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 VP’ operating in the Advertising space. If you think a VP’ 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.
David Goddard
VP Business Development of DoubleVerify
Follow David Goddard:
About DoubleVerify: DoubleVerify is a software platform for digital media measurement, data, and analytics.
Asit Mehra
Executive Vice President of Omnicom Group
Asit is responsible for growing some of Omnicom’s key client relationships. He is tasked with developing and delivering bespoke “Screen to Shelf” solutions for clients that leverage the scale and creativity of Omnicom’s individual agencies, creating new, more effective ways of engaging with large global clients and ultimately their consumers. Asit has been with Omnicom for almost nine years, before which he spent 18 years at the Interpublic Group, where he held a variety of roles, ranging from running large multinational businesses, regions and offices. Asit is a true citizen of the world, having grown up and worked on both sides of the Atlantic and Asia.
Follow Asit Mehra:
About Omnicom Group: Omnicom Group provides advertising and marketing communications services for their clients.
Edward Barrow
VP, Corporate Strategy of Optimizely
Follow Edward Barrow:
About Optimizely: Optimizely is a platform that provides digital experience solutions.
Sandra Schroeter
VP, Product & Digital Marketing of IMImobile
Sandra Schroeter serves as the Vice President of Product and Digital Marketing at IMImobile.
Follow Sandra Schroeter:
About IMImobile: IMImobile is a cloud communication software that helps users manage customer interactions at scale.
Sandra Schroeter
VP, Product & Digital Marketing of IMImobile
Sandra Schroeter serves as the Vice President of Product and Digital Marketing at IMImobile.
Follow Sandra Schroeter:
About IMImobile: IMImobile is a cloud communication software that helps users manage customer interactions at scale.
Léo Chappaz
Global VP, Performance Advertising of Teads US
Follow Léo Chappaz:
About Teads US: Teads US invented outstream video advertising and is the no.1 video advertising marketplace in the world.
Blair Robertson
Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of TVSquared
Blair is a seasoned data scientist and visualization guru with a background in Artificial Intelligence. He has spent the past 13 years helping global companies improve decision-making and product development through the application of analytics. As TVSquared’s CTO, Blair is an expert in a range of statistical techniques such as data modeling, signal processing and machine learning, which he and his team deploy to continually improve the company’s technology platform. Throughout his career, Blair has focused on presenting complex technical concepts in an easy-to-consume, business-friendly way and has a reputation for designing analytic products that are highly visual and intuitive. Previous engagements have included time as principal analyst at Sumerian, where he led analytic engagements with dozens of the world’s largest companies. Blair has also acted as a private consultant for a wide-variety of data-driven companies in financial services, utilities and hi-tech, and as a financial technology consultant with Accenture Plc.
Follow Blair Robertson:
About TVSquared: TVSquared is the global leader in TV attribution.
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.
Follow Marius Rausch:
About Xandr: Xandr is an advertising company.
Nadine Causey
Senior Vice President of EMEA & APAC of Guinness World Records
Follow Nadine Causey:
About Guinness World Records, Guinness World Records: Guinness World Records is the universally recognized authority on record-breaking achievement.
James Prudhomme
Executive Vice President, International of Index Exchange
Follow James Prudhomme:
About Index Exchange: Index Exchange is an exchange technology, enabling digital publishers and suppliers to sell ad impressions programmatically and in realtime.
Niki Stoker
VP EMEA, Sales of FLXone
Follow Niki Stoker:
About FLXone: FLXone is a data management platform for customer-centric marketing
Helene Bouteille
VP Client Services of LoopMe
Follow Helene Bouteille:
About LoopMe: LoopMe is focused on brand advertising, using AI, attribution, and analytics to deliver measurable outcomes.
Anna Tong
VP Marketing of Wooshii
Follow Anna Tong:
About Wooshii: The Video Production Marketplace
Justin Barrett
Vice President EMEA of Brightcove
Follow Justin Barrett:
About Brightcove, Brightcove: Brightcove is video that means business, helping customers experience the incredible potential of video.
Ben Tatton-Brown
VP, Agency EMEA & Global Indirect Channels of Criteo
Follow Ben Tatton-Brown:
About Criteo: Criteo is a global technology company that serves personalized online display advertisements to consumers on behalf of e-commerce companies.
Ingmar Zach
SVP, Product of Criteo
Follow Ingmar Zach:
About Criteo: Criteo is a global technology company that serves personalized online display advertisements to consumers on behalf of e-commerce companies.
