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 Property Management 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.
Ben Bourne
Managing Director of Bourne Capital
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About Bourne Capital, P10 Finance: Bourne Capital is a leading international active property management and leisure operations group.
Les Hardie
Commercial Property Director of Bourne Capital
Following a career of over 25 years in the construction industry, Les joined Bourne Capital in 1993 as Construction Manager, initially in charge of on site activities on the Queensway Estate. He has since risen to become the group’s Commercial Property Director, responsible for new development projects, leases, environmental efforts, and health and safety. His wealth of practical experience is crucial to the smooth running of our development and letting operations.
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About Bourne Capital: Bourne Capital is a leading international active property management and leisure operations group.
Tadhg Flanagan
Group Managing Director of Bourne Capital
Following a career in operations and customer services in the airline industry and previously with MWB, Tadhg joined Bourne Capital as General Manager in 2005 before being appointed Group Managing Director in 2007. His flair for developing new ventures, as well as running the serviced office businesses at MWB, has been instrumental in the successful letting and launching of Capital Tower and the development of sales, marketing and operational strategies for all commercial aspects of the Group. Tadhg has also established strong financial controls and disciplines within the group and has defined and grown the property and leisure arms of the business. Recognising that any organisation is only as strong as the people it employs, Tadhg retains an on-going commitment to developing and growing both management and operational teams for the group. Tadhg is focused on Bourne Capital’s owner operated strategy of growing brands within the existing estates, and the acquisition of complementary businesses to create new ventures and grow the business.
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About Bourne Capital: Bourne Capital is a leading international active property management and leisure operations group.
Simon Bullivant
Director of Rentify
Specialising in advice to owner entrepreneurs, Simon has been involved in transactions at every stage of the life cycle, from raising venture capital finance to hundred million pound sales of businesses. Transactions for which he has been responsible include the acquisition of Byron Hamburgers by Hutton Collins, the sale of Soho House to Ron Burkle, multiple transactions involving Virgin Active; the acquisition of DFS by Advent International; various Transactions involving Trainline over an extended period; the growth of Rentify, including raising capital and ongoing advice, and many more. Simon also sits on the board of certain client companies to which ongoing advice is given, including Jellycat and Rentify. Simon was a founding shareholder of New Boathouse Capital, a business he started with other colleagues in 2000. New Boathouse was sold to Quayle Munro in 2007 where he was a managing director until he founded Ashcombe in 2010. Simon originally trained as a corporate lawyer at Macfarlanes, specialising in corporate transactions focused on private equity. He graduated from Oxford University in 1991.
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About Ashcombe Advisers, Rentify: Rentify is an online platform that helps individuals market and manage their properties.
Alistair Barclay
Director of YOPA
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About YOPA: YOPA provides real estate agency services that assist clients in selling their properties.
Tim Muir
Chief Operating Officer and Director Field Engagement of YOPA
Tim Muir is Chief Operating Officer and Product Director at YOPA. Prior to this, he was a freelance product management consultant. Tim bears a degree in Marketing.
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About YOPA: YOPA provides real estate agency services that assist clients in selling their properties.
David Shepherd
Founder & Product Director of PurpleBricks
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About PurpleBricks: PurpleBricks is an online real estate agent that helps its clients to sell, buy, and let their properties.
Kenny Bruce
Co-Founder & Sales Director of PurpleBricks
Kenny Bruce is a Founder & Sales Director at PurpleBricks.
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About PurpleBricks: PurpleBricks is an online real estate agent that helps its clients to sell, buy, and let their properties.
Elliott Pritchard
Online Marketing Director of Avis Budget Group
Elliott is directly responsible for Avis Budget Group International marketing strategy. Recently, Elliott has led an initiative to target continued growth in an increasingly competitive market by investing in advertising to increase brand awareness and attract a broader audience of customers across all markets. Elliott pioneered a campaign which deliberately uses clichéd stock footage and celebrates the long research process, encouraging consumers to make Travel Republic “The Last Click” for the holiday they want at the best price, guaranteed – best placing him to discuss innovation in attribution modelling.
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About Avis Budget Group: Avis Budget Group offers professionals and individuals with vehicle rental and sharing services.
David Toplas
Founder and Director of Vesta Property
David has a long track record of innovation in investments which balance social and commercial returns. He has created, built and invested in businesses and run institutional funds as well as established a charity and social enterprise. David enjoys his work, cars and playing hockey.
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About Mill Group, Vesta Property: Vesta (www.vestaproperty.com) is a data-driven marketplace for buying and selling residential investment property.
Lord Rothermere
Chairman of the Board of Directors of DMG Media
Lord Rothermere has been Chairman of DMGT and a Non-Executive Director of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC since 1998. Lord Rothermere worked at the International Herald Tribune in Paris and the Mirror Group before moving to Northcliffe Newspapers Group in 1995. In 1997 Lord Rothermere became Managing Director of the Evening Standard.
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About : DMG media is a consumer media company engaged in print and online newspaper publishing.
Grant Altson
Director of Technology & Operations of DMG Media
Grant Altson is Director of Technology & Operations at DMG media.
