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 President operating in the Internet space. If you think a President 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.
Guy Podjarny
Founder & President of Snyk
Guy Podjarny, or Guypo for short, is a web performance researcher and evangelist, constantly chasing the elusive instant web. Guy is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Akamai’s Web Experience business unit, dealing with everything fast browsing and mobile. Guy was previously the co-founder and CTO of blaze.io, acquired by Akamai in 2012. Guy focuses heavily on Mobile Web Performance and Front-End Optimization, is a fan of large scale tests using real world websites, and regularly digs into the guts of mobile browsers. Guy is also the author of Mobitest, a free mobile measurement tool, and contributes to various open source tools. Before digging into performance, Guy spent a decade working on Web Application Security, and more specifically the first Web App Firewall (AppShield) and the market leading Web Application Security scanner (AppScan).
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About Snyk: Snyk is a cloud native application security provider that enables millions of developers to build software securely.
Matthew Baxter
President of Dugout
Matthew Baxter joined Dugout in November 2016 leading the commercial team and working directly with the clubs and other partners on the platform. Prior to Dugout Matthew was Chief Media Officer with Liverpool FC and was responsible for the complete transformation of the club’s digital media and TV operations and well as being part of the Executive team overseeing the overall strategy of the club. Matthew has over 20 years of global digital, media and TV experience. Prior to joining Liverpool FC he was Senior Vice President at MGM Networks where he worked across the commercial spectrum, selling movies to platforms and broadcasters in over 120 countries in 25 languages. He worked on various movie franchise launches globally including some of the recent James Bond movies. Matthew also worked as European Marketing Director at Warner Brothers International Television working on a multitude of TV and movie property launches from Harry Potter movies and a multitude of TV series. In addition, he was part of the Fox Kids launch team driving the platform sales, distribution, development and growth of the channel to all countries across Europe.
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About Dugout: Dugout is an innovative new digital football platform.
Kelly Kowal
Executive Vice President, Farfetch Platform Solutions (FPS) of Farfetch
As Managing Director of Farfetch Black & White, Kelly’s role is focused on leading her team to build revolutionary multi-channel e-commerce solutions and operating e-commerce sites for luxury brands and retailers. Kelly sits on the Farfetch Executive Board. Kelly joined Farfetch in 2010 to build and lead all digital marketing initiatives including customer acquisition, retention and engagement. Within her time at Farfetch, she also led the international growth and development strategy, overseeing expansion and localisation for all markets. Kelly’s background is in internet marketing and e-commerce, with her experience spanning over 15 years.
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About Farfetch: Farfetch is an online luxury fashion retail platform.
Sandrine Deveaux
Executive Vice President, Store of the Future of Farfetch
Sandrine is at the helm of Farfetch’s retail innovation vision ‘Store of the Future’ and is responsible for developing, executing and rolling out new, in-store technologies across Farfetch’s community of retail partners. Under Deveaux’s leadership, her team are focused on developing a pioneering mix of technology that will shape the retail experience of the future. Deveaux’s marketing, omni-channel and e-commerce expertise was honed in her previous roles at Harvey Nichols as multi-channel director and director of marketing and e-commerce at Matchesfashion.com. Sandrine also previously held roles at AOL and Bloomberg Media. Deveaux graduated from French business school ISC and holds a master’s degree in technology from ESSEC.
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About Farfetch: Farfetch is an online luxury fashion retail platform.
Harkirit Singh
Associate Vice President and Cluster Head of Tata Communications
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About Tata Communications: Tata Communications, a member of the $62.5 billion Tata Group, leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across
John-Paul Szczepanik
Senior Vice President Of Engineering of Isotropic Systems
John-Paul Szczepanik is the CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER at Isotropic Systems.
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About Isotropic Systems: Isotropic Systems develops multi-service, high-bandwidth, low power, fully integrated terminals designed to support the satellite industry.
