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 Chairman operating in the Retail space. If you think a Chairman 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.
Brent Hoberman
Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Founders Factory
Brent Hoberman is chairman and co-founder of Founders Factory, an ambitious corporate backed incubator/accelerator based in London, and also of Founders Forum, a series of intimate annual global events for the leading entrepreneurs of today and the rising stars of tomorrow. Brent is a co-founder and was founding chairman of Smartup, Grip & made.com, a leading European direct-from-factory consumer homewares retailer. Most recently, Brent co-founded Firstminute Capital, a London-based pan-European seed fund, backed by some of the world’s top entrepreneurs. Brent co-founded lastminute.comin April 1998, was CEO from its inception and sold it in 2005 to Sabre for $1.1bn. Technology businesses he has co-founded have raised over $500m. Brent sits on the Advisory board for LetterOne Technology (a $16bn investment fund), the Oxford Foundry and the UK Government Digital Advisory Board. He is a board member of The Economist, a YGL and one of the Prime Minister’s Business Trade Ambassadors. Brent was awarded a CBE for services to entrepreneurship in the 2015 New Year’s Honour’s List.
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About 01 Founders, AccelerateHER, Firstminute Capital, Founders Factory, Founders Forum, Founders Intelligence, Founders Keepers, Founders of the Future, Grip, Karakuri, MADE, SmartUp.io: Founders Factory is a global corporate-backed venture studio and accelerator.
Sir David Michels
Chairman of Miroma Ventures
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About : Miroma Ventures is the investment arm of The Miroma Group, predominantly investing in growth stage consumer brands and media platforms.
Charles Cecil
Chairman of Samos Investments
charles cecil works as chairman of Samos Investments.
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About Samos Investments: Samos invests across a range of sectors including consumer internet, digital media, e-commerce, retail, and financial services/technology.
Paul Richardson
Chairman of Gymshark
Paul Richardson is the chief strategic officer at GymShark and director at Clade Group Ltd. He is a former managing director at Knowaste.
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About : Gymshark is an online retailer and technology company of fitness apparel and accessories brands.
José Neves
Founder, Co-Chairman & CEO of Farfetch
In 2008 José Neves launched Farfetch, bringing together his interests in fashion and technology, as well as his experience in design, wholesale and retail, to create a business that would celebrate and support the diversity of the global fashion industry. The seasoned entrepreneur had experienced first-hand the challenges facing bricks-and-mortar retailers wanting to expand online. His vision was to create a single portal, offering independent boutiques the opportunity to compete with the leaders of fashion e-commerce. Farfetch now comprises more than 300 boutiques, offering over 100,000 pieces from 1,000 brands. With customers in almost 190 countries, the site receives an average of 10 million monthly hits. José has been involved in the fashion start-up world since the mid-1990s when he launched footwear business SWEAR. José later founded SIX London, a fashion licensing and wholesale company selling to 600 retailers worldwide. In 2001 José opened the renowned bstore, which won the British Fashion Award for Retailer of the Year in 2006. José has received numerous accolades as an entrepreneur and for his business ventures, including The Business of Fashion’s 500 People Shaping the Fashion Industry in 2013, Ernst & Young’s 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year and Vogue’s DirectorsOf.COM Top Entrepreneur in 2011.
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About Farfetch, Farfetch China, PlatformE, SIX London: Farfetch is an online luxury fashion retail platform.
Nick Wheeler
Founder & Chairman of Charles Tyrwhitt
Nicholas Charles Tyrwhitt Wheeler (born 20 January 1965 in Ludlow, Shropshire) is an English businessman. He attempted a number of different businesses, including a photography venture and a Christmas tree delivery service. In 1986 he established the Charles Tyrwhitt company and shirt brand, which he owns. Wheeler grew up in Ludlow and was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, Eton College, and the University of Bristol, where he studied geography. His first job was as a management consultant for Bain & Company. In November 1986, he set up Charles Tyrwhitt, now a well-known shirt brand in the United Kingdom. The business is a Limited Liability Partnership. It has grown to be the UK’s largest mail-order shirt business, and also has several brick and mortar locations (as of October 2014, 17 in the United Kingdom, 5 in the United States, and one in France). In 2008, he was a regional judge for the Entrepreneur Challenge in the UK. Wheeler is married with four children to Chrissie Rucker, founder of The White Company. In 2015, their collective wealth was estimated at £330 million by the Sunday Times Rich List. Together they live in Buckinghamshire and also own a chalet in Klosters, Switzerland named Haus Alpina.
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About Charles Tyrwhitt, Feefo: A multi-channel British clothing retailer, specialising in formal men’s shirts, shoes, suits, knitwear and accessories
Ruston Smith
Chairman – Tesco Pension Trustees Limited of Tesco
Ruston Smith is the Non Exec Chair of the Tesco Pension Fund, Non Exec Chair of JP Morgan Asset Management, Non Exec Chair of Smart Pension Ltd, Chair of GroceryAid
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About BAE Systems, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Tesco, Tesco Pension Investment: Tesco PLC is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England.
Vashi Dominguez
Founder, Chairman & CEO of Vashi
Visionary entrepreneur with strong background on branding and e-commerce. Vashi Dominguez founded Vashi in 2007 with the goal of making fine jewellery accessible for all. Previously he ran an International diamond wholesale company with clients in 4 continents.
