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 COO’ operating in the Insurance space. If you think a COO’ 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.
Oke Eleazu
Chief Operating Officer of Bought By Many
Oke is Bought by Many’s COO. He’s an expert in creating customer-centric services and is proud to be able to build insurance products that really work for people. When he’s not at work, he loves listening to good music and spending time with his family and friends.
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About Bought By Many: Bought By Many is a pet InsurTech company that provides insurance products and a streamlined customer experience.
Jackson Hull
Chief Operating and Technology Officer of Gocompare.com
Jackson is currently COO and CTO at Gocompare.com. Jackson previously was CTO at Student.com, the leading global student accommodation marketplace, and CTO at onefinestay (acquired by Accor Hotels), the upmarket Airbnb. Before that, he was CTO at Plum District (acquired by nCrowd), the leading daily deal company for moms, based in San Francisco. Previously, he co-founded Chatterfly, a mobile loyalty application startup, which sold to Plum District. Jackson was CTO and VP Product Development at venture-backed Sitoa, the largest US SAAS drop-ship platform provider. Jackson has a degree in Mechanical and Material Science Engineering from the University of California, Davis earned with honors and a Masters in Information Systems from the University of California, Berkeley, with honorable mention.
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About Gocompare.com: Gocompare.com is a British financial services comparison website provides comparison details for vehicle, home and pet insurance.
Mark Dennis
COO & CEO of Munich Reinsurance
Mark Dennis is Global COO and European CEO of Munich Re Digital Partners, with specific responsibility for the European business. He joined Munich Re in 2009, leading a global business change unit until May 2016 when he took up his current role. Digital Partners is a global business working with, and investing in, start-ups, digital verticals and the sharing economy, with the ambition of building a more engaging proposition for insurance customers. Prior to joining Munich Re, Mark held various interim roles in leading insurance businesses.
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About Munich Reinsurance: Munich Reinsurance is a risk management group that offers insurance and reinsurance.
Rob Dimsey
Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer of Ascot Underwriting
Rob is Ascot’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Ascot Board. Rob qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young in 1994 and joined Ascot in 2003 after a number of years in the insurance industry in a variety of roles. Rob was appointed to the Ascot Board in 2008.
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About Ascot Underwriting: Ascot Underwriting is a Lloyd’s of London syndicate and a leading global specialty insurance underwriter.
Andy Tomlinson
Chief Operating Officer of Cuvva
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About Cuvva: Radically better insurance, fit for the future.
Derek Hill
COO and Co-Founder of Instanda
Derek Hill have experience spanning several eras of technology advancement, Derek’s insights into provisioning and global deployment of online solutions and leveraging the latest ecosystem of solutions is second to none. An industry thought leader in MS Azure and architect of INSTANDA’s rapid scaling capabilities in multiple countries, Derek has worked extensively with Boards to unravel the complexity of technology-enabled change. As COO of INSTANDA, he has a simple mission: unparalleled customer service combined with unrivalled platform value and quality.
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About Instanda: Instanda is a SaaS insurance software platform that allows insurance companies to build, configure, and launch products online.
Grady Womack
Chief Operating Officer of ANV Holdings
Grady is responsible for the financial management and global oversight for operations and best practices across the ANV Group. Prior to joining ANV, Grady was the COO/CFO of HCC Global International. Grady oversaw the finance, information technology, human resources and marketing departments for the company, which included 23 nationalities doing business in 63 countries. He was also a member of various HCC group steering committees and task forces. Prior to HCC Global, Grady launched Goal.com, the online video streaming subsidiary for Mediaproducciones S.L., a broadcast, production and rights distribution group located in New York and Barcelona. Grady was the CFO for Special Operations Group Inc., a professional security firm in Washington D.C. and worked as a Manager within the Transaction Services Group of PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Richmond, London and Santiago, Chile. Grady is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
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About ANV Holdings: ANV Holdings is an insurance and reinsurance company.
Jesper With-Fogstrup
Chief Operating Officer of comparethemarket.com
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About comparethemarket.com: comparethemarket.com is a company which allows customers to save money by comparing prices in a wide range of goods and services.
Steve Maddock
Chief Operating Officer of Direct Line Insurance
Steve joined the Group in 2010 and is Chief Operating Officer. Steve has nearly 30 years’ experience of the insurance industry. He is responsible for leading the Group’s Claims, Information Technology (“IT”), Information Security, Procurement and Business Services functions. Under Steve’s leadership, the Group has realised significant benefits and efficiencies through delivering the claims transformation programme, rationalising the Group’s property footprint, enhancing the procurement and contract management processes, and implementing the IT transformation programmes. Steve’s previous roles include Director of Strategic and Technical Claims at RSA, Director of Claims and Customer Service at Capita, and Director of Operations at AMP. Steve is also Chairman of the Motor Insurers’ Bureau.
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About Direct Line Insurance: Direct Line Group is an organization with a clear mission: to make insurance much easier and better value for customers.
Sam Fromson
Co-founder & COO of YuLife
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About YuLife: YuLife is a provider of life insurance and policies providing income in the event of critical illness.