Stephen Dunbar-Johnson
President, International of The New York Times
Stephen Dunbar-Johnson is the President, International of The New York Times Company.
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About The New York Times: The New York Times creates, collects, and distributes news, information, and entertainment through a daily newspaper and a website.
Nick Jeffery
CEO and President of Frontier Communications
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About Frontier Communications: Frontier Communications Corporation is an independent provider of telecommunications services that offers voice, data, and video services.
Graham Budd
President and Chief Operating Officer of Arm Holdings
Graham Budd was appointed Chief Operating Officer in July 2008. Prior to this he was EVP and General Manager of the Processor Division from July 2005. He joined ARM in 1992 as a VLSI design engineer and led the development of several of ARM’s early system-on-chip designs. Since then he has held a number of engineering, marketing and operations leadership roles. He is a chartered engineer.
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About Arm Holdings: Arm Holdings is a multinational semiconductor company that designs, produces, and licenses IP for digital electronic product development.
James Prudhomme
Executive Vice President, International of Index Exchange
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About Index Exchange: Index Exchange is an exchange technology, enabling digital publishers and suppliers to sell ad impressions programmatically and in realtime.
Robert Dobson
Vice President, Technology Partners, and Product Marketing of Device Authority
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About Device Authority: Device Authority is a global leader in Identity and Access Management (IAM) for the Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain.
Stewart Price
President, Sales & Marketing of Guidebook
President, Sales & Marketing at Guidebook Inc.
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About Guidebook: Guidebook is a simple yet powerful mobile application builder that lets you create an app with no technical skills required.
Amir Ofer
Founder & President of mySupermarket
Amir Ofer is Founder & President at mySupermarket.
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About mySupermarket: mySupermarket designs a supermarket shopping and comparison website that helps users to compare prices across different stores.
Sudhir Chaturvedi
President & Executive Board Member of L&T Infotech
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About L&T Infotech: LTI is a global technology consulting and digital solutions company helping more than 250 clients succeed in a converging world.
Oli Marlow-Thomas
Founder & President of Ad-Lib.io
Founder & President of Ad-Lib.
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About Ad-Lib.io: Powering Creative Effectiveness
Elizabeth Marsh
Executive PA to CEO/President. Member of Board of Advisors. of Compumatrix
Dr. Liz as she is fondly called serves as Director, Executive Assistant to the CEO and the Site Administrator of the Compumatrix.us Social Network. Dr Elizabeth Marsh has over 25 years experience on clinical work and medical research prior to joining Compumatrix. Dr. Liz had always been passionate about innovation with an unwavering dedication and loyalty to the pursuits of Compumatrix.
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About : Compumatrix provides social media currency monetization, web development, and management services.
Wissam Jabre
Chief Financial Officer & Senior Vice President of Dialog Semiconductor
Wissam joins Dialog after serving as Corporate Vice President of Finance at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) since 2014. Between 2003 and 2014, Wissam Jabre held various executive positions at Freescale Semiconductor, including Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer, Vice President Global Pricing, Chief Financial Officer of the Networking & Multimedia Solutions Group as well as senior roles within Corporate Treasury. During this period he gained extensive experience in accounting, financial planning, treasury, procurement, and merger and acquisition integration. He began his career at Schlumberger, gaining international experience in the Middle East, Europe and North America, before joining Motorola in 2000. He holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree and received an MBA from Columbia Business School, New York in 1998.
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About Dialog Semiconductor: Dialog Semiconductor makes energy-efficient, highly-integrated, and mixed signal ICs for mobile, IoT, and solid state lighting applications.
Alan Afrasiab
President and CEO of Talia
Alan Afrasiab is President, CEO, and a founder of Talia Limited. An experienced senior executive with more than 20 years in the information technologies and communications networking industries. He has also held many other executive and advisory roles and served as a member on several boards of directors. Mr. Afrasiab graduated from Manchester with a B.Eng. degree in Biomedical and Bioelectronic Engineering.