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About Vashi: Vashi is a fine jewellery brand that offers a genuinely unique, disruptive, and omni-channel retail experience.
Peter Williams
Chairman of Mister Spex
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About : Mister Spex is an online store that sells various brands of glasses and contact lenses.
Neil McCausland
Chairman of Snow+Rock
Neil has had a portfolio of non-executive roles over the last 10 years. He is currently Chairman of three companies. Snow and Rock, a retail chain selling skiing and outdoor brands, bikes and running gear; Dwell, a multi-channel contemporary furniture retailer; and Skin, a chain of skin treatment clinics specialising in laser hair removal. Until recently he was Chairman of footwear company Kurt Geiger, and a Governor of Nuffield Health, which operates hospitals and health clubs. Neil began his career at Marks & Spencer, before becoming Managing Director of C&A and Chief Executive of NAAFI (an MOD agency).
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About : Snow+Rock is the UK’s no.1 ski clothing & equipment retailer with 24 stores Nationwide offering the widest choice.
Roy Pounder
Founding Chairman of Rotageek
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About Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Rotageek: Using data-driven technology to meet demand, engage teams, and drive efficiency.
David Tyler
Chairman of Sainsbury’s
Appointed to the Board on 1 October 2009, David became Chairman on 1 November 2009. He is also Non-Executive Chairman of Hammerson PLC and a Non-Executive Director of Burberry Group PLC. He was previously Finance Director of GUS PLC (1997-2006) and has held senior financial and general management roles with Christie’s International PLC (1989-96), County NatWest Limited (1986-89) and Unilever PLC (1974-86). He was Chairman of Logica PLC (2006-12) and of 3i Quoted Private Equity PLC (2007-09), and a Non-Executive Director of Experian PLC (2006-12) and of Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (2007-09). He has also been Chairman of Hampstead Theatre since 2012.
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About Sainsbury’s: Sainsbury’s operates supermarkets and convenience stores, an online grocery and general merchandise operation, as well as Sainsbury’s Bank.
Charles Sinclair
Chairman of Associated British Foods
Charles was appointed a non-executive director in October 2008 and as Chairman in April 2009. With wide business experience of both the UK and overseas, his executive career was latterly with Daily Mail and General Trust plc, where he was chief executive from 1989 until he retired from that role and the board in September 2008. Other appointments: He is non-executive director of SVG Capital plc. Committee membership: Chairman of the Nomination and Remuneration committees
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About Associated British Foods: Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with sales.
Iain Ferguson
Chairman of Red Ant
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About : Red Ant is a technology partner that empowers retailers to connect online with offline, delivering fully connected retail experiences.
Joel Rosenblatt
Executive Chairman of Buoyant Upholstery
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About Buoyant Upholstery: Buoyant Upholstery is a manufacturer platform for upholstered furniture.
Alexander Jarvis
Chairman of LogicSaaS – Beautiful Retail Automation
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About : LogicSaaS provides beautiful retailer automation software to manage and distribute your products
Scott Law
Executive Chairman of Deko
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About Deko: Deko is the best way for merchants to help customers finance the important things in life.
Ian McGarrigle
Chairman of World Retail Congress
Ian has over 30 years’ experience working within the UK and international retail sector as a journalist, editor, and publisher and as founder and director of the World Retail Congress. He helped launch leading UK trade publication Retail Week, and developed a range of initiatives that have become key industry events, including the Retail Week Conference and the Retail Week Awards. In 2007 he launched the World Retail Congress to serve the international retail market. Ian has also been a Non-Executive Director of Saudi Arabia’s largest food retailer, Azizia Panda and is a Non-Executive Director of the International Omni Retailing Markets Association.
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About World Retail Congress: The World Retail Congress brings together the leaders of today’s global retail industry.
Andrew Burke
Chairman of ShopSee
Andrew has been Chairman of Crisp Thinking for the last 9 years. He also is currently Chairman of Paywizard, Tellybean and Shopsee. Previously, he was CEO Amino Technologies plc – a global IPTV innovator listed on the London Stock Exchange. Before that, Andrew was CEO BT Entertainment where he devised and ran the company’s TV-over-Broadband initiative (BT TV), chaired their Premium Rate Services activity and pioneered their Digital Media Services. Prior, Andrew was BT’s Director Online Services and was responsible for all value-added services – including VoIP, security and payment services. Before joining BT, Andrew was founder & CEO of eVerger, a $100m eMarketing focussed venture fund backed by Aegis Group and Warburg Pincus. He was COO of eVentures, the Internet incubator owned by News Corporation and Softbank and he founded and was CEO of LineOne (latterly Tiscali UK), and established News International’s initial Internet presence back in 1994.
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About : ShopSee adds social shopping functionality to retailers’ existing shopping applications.
Michael Welch
Founder and Chairman of Atterley
Mike Welch founded and built online retailer blackcircles.com, which sold to Michelin for £50m+ in 2015. In 2016 he purchased the business and assets of the original Atterley (founded in 2012) from its administrators and relaunched it with a completely new business model, focusing on providing a route to online market for independent boutiques.
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About Atterley: Atterley, the womenswear and menswear etailer for independent boutiques and brands to reach a global audience
