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 Managing Director operating in the Media and Entertainment space. If you think a Managing 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.
Hendrik McDermott
SVP & Managing Director HAYU of NBCUniversal
Hendrik McDermott is Senior Vice President, Branded On Demand at NBCUniversal International, based in London. Here he leads an entrepreneurial digital business unit focused on the company’s branded video on-demand (VOD) and over the top (OTT) services, and is primarily responsible for developing and bringing new direct-to-consumer television products to market. In this role, McDermott leads hayu, NBCU’s next generation subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) reality service, which launched in the UK, Ireland and Australia in March 2016. The first all-reality service of its kind – curated and fully integrated with social media – hayu is available on a full array of devices (mobile, tablet, laptop) at www.hayu.com Previously, McDermott led NBCUniversal International Networks’ affiliate sales, managing negotiation and partnership activities with clients and partners across 9 regional offices. He began at NBCUniversal in 2006, when was the founding member of the international corporate development team with responsibility for all territories outside the US and Canada.
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About NBCUniversal: NBCUniversal is an American multinational media conglomerate that is a subsidiary division of Comcast.
Sebastian Gray
Managing Director of Dugout
Sebastian began his career with Quest Software working in their Microsoft sales team, leaving after a number of years to establish his own company developing mobile apps. This progressed into user interactions and digital media and led him to create Sport Digital, a digital media company that specialises in the management and commercialisation of the digital landscape for athletes, actors, musicians and celebrities. Two years after its founding, Sport Digital now looks after over 300 athletes, including Gareth Bale, Anthony Joshua, and Adam Lallana, utilising and developing their digital and social media footprint with the long-term objective of optimising their digital media value.
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About Dugout: Dugout is an innovative new digital football platform.
Jack Fryer
Managing Director – The Square @ Universal Music UK of Universal Music Group
Jack Fryer is the Managing Director – The Square at Universal Music Group.
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About Universal Music Group: Universal Music Group offers music recording, publishing, and merchandising services worldwide.
John Jakobsen
Managing Director of Merlin Entertainments
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About Merlin Entertainments: Merlin Entertainments is the largest European entertainments company operating in Europe.
Marius Rausch
VP & Managing Director Central Europe of Xandr
Marius Rausch is the Director of Product Marketing at AppNexus, the world’s largest independent advertising technology company. In this position Marius is responsible for product marketing for the publishers segment in EMEA. Marius is a longtime expert and pioneer for Programmatic Marketing. Marius’ last position was as Head of Premium Publisher Platform and RTA for the programmatic business one of the largest AGOF marketer, Interactive Media, responsible, which he has built up since 2010 and is responsible for strategic operational. Previously Marius initiated building projects and the development of CRM systems and their integration in Online Advertising Product Management of Deutsche Telekom AG.
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About Xandr: Xandr is an advertising company.
Megumi Ikeda
Managing Director, Europe of Hearst Ventures
Megumi Ikeda is the managing director of Hearst Ventures and the general manager of Hearst Ventures Europe, where she oversees investments and non-organic acquisitions across Europe. She is based in London. Ikeda previously ran the European arm of the Peacock Equity Fund, GE Capital and NBCUniversal’s $250MM venture fund. Previously, she worked in corporate M&A and distribution deals at NBCUniversal. Ikeda started her career in Tokyo as a reporter for Dow Jones and an international business manager at Wired in San Francisco. Ikeda received her undergraduate degree from Columbia College, Columbia University and earned her MBA at UCLA’s The Anderson School.
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About Hearst Ventures: Hearst Ventures, a corporate venture fund, invests in early-stage information, software and technologycompanies
Holly Bott
Managing Director, Entertainment of James Grant Group
Holly Bott is the Managing Director, Entertainment at YMU Group.
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About James Grant Group: James Grant Group provides services for entertainment, music, sports, social talent, and literary clients.
Simon Presswell
Managing Director, Broadcast & Education of Ascential Plc
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About Ascential Plc: Ascential is a global information company that enables smart decision-making for business.
Chris Cammann
Managing Director of Hybrid
Chris Cammann is a managing director at Hybrid.
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About Hybrid: Hybrid is a media company that creates content for brands across digital platforms.
Daniel Couchman Kendall
Managing Director & Founder of Mission Based Media
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About Mission Based Media: Mission Based Media creates and produces audio content that depends on the organization’s goals.
Victoria Albrecht
Managing Director of Springbok Technologies
Victoria is a serial entrepreneur from Germany. With 24, she exited her first business, an insights and events company for the Food Industry. In her role as CEO and Creative Director, she managed over 100 conferences and consulting projects with companies like Mars, the Jamie Oliver Group, Tesco and Tyson Foods. After her exit, she joined Berlin-based (and Silicon-Valley-backed) Conversational AI startup Rasa as the 5th employee and helped grow sales from 0 to EUR 1 million in one year, selling into and working with companies like Bank of America, HSBC, Airbus etc. In 2017, she founded Springbok AI, one of the UK’s leading boutique Artificial Intelligence consultancies, working with world-class talent from across the world to business transform processes in corporates in Germany and the UK through AI in rapid turnaround.
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About Springbok Technologies: Springbok Technologies is a media relations firm focused on the high-tech sector. Industry practices include wireless.