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About Talia: Talia is a top-tier provider of Internet, voice, and video services
Sergio Mottola
Founder & President of Public Pressure
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About Public Pressure: Public Pressure operates an online NFT marketplace for the music industry.
David Bailey
Vice President, Global Merchandising of SmartThings
David Bailey, Vice President, Marketing Communications at SmartThings
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About SmartThings: SmartThings, a smartphone app, allows its users to monitor and control their domestic affairs even when they are out of their home.
Lucia Mastromauro
Vice President, Global Head of Client Partnerships of Adform
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About Adform: Making display advertising simple, relevant, rewarding for advertisers, agencies and publishers
Matthew Mueller
Founder & President of Knot Standard
Matthew Mueller, Co-Founder & CEO of Knot Standard, added, “The clothing industry is entering a new period of rapid change as new products and technology take hold. Knot Standard’s customers have made it one of the 10 fastest-growing retails brands in the country, and proven that custom, personalized apparel is the future of fashion. The talented group at TRAUB will help us reach new clients worldwide, expand to new products, and launch the new standard for custom retail in the months to come.
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About Knot Standard: A custom menswear brand, revolutionizing the way customers shop for clothing both online and across 10 national showroom locations.
Niall McKinney
President of AVADO
After graduating from Oxford University, Niall started his career in brand management at Procter & Gamble. In 2000, he left to help create one of the first community websites for teenagers to chat, share photos and message each other called Wowgo. It turned out the year 2000 was too early for social media! Instead he joined IPC Media, a division of Time Inc., where he became Marketing Director at the age of 24, and launched Europe’s top selling men’s magazine. After Time Inc., he was appointed CMO of Travelocity Europe, with a seat on the European board. While overseeing a marketing team of 140, he recognized the learning curve involved in integrating digital within traditional marketing channels. He formed TKE to help organisations to bridge the digital capability gap. With offices in London, New York, Singapore and Sao Paulo, and a faculty of over 100 marketing experts globally, TKE helped leading marketing-driven organizations to integrate digital into their business. TKE was the official digital training partner for WPP globally and delivered training for the world’s top advertising agencies around the world. TKE also provided training for clients like Time Inc., News Corp, MTV, Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Mars and Disney. The company trained over 10,000 people every year in digital skills across marketing, advertising sales, strategy, and content creation. In 2012, TKE launched 12ahead.com, a platform for cutting edge digital trends and case studies. In 2016, Niall sold The Knowledge Engineers to AVADO Learning, and became the company’s Managing Director of the international division, based across the London, Singapore, and New York offices. At present, Niall sits as the President of AVADO, North America.
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About AVADO: AVADO delivers transformative learning that helps businesses gain critical digital skills.
Jean-Jacques Sahel
Vice President, Europe of ICANN
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About ICANN: ICANN (pronounced eye-can) is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. It’s a non-profit corporation that was created in
Mohamed Dabbour
CEO Millicom Africa & Executive Vice President of Millicom Systems
Mohamed was appointed as Executive Vice President Africa for Millicom on February 1st 2017. In his role he is responsible for ensuring profitable growth and cash flow for Millicom Africa. Mohamed joined Millicom in 2008 and has held a broad variety of roles in the Africa region, including Chief Financial Officer in Chad in 2009 and Chief Financial Officer in Ghana in 2011. Most recently he was appointed Chief Financial Officer for the Africa region in August 2015. Mohamed holds an Executive MBA degree from London Business School.
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About Millicom Systems: Millicom Systems offers a range of digital services to over 50 million customers primarily under the Tigo brand.
Patrick Hannon
Vice President – Corporate Development of Frontier Silicon
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About Frontier Silicon: Frontier Silicon is a supplier of semiconductors, modules, and software solutions for digital radio and connected devices.
