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 Wine And Spirits 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.
Stephen Finch
Founder and Managing Director of Vagabond Wines
Stephen Finch is the Founder and Director of VAGABOND and BOXCAR
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About BOXCAR, Vagabond Wines: Vagabond Wines is owns and operates wine bars and shops in the United Kingdom.
Stephanie Mathern
Non Executive Director of Vagabond Wines
Stephanie Mathern is the Non Executive Director at Vagabond Wines.
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About Vagabond Wines: Vagabond Wines is owns and operates wine bars and shops in the United Kingdom.
Ravi Rajagopal
Finance Director, Europe of Diageo
Mr Ravi Rajagopal is currently a Senior Advisor to the Firm helping to grow the investment banking business in the field of Mergers and Acquisitions. Mr. Ravi Rajagopal served as Managing Director of DIAGEO India Private Limited between April 2005 and August 2006. Mr. Rajagopal served as the Global Head of Business Development of Diageo plc since September 2010. Mr. Rajagopal joined Diageo in 1997 and held a variety of roles covering regional finance and group controller until 2015. His other roles included Chief Financial Officer for Europe and Group Financial Controller at Diageo plc. Prior to 1997, Mr. Rajagopal worked with ITC India (a BAT plc affiliate in India) where he also held a variety of senior positions both in finance and general management. Mr. Rajagopal has been a Non-Executive Director of United Spirits Limited since July 4, 2013. He has been Non-Executive Director at Vedanta Resources plc since July 1, 2016. Mr. Rajagopal is also an Association Member of Bupa.
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About Diageo: Diageo is a premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer, and wine.
Samantha Reader
Reserve Marketing Director Amsterdam of Diageo
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About Diageo: Diageo is a premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer, and wine.
Andrew Geoghegan
Global Consumer Planning Director of Diageo
Andrew has been with Diageo for ten years, and heads up consumer planning globally for the business. Diageo is the world’s leading premium drinks business operating in 180 countries with over 400 brands including Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, Tanqueray and Guinness. Previously he spent six years in PepsiCo in various insight and innovation roles. Andrew’s career started at AC Neilsen as an Account Director. He is a Graduate of Oxford University.
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About Diageo: Diageo is a premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer, and wine.
Isabel Massey
Global Digital Director, Marketing of Diageo
Isabel Massey was Diageo’s first-ever global digital director. Having joined the business in 2013, Isabel helped create Diageo’s Centre of Digital Excellence (coDe) marketing team of 20 to ensure Diageo’s digital marketing footprint is as immersive and effective as possible, so Diageo’s brands from Guinness to Smirnoff remain as relevant today as they have done in the past. Beyond her immediate team, Isabel is sparking the transformation of Diageo into a digital first organisation. Her success over the past year include simultaneously accelerating and optimising Diageo’s digital investment globally and introducing new tech to boost the return on this investment. With a passion for people, she is dedicated to working collaboratively and driving great, robust relationships internally and with external partners of Diageo, recognised by Management Today, who awarded her with the ‘35 Women Under 35’ award in June 2017. Beyond the digital marketing realm, Isabel also has an incredibly hands-on and proactive approach to making a cultural difference in the workplace. Most recently, she was a proud panelist and active member at Smirnoff sponsored INC week at Diageo, which was a week long programme of celebratory events, focused on accelerating an inclusive culture.
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About Diageo: Diageo is a premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer, and wine.
Nick Whitehurst
Co-Founder and Director of Watneys
Nick Whitehurst is the co-founder and director Watneys.
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About Figura Analytics Limited, Watneys: Watneys and Home Ales brands and they are hell-bent on returning them to their former glory.
Amelia Harvey
Co-Founder and Director of The Collective Dairy
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About The Collective Dairy: The Collective Dairy Their quest was simple… create an extraordinary yoghurt with an unbeatable taste!.
Ryan O’Rorke
Non Executive Director of Flavourly
Ryan O’Rorke is Founder at Flavourly.
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About Airbnb, Flavourly, Staff Buddy: Flavourly is the UK’s leading craft beer & spirits discovery club and also operates an eCommerce shop serving all craft alcohol categories.
Mark Holdsworth
Commercial Director/Incubation of Bacardi
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About Bacardi, Half Hitch: Bacardi is a privately held spirits company in the world, producing and marketing internationally recognized spirits and wines.
Natalia Krupina
Formerly Marketing Director, currently Advisor of Pulp
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About : Pulp allows its users to get the most diverse selection of wines from independent producers.
Struan Mackie
Co-founder and Managing Director of North Point Distillery
Struan Mackie is Scottish politician and entrepreneur from Thurso, in the Highlands. Co-founder and Managing Director of North Point Distillery, in West Caithness, Struan is a seasoned entrepreneur within the spirits industry. A regular media contributor and public speaker across the United Kingdom and abroad, he is a member for Thurso and Northwest Caithness for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. As a management consultant with global auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, Struan has worked across the private and public sector within the firms advisory practice in London, Belfast, Edinburgh and Leeds. He now operates a boutique consultancy firm called MacDonald Mackie Consulting based in the Scottish Highlands. Throughout the 2015 General Election and 2016 Scottish Parliamentary elections, Struan provided media contribution for the BBC across multiple platforms, including appearances on Good Morning Scotland, Newsnight, Victoria Derbyshire and the BBC World Service. He maintains a working relationship with the BBC and has contributed to debates around the economy, rural matters and the European Union. A Strathclyde University Business School Alumnus, Struan is primarily based in the Scottish Highlands with engagements across the United Kingdom as part of ongoing consultancy work.
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About North Point Distillery, The Highland Council: The home of small batch, sustainable spirits. Wildly crafted on the rugged Caithness coast.
