s entertainment companies, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, and Sony Music Publishing. Prior to joining Sony, Howard was President of CBS from 1988 to 1995, which became the first network to rise from last to first place in one season. From 1986 to 1988, Howard served as President of CBS News. He was executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather from 1981 to 1984, the dominant network evening newscast of its day. From 1976 to 1981, while he was executive producer of the CBS REPORTS, the documentary unit won more than 30 Emmys including nine individual awards. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Modern History from Oxford University. He also serves on the Board of Directors for TalkTalk and Time Inc., he is Chair of the School Board at Said Business School, Oxford University, Chair of the Board of Trustees for the American Film Institute and Chairman of Board of Advisors, Department of Opthalmology, Columbia University Medical Centre. Howard has also received Honorary Doctorates from Oxford University, the University of Glamorgan, the University of the Arts London, the American Film Institute and the University of Swansea. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and of Merton College, Oxford.
Follow Howard Stringer:
About BBC: BBC is a large-scale broadcasting corporation that offers content to inform, educate, and entertain people.
Shane Rooney
Executive Director of GSMA
Shane Rooney is an Executive Director at the GSMA on the IoT Programme. Bringing together strategies and synergies across the M2M verticals and the wider IoT ecosystems. Shane had previously led the GSMA’s initiative in developing mobile solutions in Smart Cities and collaborating with cities like Barcelona, Dubai and Shanghai. His team has developed a wider range of Smart City Indicators, Case Studies and Business Cases demonstrating the importance of mobile technology. His team also have developed enablers in IoT Security and embedded SIM. He has led the launch of Cellular LPWA Networks Technology ( NB-IOT & LTE-M) initiative globally and now promoting Cellular V2X technology. Previously he has been a Group Vice President with Etisalat , developing solutions for Energy, Security and Transport IoT solutions for Middle East, Africa and Asia. Before that he has worked with other Mobile Operators, Vodafone, Hutchison and 3 UK as well as launching and divesting of his own M2M company. Shane pioneered early telematics and connected car solutions for Ford Motor Company in the USA and Europe. He has extensive Global experience. He holds a PhD in Communications Systems specialising in Location Based Services and studied Business Marketing at IMD Switzerland.
Follow Shane Rooney:
About GSMA: The GSMA is a trade group that represents network operators using GSM technology for their networks.
Eugene Delaney
Non Executive Director of Make Agency
Follow Eugene Delaney:
About Make Agency: Make is a young, tight-knit and fast growing tech team, specializing in the latest trends in website development & digital marketing.
Robert Kilgour
Non Executive Director of Storii
Robert is a Scottish serial entrepreneur, investor and property developer who was the founder of Four Seasons Health Care in 1988. He left in 2000 (when Four Seasons had 101 care homes and 6,500 staff) and later made his final financial exit from the company in 2005. Four Seasons is now the UK’s largest care home operator with nearly 400 care homes, some 20,000 beds and employing around 30,000 staff. He is founder and chief executive of Dow Investments, now celebrating its 27th year, the founder and now chairman of Scottish care home operator, Renaissance Care (which operators 12 homes and employs around 800 staff), co-founder and director of video and security systems specialists, NW Systems Group, and founder shareholder and director of Kingdom FM Radio. Robert holds several other
Follow Robert Kilgour:
About : Software for Senior Care
Winnie Byanyima
Executive Director of Oxfam International
Winnie Byanyima is Executive Director of Oxfam International. She is a leader on women’s rights, democratic governance and peace building. She served eleven years in the Ugandan Parliament, and has served at the African Union Commission and as Director of Gender and Development at the United Nations Development Program. She co-founded the 60-member Global Gender and Climate Alliance and chaired a UN task force on gender aspects of the Millennium Development Goals, and on climate change. Born in Uganda, Ms. Byanyima was elected for three terms and served eleven years in the Ugandan Parliament. She led Uganda’s first parliamentary women’s caucus, championing ground-breaking gender equality provisions in the county’s 1995 post-conflict constitution. A world recognized expert on women’s rights, she founded the still-thriving civil society organization Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE). She has served at the African Union Commission and as Director of Gender and Development at the United Nations Development Program. Ms. Byanyima is a signatory to her country’s 1985 peace agreement and has helped to broker and support women’s participation in peace processes in Rwanda, South Africa, Burundi, Sudan and other countries emerging from conflict. She co-founded a 60-member Global Gender and Climate Alliance of civil society, bilateral and multilateral organizations and chaired a UN-wide task force on gender aspects of the Millennium Development Goals, and on climate change. She has served on numerous global boards and commissions including the African Capacity Building Foundation and the International Centre for Research on Women. She holds a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in Energy Conservation and the Environment (University of Cranfield), and a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering (University of Manchester). She began a five-year term leading Oxfam International on May 1 2013.