Lachlan Gillies
COO & Co-founder of Sherpa
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About Sherpa: Sherpa provides perfectly personalised insurance in one simple account for one payment
Yannis Korgialos
Chief Operating Officer of Ticker
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About Ticker: Ticker develops a device that calculates and controls automobile insurance.
Richard Fitch
Chief Operating Officer of Spring Financial Group
Richard Fitch has been serving as Chief Operating Officer at Spring Financial Group since May 1, 2016.
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About MQube, Spring Financial Group: Spring Financial Group is set to transform the way people in the UK get a mortgage.
David Summers
Chief Operating Officer of Simply Business
David helps the business innovate and grow through data-driven decision making, maintaining a culture of empowerment and learning throughout the business. With customer insight at the core, David’s responsible for our product development and operations, amongst other things, utilising our tech and data capabilities to drive the business forward. David joined Simply Business in 2006 from Accenture, where he was a Management Consultant. Before stepping into his role as Chief Operating Officer, David oversaw our Northampton contact centre, whilst working on a number of growth-accelerating projects and partnerships.
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About Simply Business, Simply Business, Simply Business: Simply Business is a business insurance broker that offers tailored business insurance quotes to its clients.
Phil Hunter
COO of Nimbla
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About Nimbla, Synaptiv: Nimbla is dedicated to providing small and medium-sized UK businesses with dynamic invoice insurance.
Graham Blaney
Founder & COO of RightIndem
Co-founder and CEO at Buying Butler Prior to Buying Butler a background in competitive sport (canoe slalom) at an international level developed the foundations for a career that included global sales and business development in IT and outsourcing organisations such as Atos, Capita, Intel. An adaptable customer service fanatic who loves new tech and a challenge led to multiple over achievement awards and accolades.
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About Buying Butler, RightIndem: RightIndem is a white-label insurance claims platform, that works with insurers to enhance claimant’s customer experiences.
Nikolai Hack
COO of Nucoro
Nikolai comes from a consultancy background with extensive experience across European bluechip clients in various sectors for BearingPoint (former KPMG). Nikolai has spent the majority of his career focused on operational excellence and process consulting projects as well as roles globally in business and policy. Nikolai has an MSc in Political Economy from LSE.
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About Nucoro: Nucoro enables financial institutions to build digital savings, investment and wealth management propositions at speed and scale.
Robert Kokk
COO of Insly
Robert is highly goal-oriented product owner with the love for details, who believes in value-driven approach.
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About Insly: Insly is cloud-based insurance software for insurance brokers and agents to replace papers and spreadsheets.
Sergej Tolz
COO of Kasko
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About Kasko: Kasko is an insurance distribution network that allows you to quickly and easily integrate insurance products into a site, service, or app.
Mark Parker
Chief Operating Officer of Hastings Direct
Mark Parker is the Chief Operating Officer at Hastings Direct.
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About Hastings Direct: Hastings Direct is a general insurance provider.
Liam Green
Founder and COO of Capsule Insurance
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About Capsule Insurance: Capsule Insurance engaging in service-led insurance partners for growth companies.
Ian McWilliams
COO & Co-founder of Inzura
Ian McWilliams is a seasoned senior executive with over 30 years experience in the Telecoms and IT market covering both the Enterprise market and Mobile Network Operators. A business developer and leader for major business divisions in global vendors such as Motorola, Lucent Technologies & Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. Ian brings a wealth of maturity and experience in managing strategic relationships and running large internationally diverse teams across EMEA, AsiaPac and the Americas. Ian also has extensive experience in multiple start-up companies, covering Sales & Marketing, Business Development, Product Management, Application Development and Customer Support.
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About Inzura: Inzura’s customer engagement Apps and cloud-based services cover the major personal insurance lines.
Vasileios Touronis
Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of My Online Therapy
Vasileios Touronis is the Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder at My Online Therapy.
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About My Online Therapy: MyOnlineTherapy, a mobile mental health company, is the first of its kind virtual psychology clinic.
Dorian Zanker
Chief Operating Officer of Kingsbridge Contractor Insurance
Dorian Zanker is the chief operating officer at Kingsbridge Contractor Insurance.
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About Kingsbridge Contractor Insurance: Kingsbridge Contractor Insurance offers a comprehensive, competitive, and compliant package of business insurance to the recruitment market.
Laurie Davison
Chief Operating Officer of Canopius
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About Canopius: Canopius is an insurance and underwriting services provider.
Scott Smith
Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President of Vantis Life Insurance
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About Vantis Life Insurance: Vantis Life Insurance provides families affordable life insurance and annuity products.
Stephen Ross
Chief Operating Officer of Global Risk Partners
Stephen Ross is the chief operating officer at Global Risk Partners Limited.
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About Global Risk Partners: Global Risk Partners is an investment vehicle aimed at insurance brokers and managing general agents trading in the UK retail and global.
Pat Dickinson
COO of The Fiducia MGA
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About The Fiducia MGA: The Fiducia MGA Company is a UK Marine Cargo Underwriting Agency.