Simon Windsor
Founder, Joint Managing Director of Dimension
Simon has been at the forefront of immersive technologies since 2011, launching several successful companies in AR and VR, and bringing state-of-the-art immersive production facilities to the UK. He is joint-head at immersive media company, Hammerhead, and at Dimension, a pioneering volumetric video capture studio and first Microsoft Mixed Reality Capture studio partner, focused on creating next generation virtual humans. Simon is also a director at TimeSlice Films, one of the UK’s leading multi-cam and capture solutions specialists, and prior to this he was part of the management team that launched AR technology platform, String. An award winning AR and VR producer, Simon has inspired and lead projects for companies including Disney, Nike, Sky, Audi, HSBC, Magic Leap and many more, and produced original VR titles including ABE and Syren.
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About Dimension: Revolutionary volumetric production studios for the creation of next generation digital humans, XR content and virtual production.
Giovanni Dolci
Vice President, Theatre Development and Managing Director, Europe and Africa of IMAX
Giovanni Dolci joined IMAX Corporation in October 2012 as Vice President, Theatre Development. In January 2017 he was also appointed Managing Director Europe and Africa, where he is responsible for growing and expanding the IMAX theatre network across the two continents. He previously served as Director of Business Development and Commercial Operations at Arts Alliance, where he was in charge of negotiations with cinema exhibitors and film distributors throughout EMEA to support the market’s transition to digital projection technology and where he helped establish a worldwide digital distribution platform. Prior to Arts Alliance, Giovanni Dolci worked in film financing and oversaw a number of projects based in New Zealand, Italy and the UK. He has a degree in Economics and Management from Bocconi University in Milan and an MSc in Management from Cass Business School in London. He is a Junior Fellow of the Aspen Institute Italy.
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About IMAX: IMAX Corporation is one of the world’s leading entertainment technology companies, specializing in immersive motion picture technologies.
Malcolm MacMillan
Managing Director (UK) of The Boxoffice Company
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About The Boxoffice Company, The Boxoffice Company: The Boxoffice Company provides media, technology, and data for the global film industry.
Abi Hanna
Managing Director of Instrumental
Ms. Abigail Hanna, also known as Abi, has been Managing Director of BC Music Media Ltd., (Formerly, Instrumental & Popshack) since January 2013. Ms. Hanna served as Head of Marketing at The Rights Company Limited since November 2003 until November 2006. Ms. Hanna looks after all the marketing needs for The Rights Company by working closely with distributors and talent to deliver a wide variety of marketing solutions to aid in the launch of new products. Prior to joining TRC, she was head of commercial marketing at Penguin where she worked on high profile launches from Victoria Beckham, Roy Keane, Darren Gough and Viv Richards. She also handled the Mind, Body, Spirit range and dealt with an annual marketing budget of over £1m. She holds BA in French & International Studies from Warwick University in 1994.
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About Instrumental: Our TalentAI platform uses machine learning to discover emerging talent, predominantly for the music and entertainment industry.
Magdeline Pokar
Founder, Managing Director of Asia Research News
Maggie is the managing director of Asia Research News, overseeing all aspects of this innovative startup.
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About Asia Research News: Asia Research News connects researchers with international media, policy makers, fellow collaborators and the science-hungry public.
Liam Dowd
Managing Director of Reuters Events
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About Ethical Corporation, Reuters Events: Reuters Events is a global B2B events specialist that provides thought leadership, learning, and networking for senior executives.
Ruthana Foulkes
Managing Director – Supply Chain of Reuters Events
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About Reuters Events: Reuters Events is a global B2B events specialist that provides thought leadership, learning, and networking for senior executives.
Megan Falconer Taylor
Managing Director of Influencer Intelligence
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About Influencer Intelligence: Influencer Intelligence is a prominent provider of celebrity contacts, events, and data.
Mark Mulligan
Managing Director and Analyst of MIDiA Research
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About MIDiA Research: MIDiA Research is a media and technology analysis company that offers consulting and syndicated research services.
Stephen Worn
CTO & Managing Director of DatacenterDynamics
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About DatacenterDynamics: DatacenterDynamics is a full service B2B information provider tailored to professionals that design, build, and operate data centers.
Catherine Maskell
Managing Director of Content Marketing Association
Catherine Maskell is the Managing Director at The Content Marketing Association.
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About Content Marketing Association: Content Marketing Association is the industry body for content marketing.
Ed Henderson
Founder / Managing Director of Uni2
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About Uni2: Uni2 is the fastest growing student company in the UK.
Ed Henderson
Founder / Managing Director of Uni2
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About Uni2: Uni2 is the fastest growing student company in the UK.
Paul Maidement
Partner – Managing Director of TRIARC
Paul joined TRIARC in 2016 to develop TRIARC Learning and to develop the company’s international partnerships. Paul’s career at the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Worldwide spanned almost 20 years during which time he ran a number of business units in the digital media and content spaces. Most notably he ran the clip sales arm BBC Motion Gallery which licensed video material around the world. In addition Paul also oversaw BBC Worldwide Learning, the division producing content from archive to map against learning requirements. Paul helped BBC Worldwide secure a long term contract for BBC Motion Gallery with Getty Images and he then took the opportunity to realise his ambition to run his own business, Kite Media Limited which was established in January 2015. At a time when content continues to be king, Paul helps organisations curate and commercialise their material – usually video – which more often than not has been languishing on the shelf. In addition Paul’s experience has proved invaluable to a number of start-up or immature businesses in the digital media market and he helps them with their planning, investment and ‘go to market’ activity. Paul has associates around the world and Kite Media’s client base is truly global.
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About TRIARC: Stock footage Licensing Platform
Alex B. McKinley
Founder and Managing Director of Share Talk
Alex.B. McKinley is the Founder and Managing Director of Share Talk.
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About Share Talk: Share Talk is a free communications portal that gives users access to exclusive interviews, videos, blogs, iOS, and Android mobile Apps.