Follow Winnie Byanyima:
About Oxfam International: Oxfam is a world-wide development organization that mobilizes the power of people against poverty.
Myrna Atalla
Executive Director of Alfanar
Myrna Atalla serves as Alfanar’s Executive Director. Since 2010, Myrna Atalla has overseen Alfanar’s growth and expansion. Prior to joining Alfanar, Atalla worked for the National Democratic Insititute for International Affairs (NDI) in Beirut, Lebanon from 2004 to 2008, managing its civil society strengthening partnerships. Atalla also engaged in regional initiatives, including women’s candidate training and international election observation missions in Egypt, Jordan Morocco, and Yemen. Atalla holds a BA in International Relations from Brown University and a dual-degree Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from Columbia University and the London School of Economics.
Follow Myrna Atalla:
About Alfanar: Alfanar is a venture philanthropy organization to improve the quality of children’s education.
Marc Mapes
Executive Director of HiringSolved
Follow Marc Mapes:
About HiringSolved: HiringSolved makes hiring faster and easier through smart software tools. Automating inbound and outbound recruiting with AI based tech.
Alexander Mark Lemon
President,Co-Founder & Executive Director of Mkango Resources
Mr Lemon is a graduate of the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London (MSc Mineral Exploration) and Oxford Brookes University (BSc Geological Sciences) He has 21 years experience in mineral exploration and business development and from 1994 to 2001 was the Managing Director of a Gold Mining company, which owned and operated a producing gold mine in Central Asia, where he gained extensive operating experience in emerging markets including government negotiations and project management. From 2001 to 2005, he worked for a family office Allied Commercial as an investment advisor. Mr Lemon is a founding Director and President of Mkango Resources Limited which listed on the TSX.V in January 2011 and is a founding director of its major shareholder Leo Mining and Exploration Limited. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society and a Member of the Southern African Institute of Mining & Metallurgy.
Follow Alexander Mark Lemon:
About Mkango Resources: Mkango Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration and development company.
William Dawes
Chief Executive Officer, Co-founder & Executive Director of Mkango Resources
William Dawes is a graduate of Bristol University (BSc Geology) and Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London (MSc Mineral Exploration with distinction). Having trained as a geologist in South Africa, he worked as a mining analyst based in London and then for Rio Tinto’s exploration division. Subsequently, he gained significant global mining transaction experience in the metals and mining team of Robert Fleming & Co, Chase Manhattan Bank and JPMorgan. Mr Dawes was a founding director of Mkango’s major shareholder, Leo Mining and Exploration (Leominex) and since 2004 has been involved in the exploration and evaluation of a variety of projects throughout Central Asia, Middle East and Africa. He has 12 years’ experience in exploration and business development and 9 years in mining finance, mergers and acquisitions. He is a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Follow William Dawes:
About Mkango Resources: Mkango Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration and development company.
Mike Warriner
Non Executive Director of Classlist.com
Mike Warriner is SVP Engineering for Crypto.com, building a world class Crypto-currency engineering team across Europe. Previously VP/CTO for Skyscanner, Digital CIO at HSBC and Engineering Director at Google, Mike has 30 years of experience across all aspects of the technology industry. Mike has a passion for STEM and Computer Science education and making sure that our children are able to be instrumental in the amazing technical opportunities that are all around them. He holds a MA in Computer Science from Cambridge University and lives in the UK with his wife and two young children.