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About Daily Mail, DMG Media: DMG media is a consumer media company engaged in print and online newspaper publishing.
James Welsh
Group Finance Director of DMG Media
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About DMG Media: DMG media is a consumer media company engaged in print and online newspaper publishing.
Kim Gray
Director, Business Development – Airports & Travel Retail Europe of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield
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About Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield: Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield is a global developer and operator of flagship shopping destinations.
Dan Allan
Associate Director of Arthur Online
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About Arthur Online: Arthur simplifies property management, anywhere , anytime.
Chris Huey
Managing Director of NEON Adventures
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About NEON Adventures, Paws: NEON Adventures is a single family office with interests across technology, property, lifestyle and philanthropy.
Emilio Llorente Cano
Quantitative investment Director of Aberdeen Asset Management
Emilio Llorente-Cano, Head of Systematic Asset Solutions, Aberdeen Asset Management PLC. Emilio was hired by Aberdeen Asset Management to construct the quantitative asset allocation decision process for the Solutions business. His career in the industry is entirely focused on the implementation of advance quantitative techniques to client-centric portfolio management for the institutional and retail customer. From 2007, Emilio introduced Machine Learning methodologies in his investment framework. Through these new set of quantitative tools, he found a more robust way of (a) identifying market drivers and link the behaviour of those to the expected future performance of a multi-asset portfolio, and (b) building tailor made solutions for clients with different return targets. Emilio is a member of the AAM Innovation Committee Board since its inception, nominated due to his proposals for the use of Artificial Intelligence as a new line of business for the Company and leadership in the project of Industry-Academia collaboration. His pioneering work for years in the implementation of an end-to-end Artificial Intelligence investment process has attracted the interest of the main international quantitative conferences, where Emilio has been invited to present his work in this field.
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About Aberdeen Asset Management: Aberdeen Asset Management PLC is a global investment management group, managing assets for both institutional and retail clients from
Stephen Daintith
Non-Executive Director of PrimeLocation.com
Stephen Daintith joined DMGT plc as Finance Director in March 2011. Previously, Stephen was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Dow Jones & Company. Before joining Dow Jones in New York in April 2008, Stephen had been in London where he was the CFO of News International since 2005. Stephen previously held several executive positions at British American Tobacco, rising to be CEO in Switzerland and Bangladesh and CFO in South Africa and Pakistan. Previously, he led Internal Audit at Forte. He started his career as an accountant at PriceWaterhouse.
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About PrimeLocation.com, The Digital Property Group: PrimeLocation.com is a website to search for property for sale and to rent via estate agents in the U.K. and overseas.
Mark Croston
Founder & Managing Director of Propeasy
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About Propeasy: Propeasy provides assistance to people interested in property investments.
Tom Samodol
Director of PayProp
Executive roles: PayProp Holdings, Member of the Board; Director Strategy & Corporate Development Mentor and advisor: Level 39, Accenture FinTech Innovation Lab, Barclays Techstars, Microsoft Venture and others Track record: from early stage startups all the way to global technology blue chips (e.g. Google, SAP, eBay, HP, Kaspersky Lab, etc.) Domain expertise in software, mobile, internet, software, fintech/payment technologies, media and IT services Previously, Head of Technology Investment Banking at Dresdner Kleinwort / Commerzbank with extensive experience in incubating and scaling startups, investments, fundraisings, IPOs and M&A of European technology companies
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About PayProp: PayProp is an automated cloud-based payment and settlement platform for the property management industry.
Daniel Mohamed
Founder & Managing Director of Urban Intelligence
Founder & CEO at Urban Intelligence
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About Urban Intelligence: Data-Driven Property Development
Akshay Ruparelia
Founder and Managing Director of Doorsteps
Akshay Ruparelia is the Founder of Doorsteps.
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About Doorsteps: Doorsteps is a UK-based online estate agents.
Bruce Evans
Managing Director Group Operations of Nick Dunning Associates
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About Nick Dunning Associates: Nick Dunning Associates provides clients market-leading property solutions.
Richard Donnell
Executive Director of Zoopla
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About Zoopla: Zoopla is a property website in the U.K. that combines property listings with market data, local information, and community tools.
Jo Wickremasinghe
Product Director of Zoopla
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About Zoopla: Zoopla is a property website in the U.K. that combines property listings with market data, local information, and community tools.
Alex Wrottesley
Managing Director, Landmark Geodata of Landmark Information Group
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About Landmark Information Group: Landmark Information Group is a company that assists clients with a variety of real estate development and management projects.
Christos Passas
Director of Zaha Hadid Architects
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About Zaha Hadid Architects: We work at all scales and in all sectors. We create transformative cultural, corporate, residential and other spaces .
Sara Klomps
Director of Zaha Hadid Architects
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About Zaha Hadid Architects: We work at all scales and in all sectors. We create transformative cultural, corporate, residential and other spaces .
Jim Heverin
Director of Zaha Hadid Architects
Jim joined us in 1997. He has worked on a variety of completed projects from pavilions to offices, museums and sports venues. He became an Associate Director in 2006 and Director in 2013, and currently is responsible for the overall management and delivery of key projects including the Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics. im has a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, Aberdeen (1995) and a Diploma in Architecture from University of North London (1997). He has been registered with the ARB since 1999.