Melvin D’Souza
Co-founder & Director of Soul Tree Wine
Melvin co-founded Soul Tree with Alok in 2009, after completing his MBA at the University of Oxford. He was born and brought up in sunny India, right in the heart of the Indian wine country, and is still adjusting to the British weather! He moved to the US briefly for his undergraduate degree and following that, between 1995 and 2007, he headed Marketing and Sales for his family’s poultry genetics business in India, covering all of South Asia and the Middle East. In 2007 he took a sabbatical from work to complete his MBA at the University of Oxford where he met Alok and decided to leave behind the lucrative world of genetics behind to change the fortunes of the Indian wine industry – and those of the grape farmers in his home town of Nasik. Melvin is the creative, sometimes whimsical, brains in the team.
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About Soul Tree Wine: Soul Tree is a rapidly growing brand with distribution all across the UK, and a growing international footprint.
Alok Mathur
Co-founder & Director of Soul Tree Wine
Alok met Melvin at Oxford while completing his own MBA. He was brought up in various parts of India and after completing his undergraduate degree in Engineering he joined the Tata Group’s automotive division in 1993, and since then had worked in various positions handling and running operations in India and in the UK. A desire for new challenges and an ambition to directly influence the fortunes of Indian wine find him revelling in the wine industry.
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About Soul Tree Wine: Soul Tree is a rapidly growing brand with distribution all across the UK, and a growing international footprint.
Ben Revell
Director of Winebuyers
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About Winebuyers: Winebuyers is an exclusive online wine club with a simple mission.
James Miles
Managing Director & Co-Founder of Liv-ex
James Miles was born in Hong Kong and attended school and university in the UK. He started his career with Jardine Fleming Investment Management in Hong Kong in 1991, before becoming an equities analyst and strategist with Asia Equity (which later became Banque Paribas and then BNP Paribas). He moved to London in 1997 and left banking in March 2000 to set up Liv-ex.
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About Liv-ex: Liv-ex is the global marketplace for the wine trade, to whom we supply data, trading, technology and fulfilment services.
Anthony Maxwell
Director – Head of Exchange of Liv-ex
Anthony Maxwell was born in South Africa and brought up in France before moving to the UK aged 12. After leaving university, he worked for the Foreign Office in Geneva and the International Federation of Wines and Spirits in Paris. He then worked for John Armit Wines for eight years, running their trading department and private client sales department before joining Liv-ex in 2005.
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About Liv-ex: Liv-ex is the global marketplace for the wine trade, to whom we supply data, trading, technology and fulfilment services.
Andrew Morgan
Commercial Director of E1 Brew
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About E1 Brew: E1 Brew develops and manufactures alcoholic beers and brand products.
Tom Nicolson
Founder and Director of The Oxford Artisan Distillery
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About The Oxford Artisan Distillery: The Oxford Artisan Distillery is the very first distillery creating spirits in this ancient city’s long and illustrious history.
Laura Brodie
Vice President/Director of Partnerships and External Relations of International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD)
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About International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD): International Alliance is a not-for-profit organization that addresses harmful drinking and promoting responsible drinking.
Tom Betts
Group Data Director of Kingfisher
As Chief Data Officer, Tom oversees the strategic use of customer data and research across the organisation, helps identify growth opportunities, and experiments and tests new ideas with the aim of building audiences and revenues. Since joining the FT in 2009, Tom and his team have spearheaded the use of data to improve business performance, allowing the FT to deliver better services and tools for both readers and advertisers.
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About Kingfisher: Kingfisher PLC is a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London.
Robert Robinson
Co-Founder & Director of Notes Coffee
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About Notes Coffee: Notes is a collection of coffee shops & wine bars with 5 prime London locations in Canary Wharf, the City & the West End.
Julia Austin
Founder and Managing Director of Tyne Bank Brewery
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About Tyne Bank Brewery: Tyne Bank Brewery’s growth has been based on our strong brand and focus on quality craft beers.
Chyrelle Anstee
Digital Director of Cellar Drinks Company
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About Cellar Drinks Company: Cellar Drinks Company is a specialist drinks distributor that sells beers, wines, spirits, ciders, and soft drinks to the licensed trade.
Daniel Mettyear
Research Director Africa & Wine of International Wine & Spirit Research
As analyst for the IWSR, Daniel Mettyear has spent the past ten years getting to the heart of market dynamics and drivers in over 30 countries, across five different regions. Now as research director for the wine category, he is drawing on his experience in a number of key producer and consumer markets to determine how the movements and trends of today are shaping the future of wine going forward.
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About International Wine & Spirit Research: The IWSR is a global provider of data and market intelligence on beverage alcohol.
John Arnold
Owner/Managing Director of A & B Vintners
John Arnold is the Managing Director at A&B Vintners.
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About A & B Vintners: A & B Vintners is an independent wine merchants.
Ruby Chan
Managing Director of My Teatime LTD
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About My Teatime LTD: Wholesome natural tea infusions: from blooming flower teas to perfectly crafted blends, made from whole leaves.
Ieva Dvilinskiene
Sales & Marketing Director of My Teatime LTD
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About My Teatime LTD: Wholesome natural tea infusions: from blooming flower teas to perfectly crafted blends, made from whole leaves.
Ieva Dvilinskiene
Sales & Marketing Director of My Teatime LTD
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About My Teatime LTD: Wholesome natural tea infusions: from blooming flower teas to perfectly crafted blends, made from whole leaves.
Max Bracher
Director of Templar Wines
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About Templar Wines: Templar Wines has been quick to develop relationships with high quality smaller wineries and agencies.
Melissa Del Bono
Founder and Creative Director of Meli Melo
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About Meli Melo: Meli Melo is a British handbag label, with Italian heritage.