Greg Williams
Co-Founder, SVP, Strategic Business Development of MediaMath
Greg leads MediaMath’s business development efforts globally. In this role, Greg creates business and technology relationships with partners and oversees MediaMath’s OPEN Partnership program. Having focused his career at the intersection of marketing and technology, Greg is an expert in automation and large-scale technology offerings. Leveraging his unique blend of business and technical skills, Greg works with clients and with data and inventory partners across media channels to help them build their businesses on MediaMath’s TerminalOne platform. Prior to his move to London, Greg managed all internal and external reporting and analyses from MediaMath’s New York headquarters. In this role, Greg spearheaded the design, development, and management of MediaMath’s analytics platform. Before co-founding MediaMath, Greg led advertiser media strategy at [x+1], working with global brands on website and media optimisation. In that role, Greg also worked with a team to establish a new media division that quickly outpaced its established parent company. Before [x+1], Greg’s background was in econometric data modeling, marketing strategy, and integration of marketing platforms for Fortune 500 companies at Nielsen and Accenture. Greg holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA from Fordham University with concentrations in accounting and finance.
Follow Greg Williams:
About MediaMath: MediaMath develops and delivers digital advertising media and data management technology solutions to advertisers worldwide.
Natasha Fishman
EVP, Marketing of Authentic Brands Group
Natasha Fishman is the EVP of marketing at Authentic Brands Group.
Follow Natasha Fishman:
About Authentic Brands Group: Authentic Brands Group is a brand development, marketing, and entertainment company that manages the value of global brands.
Riki Dolby
SVP Engineering of InfoSum
Follow Riki Dolby:
About InfoSum: InfoSum provides a decentralized platform designed to remove the trust barriers between progress and privacy.
Jason Bolles
SVP Advanced Advertising of Nielsen
Jason Bolles serves as senior vice president for advanced advertising at Nielsen.
Follow Jason Bolles:
About Nielsen: Nielsen provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers watch and buy.
Mahdi Shariff
SVP & Chief Strategy Officer of Biddingx
Shariff serves as Chief Strategy Officer for Sunteng, a Big Data-driven marketing and analytics company which processes 28 billion impressions daily and delivers campaigns for IBM and Qualcomm. Fluent in Chinese, Shariff arrived in China in 2014 searching for an interesting startup in advertising technology. He hails from the United Kingdom where he worked as an investment banker covering Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) deals in London. .
Follow Mahdi Shariff:
About Biddingx: BiddingX is an advertising technology company that provides a full set of marketing solutions to its clients.
Sara Vincent
SVP of Publisher Development of JustPremium
Follow Sara Vincent:
About JustPremium: The World’s most innovative Rich Media Marketplace – We bring creativity to digital advertising
Jane Risby-Rose
Global EVP, Events of UBM Plc
Follow Jane Risby-Rose:
About UBM Plc: UBM is a global events-led marketing and communications services business.
Jean-Christophe Gombeaud
Senior Vice President Marketing of Connexity
Jean-Christophe Gombeaud is Senior Director, EMEA B2B Marketing Director for Yahoo. He has 20 years of experience in Marketing for the Media and Tech Industries both on the Sales and Publishing sides. Before joining Yahoo in 2009 he worked for magazine publishers in France: Marketing Director for Groupe Express Roularta (leading publishers for news, business and lifestyles magazines in France), Marketing Director for the women magazines division of Emap France (Women magazines), Marketing and Research for Groupe Expansion (Business magazines).
Follow Jean-Christophe Gombeaud:
About Connexity, Skimlinks: Connexity is a digital advertising company that works with merchants to determine which product offerings to put on publishers’ websites.
James Stanier
SVP Engineering of Brandwatch
James currently holds a VP Engineering role at Brandwatch. He is an experienced manager of engineers and team leads. He has development experience on both ends of the spectrum: from quick prototyping of ideas to getting them scaled up into production-ready distributed systems.
Follow James Stanier:
About Brandwatch: Brandwatch is a consumer intelligence and social media listening platform.
Lucia Mastromauro
Vice President, Global Head of Client Partnerships of Adform
Follow Lucia Mastromauro:
About Adform: Making display advertising simple, relevant, rewarding for advertisers, agencies and publishers
Ray Berry
SVP, Finance of Vibrant Media
Follow Ray Berry:
About Vibrant Media: Vibrant Media is dedicated to contextual marketing, advertising, content marketing and digital media.
Michelle Weston
SVP, Global Human Resources of Vibrant Media
Michelle Weston heads global human resources and recruitment for Vibrant Media, the world’s leading provider of in-content contextual technology. Michelle has almost a decade’s experience in senior HR roles in the media industry. Prior to her career in HR Leadership, Michelle spent 15 years as a senior advertising sales executive in leading international publishers including Thomson Reuters, EMAP and Centaur. While at Centaur, Michelle was responsible for the successful development and subsequent sale of the industry leading online service Lawtel to Thomson Reuters.
Follow Michelle Weston:
About Vibrant Media: Vibrant Media is dedicated to contextual marketing, advertising, content marketing and digital media.