Barry Dahan
Executive Vice President, Global Sales of DragonWave
Barry Dahan is the Executive Vice President of Global Sales at DragonWave. Barry has 30 years’ experience in the International Telecom industry in various roles. Prior to joining DragonWave in 2011, Barry was tasked with building the business and infrastructure for Starent Networks. Barry was employed with ALU and Nortel in various Executive / Leadership roles. Since 2010 Barry is investing in private growth companies. Barry holds a Business Degree in Finance as well as a Bachelor in Engineering from Polytechnique in Canada.
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About DragonWave: DragonWave Inc. (DragonWave) is a provider of high-capacity Ethernet microwave solutions for Internet protocol (IP) networks. Its
James Marland
Global Vice President and Centre of Excellence for Spend Management of Ariba
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About Ariba: Ariba, Inc. is the leading provider of collaborative business commerce solutions.
George Hurlin
President of Zoek Global Projects & Sales of Zoek
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About Zoek: Zoek is the new job search site and app that uses state of the art technology to find you the perfect job match.
Andrew Crofts
Vice President Applications of Anokiwave
Andrew Crofts joined Anokiwave in June 2015 as Vice President of Applications and is responsible for supporting the overall sales operations strategies designed to help achieve Anokiwave’s global business objectives through customer application support. Andrew brings over 30 years of applications, product management, marketing, business development, and product engineering experience from the microwave semiconductor industry. Prior to joining Anokiwave, Andrew was Field Applications Director at MACOM where he was responsible for technical support to key projects and customers across EMEA and Asia. He also held senior sales, marketing, and engineering positions at MACOM.
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About Anokiwave: Anokiwave features silicon core chip solutions that reduce system cost and enable rapid technology adoption.
Chris Wakely
Executive Vice President, Global Enterprise of Benify
Chris Wakely has been working in global benefits technology for the last 15 years. He has seen the changes taking place both in insurance provision and the increasing importance of the employee experience. He is based out of the Benify London office.
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About Benify: Benefits Management and Total Rewards platform – SaaS
Kieran Williams
Vice President – Business Development of Captini
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About Captini: Captini transforms Guest WiFi networks into an automated marketing service that increases customer return rates.
Mao Yingying
Vice President of Aixuedai
Partner, graduated from Zhejiang University MBA, Germany Technische Hochschule Nürnberg MBA. Former president of Shenzhen Qifei Technology Co., Ltd. and vice president of Hangzhou subsidiary, representative of ISO9000 management. Depth participation in organizational optimization and process reengineering, the creation of subsidiaries and national business management, 5 years to complete full-time rapid promotion.
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About Aixuedai: Aixuedai is an online payment platform that allows students to buy items using monthly installment plans.
Wei Jie
Financial Technology President of Aixuedai
Partner, graduated from Peking University (undergraduate), University of California, Los Angeles (MSc). He has successively held the positions of R & D Director, China General Manager and Group Vice President of Yahoo! USA and SEVEN Networks Inc. Shopping guide shopping site co-founder. He served as general manager of potatoes, soil groups, general manager of Shanghai Product Center and other positions.
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About Aixuedai: Aixuedai is an online payment platform that allows students to buy items using monthly installment plans.
Toni Vallen
Managing Director & President of Seton Services Ltd.
Toni Vallen served as Managing Director and President of Seton Services Ltd. since 1988. Before joining Seton, Toni served as Vice President for Manufactures Hanover, a International Private Banking Deparment, and she also worked in Citicorp a Latin American Department and the Mexican Government as an U.S. representative officer for the Public Works Bank. Toni Vallen has a Master of Business Administration degree from Fordham University, New York City and Bachelor of Liberal Arts, Journalism and Literature at Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois. Toni aims to help small and mid-sized companies to portray their investments and financial state in the best possible light. She is an expert in integrating finance, investment management and other financial responsibilities.
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About Seton Services Ltd.: Offers international small-cap companies access to all aspects of financial public relations in regard to building an investor network.
Richard Sheppard
Vice President of Sales of Oblix
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About Oblix: Oblix develops identity-based security and provides web access management solutions for e-commerce networks.
