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 Director operating in the Sustainability space. If you think a 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.
Darren Shapland
Non Executive Director of Ferguson plc
Darren is Chairman of Poundland Group plc and was appointed Chairman of Maplin Electronics Limited in August 2014, Chairman of Topps Tiles Plc in March 2015 and Chairman of Notonthehighstreet.com in June 2015. He retired from his position as a Non Executive Director and as Chairman of the Audit Committee of Ladbrokes Plc on 24 September 2015. Between 2012 and 2013 he was Chief Executive Officer of Carpetright Plc. Prior to that, Mr Shapland was J Sainsbury plc Chief Financial Officer from 2005 to 2010 and Group Development Director from 2010 to 2011. He was also Chairman of Sainsbury’s Bank. Previously, Mr Shapland was Group Finance Director of Carpetright plc between 2002 and 2005, Finance Director of Superdrug Stores plc between 2000 and 2002 and held a variety of positions with the Burton Group and Arcadia.
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About Ferguson plc: Ferguson plc an international business, operating group’s strength is to operate strong national businesses in home markets.
Shaun Hanrahan
Commercial Director and Executive Director of Epwin Group
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About Epwin Group: Epwin Group Plc is a leading supplier of low maintenance, sustainable and energy efficient products to the new build.
Chris Empson
Group Finance Director of Epwin Group
Chris joined Epwin in 2012 to support the business integration and development post the Latium merger. Before this Chris was a divisional finance director within Rentokil Initial Plc, having previously worked with Jon at BI Group as Group Finance Director. Chris also spent five years with 3i after having qualified as an ACA at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
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About Epwin Group: Epwin Group Plc is a leading supplier of low maintenance, sustainable and energy efficient products to the new build.
Robert Hartill
Commercial Director of Epwin Group
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About Epwin Group: Epwin Group Plc is a leading supplier of low maintenance, sustainable and energy efficient products to the new build.
Gregory Dewerpe
Managing Director of A/O PropTech
Gregory is a seasoned real estate and technology investor with over 15 years of experience across I-Banking, real estate and venture, a multi-billion deal-making history, and a deep understanding of the financial markets, real estate and venture capital eco-systems. A/O Proptech has emerged from AMD Capital, a dedicated real estate investment company ( direct real assets, public real estate markets, and venture) also founded by Gregory after he left I-Banking where he started his career a decade earlier, at Credit Suisse and Citigroup, looking after investments, structuring and financing for Sovereign wealth funds and other large institutions. Gregory sits on the board/advisory board of a variety of companies in the tech and Real estate space including amongst others Placemake.io, Plentific, Wildstone, Fornova, Residently, Livelike and Tiger Media. Gregory is a Swiss national, fluent in English, French and Italian; he attended HEC Lausanne University, London School of Economics (Masters) and Harvard Business School. Gregory is passionate about sports, travelling, nutrition/food-tech, cancer research and fighting the destructive long-lasting impact of bullying amongst children and younger generations. Gregory currently lives between London and Berlin.
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About A/O PropTech: Europe’s largest Proptech VC firm investing in technology companies transforming the real estate industry.
Zac Gazit
Founder, CEO & Managing Director of ALVATECH
Zac Gazit is the founder, CEO & Managing Director of ALVATECH & he attended The College of Management Academic Studies in 1997.
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About ALVATECH: ALVATECH develops water treatment solutions and technology for effective farming productivity.
Chris Nelson
Director of Zero Carbon Farms
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About Zero Carbon Farms: Shaping the future of the growing industry to accelerate the world’s transition to carbon negative farming.
Stephen Thornton
Executive Director of Energy Optimisation Solutions
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About Energy Optimisation Solutions, Socialite: Energy Optimisation Solutions provides research-based solutions to building energy storage systems.