Follow Mike Warriner:
About Crypto.com: Classlist enables parents at the same school to make trusted, secure connections; making their life easier and school communities stronger.
Dave Pogson
Independent Business Consultant, Mentor and Non-Executive Director of Arlians
Follow Dave Pogson:
About : Arlians is a Free B2B marketplace for small and medium businesses of any industries across the world. Find suppliers, customers and partners
Dave Pogson
Independent Business Consultant, Mentor and Non-Executive Director of Arlians
Follow Dave Pogson:
About : Arlians is a Free B2B marketplace for small and medium businesses of any industries across the world. Find suppliers, customers and partners
David Terrar
Executive Director of ITBrix
David is the Founder and CXO of Agile Elephant, a digitial transformation consultancy and solutions provider. He also heads up D2C, a consulting firm which provides business and social media consulting and Cloud based solutions for content, collaboration, web publishing, online accounting and ERP. He is a director of EuroCloud UK, on the governance board of the Cloud Industry Forum, and Chaired techUK’s Software as a Service Group. This year he is one of the judges of the UK Cloud Awards. He is a regular speaker at digital, social business, social media and Cloud Computing events including keynoting at the CeBIT Social Business Arena in 2015, chairing London’s Cloud Computing World Forum in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 and lecturing on digital at Henley Business School and INSEEC. Agile Elephant co-produces the London edition of the Enterprise Digital Summit London, and David organizes the Combined Social Business Sessions London (incorporating London Wiki Wednesdays), was one of the founders of CreativeCoffee Club and Amplified (the Network of Networks).
Follow David Terrar:
About Agile Elephant, Bloor Research, Cloud Industry Forum, Cloud Industry Forum, EuroCloud, ITBrix: ITBrix’s WordFrame Community Platform covers blogging, wikis, RSS feed aggregation, document management and social networking, using
Stephen Benzikie
Non Executive Director of Wamo
Follow Stephen Benzikie:
About Wamo: Mobile app that connects brands to fans
Scott Davies
Non Executive Director of NEVER NO
Follow Scott Davies:
About NEVER NO: never, a Norway-based company, offers its users with social TV toolkit to create forms of engagement for live and pre-recorded programs.
Melissa Jun Rowley
Executive Director of The Toolbox
Melissa Jun Rowley works at the forefront of technology, media, and social impact as a writer and entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of Resolve, an accelerator partnering with sector-leading organizations to help startups scale internationally, and balance the triple bottom line.
Follow Melissa Jun Rowley:
About The Toolbox: The Toolbox aims to transform the crowd noise that dominates the web today into effective communities of action.
Nick Hays
Executive Director of Global Career Networks Pte Ltd
A proven track record in international recruitment spanning over 20 years, developing, steering and improving key talent attraction and engagement solutions at a strategic level primarily in the healthcare sector. A broad spectrum of clients from small employers seeking a few, through to fully managing recruitment campaigns on behalf of both start-up and large government healthcare organisations to secure up to 2,000 staff. A strategic thinker with detailed knowledge of global medical workforce dynamics, with particular interest in migratory patterns driven by supply and demand, believing that there is no recruitment challenge that cannot be solved with the provision of the right solution. Driven to ensure successful outcomes by overcoming perceived barriers, establishing projects, building strong high performance teams, implementing action plans and building relationships with key stakeholders. Considered an expert in medical recruitment offering insight and sphere of influence on a global basis.
Follow Nick Hays:
About Global Career Networks Pte Ltd: Careers.Global operates a global professional networking and career portal primarily focused on the medical and healthcare professions.
Nick Nicolaou
Non Executive Director of Streetlike
Follow Nick Nicolaou:
About Streetlike: In-store Digital Interactive Reward Platform for Enterprise Retail