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About Zaha Hadid Architects: We work at all scales and in all sectors. We create transformative cultural, corporate, residential and other spaces .
Patrik Schumacher
Partner and Director of Zaha Hadid Architects
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About Zaha Hadid Architects: We work at all scales and in all sectors. We create transformative cultural, corporate, residential and other spaces .
Cristiano Ceccalo
Director of Zaha Hadid Architects
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About Zaha Hadid Architects: We work at all scales and in all sectors. We create transformative cultural, corporate, residential and other spaces .
Martin Honeywood
Director of Business Strategy of I Am The Agent
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About I Am The Agent: I Am The Agent is a unique online estate and letting agent with a no commission fee structure.
Ian Foley
Client Director of Movvo
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About Movvo: Movvo is a global technology company strategically positioned at the intersection of the retail industry, artificial intelligence and custom
Vicky Keyworth
Founder & Director of Savvy – The smarter way to move
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About : A truly local Estate Agent that provides an honest approach to buying and selling property. We even pay your legal fees!
Andy Ashton
Associate Director of Savvy – The smarter way to move
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About : A truly local Estate Agent that provides an honest approach to buying and selling property. We even pay your legal fees!
Maher Lababedi
Managing Director of Sterling Bros
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About Apply.Property, Sterling Bros: Sterling Bros provides assistance and consultation services for real estate investment.
Dipak Mistry
Director of Partner Relations of DadShed
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About British Transport Police, DadShed: DadShed is enabling the data within buildings to be ‘easily’ accessible for marketplace opportunities.
Lisa Charles-Jones
Member of the Board of Directors of Your Move
Lisa worked for LSL Property Services plc for 13 years, which is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, firstly as Head of HR and for the last ten years as Group HR Director. Lisa is also a director of Keyfund Federation Limited and was a director of Reeds Rains Limited and Your-Move.co.uk Limited. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and holds an MBA from the University of Durham.
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About : Your Move assists and provides its customers with financial services to find, buy, sell, and rent real-estate properties.
Spencer Sutton
Director of Marketing of Gkhouses
Spencer wakes up with Google and Facebook on his mind. His passion is all things marketing and lead generation – both new owners and new tenants! Having bought and sold over 150 homes in Birmingham (even making money on SOME of them), he gets a kick out of helping new and seasoned investors navigate the mistakes he made as an investor. Spencer is also passionate about his love for Michael Jordan and does his best to explain to the Millennials (who never saw him play live) how much better he was than LeBron. Spencer has traveled to some of the most remote parts of the world with Neverthirst (India, Sudan, South Sudan, Nepal, Central African Republic, etc..) but mostly loves to hang out with his wife, kids, and the world’s best black lab, Jett.
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About Gkhouses: Gkhouses is a professional property management services company, managing single family homes.
Na’ím Anís Peymán
Director of Paymán Club
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About Zeevou: Paymán Club is a provider of serviced accommodation, hotels, and short term lettings across the UK and Europe.
James Munro
Managing Director of J. Munro Property Maintenance
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About Care Opinion, J. Munro Property Maintenance: JMPM specializes in commercial building projects, refurbishments, fit-outs, and property maintenance.
David Sandeman
Director of Property Information Products
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About Essential Information Group, Property Information Products: Pip offers the PIP Vault, a digital data room where property records can be gathered, stored, and shown.
Vatsal Trivedi
Co-founder & Director of Overseas Property Forum
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About Overseas Property Forum: Overseas Property Forum provides engagement opportunities for property professionals with both buyers and sellers.
Mark Elton
Founding Director of AfterMap
Mark has extensive understanding of the site acquisition and development process having worked for clients such as Berkeley Homes, CAPCO, Homes England, Helical Bar, British Land and St Modwen. A lifelong love of maps combined with a passion for proptech, has resulted in a focus on the digital transformation of the site finding process. His extensive network of developer clients and agents together with co-professionals including architects, planners, costs consultants, environmental and transport consultants, investors and project managers, enables Aftermap to not only to identify sites but also recommend leading experts and project teams for support as required.
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About AfterMap: Aftermap is a platform of site search and development due diligence.
Trevor Scott
Developmnet Director of Mycaretaker
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About Hamptons International, Mycaretaker: Pay-as you-go Property Management
David Martin
Divisional Managing Director of Connells Group
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About Connells Group: Connells Group operates as an estate agency and property services provider.
Paul Miller
Director, Co-Founder of The Inventory Manager
With a background in property, Paul (enquiries sometimes think he is ‘TIM’) has spent the last 8 years talking on the phone to client’s (his head is now permanently tilted) can be found gallivanting around classic car shows, and visiting stately homes. He enjoys the finer things in life, a good movie, documentary, TV series (Suits, Homeland) travel, cycling, current affairs, glamping, and of course the occasional glass of red wine. All in a day’s work.
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About The Inventory Manager: The Inventory Manager is a market leading reporting app.