Nick Wakefield
Founder & Managing Director of inAsia Media
Nick has over 18 years of experience in technology, media and finance. He started his first tech business in 1999 building an e-commerce platform. He spent 7 years in London focusing on financial sales in the risk management and derivatives market, before moving to Asia to help build Euromoney’s portfolio of conferences across emerging markets. Over this period he ran teams in New York, London and Hong Kong. In 2010 he setup inAsia Media and in 2013 launched Regulation Asia, the leading regulatory information service. He still plays an advisory role in the business. His passion for technology and experience working within the financial markets partner well for Bambu in the role expanding into Europe. He holds a Diploma in Economics and is currently studying a Software Engineering MicroMasters at University of British Columbia.
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About : Online publisher headquartered in Singapore. Publishes market leading titles Regulation Asia & ESG Investor
Andrew Lever
Director, Policy & Innovation of Carbon Trust
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About Carbon Trust: Carbon Trust is to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy, by working with organisations to reduce carbon emissions now and develop.
Diana Whitmore
Director Scotland of Ecologia Youth Trust
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About Ecologia Youth Trust: Ecologia Youth Trust is an international charity that supports youth facing tough life challenges.
Dan Simmons
Founder and Director of Quensus
Dr Dan Simmons has a Masters + PhD in Electrical Engineering, and is an expert in water sustainability, software development and wireless technologies. Based on this skill set, he founded Quensus in 2015, which shaped a step-change in the water-saving industry.
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About Quensus: Water management system to monitor and control water infrastructure
Russell Cosway
Director of Gydeline
I have worked in and for Local Government ICT for over 30 years in senior roles such as Head of Service, Programme Manager, Service Delivery Manager. My breadth of knowledge and experience is based on having worked at all levels, having been an operator, programmer, analyst, engineer, project manager and information security manager. Having transferred to the private sector in 2013, I remain passionate about public services and the power of collective action. With skills in Business & Service Management (ITIL), Business Architecture, Risk, Portfolio, Programme & Project Management I can deliver a wide range of outcomes and roles. Finally, add to that a keen desire to develop Information Age Talent in organisations, I also like to use my coaching and mentoring skills in bringing the best out in the teams with which I work.
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About : Sustainability and Social Responsibility Consulting
Julie Chen
Chief Executive Officer & Director of The Cheeky Panda
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About The Cheeky Panda: Cheeky Panda is a sustainable bamboo tissue manufacturer.
Chris Forbes
Co-Founder & Director of The Cheeky Panda
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About The Cheeky Panda: Cheeky Panda is a sustainable bamboo tissue manufacturer.
Gavin Jones
Co-Founder & Director of Urban Change
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About Urban Change: Urban Change provides consultation solutions and services for the built environment industry.
Amy Nina Sheldrake
Marketing Director of Carapace Slate
When Amy’s not keeping everyone else in check, she can often be found in the back of the company van/ambulance knocking back glasses of wine. Alongside Martyn, she is the founder of Carapace and has been at the forefront throughout the entire product development journey whilst also running the marketing and in-house design. She spends her personal time, counting down the days till she’s on a yacht with Ramzi, a bottle of whiskey and a big cigar.
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About Carapace Slate: Carapace Slate is a revolutionary, snap-fit roof tile set to make huge waves within the construction sector.
Franco Gonzalez
Managing Director of Franaldo
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About Franaldo: Franaldo is a new type of consultancy firm whose objective is the acceleration of transformations to sustainability.
Elizabeth McGrath
Managing Director of Natural Resource Governance Institute
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About Natural Resource Governance Institute: NRGI is an independent and non-profit group that works to ensure that countries rich in oil, gas, and minerals achieve sustainability.
Phil Oram
Director of Premier Sustain
Phil Oram is a director at Premier Sustain. He also holds director positions at Premier Moves and Premier Systems IT. Phil is a former project manager at Premier Moves and quantity surveyor at Morrison Utility Services.
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About Premier Sustain: Premier Sustain provides services for the management and sustainable clearance of office furniture, IT, and redundant electrical equipment.