Sean Sewell
Co-Founder | VP Revenue of Partnerize
Sean is the Co-Founder and VP Revenue EMEA of Performance Horizon, an online marketing technology provider based on a suite of performance marketing products and services. Sean has over 7 years of online experience. Formerly Commercial Director for AOL, Sean spent two years heading up buy.at and AOL lead generation products, budgets, and growth strategy. Tenacious and strong relationship builder at all levels, responsible for building growing the Performance Horizon client global client portfolio. Sean studied Marketing at University of Bedfordshire as well as at Erasmus International Business School in Rotterdam.
Follow Sean Sewell:
About Partnerize: Partnerize is the only partnership management solution for marketers seeking high quality, scalable subsidies to primary channels.
Paul Taylor
VP, UK Revenue of Partnerize
Follow Paul Taylor:
About Partnerize: Partnerize is the only partnership management solution for marketers seeking high quality, scalable subsidies to primary channels.
Paul Taylor
VP, UK Revenue of Partnerize
Follow Paul Taylor:
About Partnerize: Partnerize is the only partnership management solution for marketers seeking high quality, scalable subsidies to primary channels.
Aaron Suppel
Global VP – Digital Strategy of Tahzoo
Aaron Suppel is the Global Vice President of Digital Strategy at Tahzoo since 2015. Previously, Aaron was the Senior Manager of Global Digital Marketing for GNICS and Manager of Global Marketing for GNS at American Express. Prior to American Express Aaron was a Creative Director at Michael Bell Ltd., Senior Creative Director at Mint Design Associates and a Senior Designer at Ingenious Design Ltd. Aaron earned his B.Sc. degree in Media Lab Arts from Plymouth University.
Follow Aaron Suppel:
About Tahzoo: Tahzoo operates as a customer experience management agency.
Bernard Periatambee
Vice President of Factual Development of Frantic Films
For the last sixteen years, Bernard has developed and produced numerous hit formats over a wide range of genres, from long running lifestyle brands and factual series to quirky reality formats, high volume studio talk shows and arts films. His credits include, Cash in the Attic, Natural Born Dealers, Built From Disaster, The Ugly Face of Beauty, The Farm of Fussy Eaters, among many. Since relocating to Toronto, he has been an important force in the development of successful series including, Still Standing (CBC), Buy It, Fix It, Sell It (HGTV), Anything But Average and Blood and Gold (Discovery).
Follow Bernard Periatambee:
About Frantic Films: Frantic Films Canadian branded content and live action production company.
Helga Alvarez
Co-Founder & VP Engineering of Leaf
Helga Alvarez is the Co-Founder & VP Engineering at Leaf Grow.
Follow Helga Alvarez:
About Leaf: Leaf, previously Leaf Grow, is a tech company that provides end-to-end performance marketing services for ambitious eCommerce businesses.
Sam Yardley
Executive Vice President, North America of Two Circles
Since joining Two Circles, Sam has led a number of projects for professional clubs and governing bodies, both in the UK and increasingly internationally, helping them grow commercial revenue across ticketing, membership, retail and hospitality. Sam has fused his passion for sport with his background as a strategy consultant at Accenture, where he worked with a range of multinational companies, government ministries, and start-ups, and learnt how to make a mean spreadsheet. Sam definitely makes a better fist of watching sport than participating in it. Recent career highlights include the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, the Soweto Derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, and finally seeing England beat a southern hemisphere side at Twickenham. Just don’t mention the last Ashes tour.
Follow Sam Yardley:
About Two Circles, Two Circles: Two Circles is a sports marketing agency based in London.
Dom Blacklock
Vice President Programmatic, International of Active International
Follow Dom Blacklock:
About Active International: Active International provides support services for businesses in utilizing organizational assets.
Kate Barry
VP Advertising Solutions EMEA of Amobee
Follow Kate Barry:
About Amobee: Amobee is a global digital marketing technology company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Singtel.
Alan Boughen
SVP, Global Head of Paid Search – Global Investment of Omnicom Media Group
Follow Alan Boughen:
About Omnicom Media Group: Omnicom Media Group is the provider of media services
Sarafina Wolde Gabriel
Vice President of Strategy & Opearations of Lee-Ann Johnstone
Sarafina oversees the development of the Income Access brand. She is passionate about digital marketing and building relationships, and when she’s not consulting with our clients and affiliates, she enjoys laughing, travelling and running. She’s also a big fan of Arsenal FC, and you’ll never find her without music.
Follow Sarafina Wolde Gabriel:
About Lee-Ann Johnstone: A digital and affiliate marketing consultancy specialising in Affiliate Marketing Training, affiliate program management and marketing.
Komalr Helye
VP of Marketing of Pure360
Komalr Helye Head of Marketing Pure360 With over 18 years of email and digital experience, Komal has a deep understanding of marketing strategy, a marketer’s needs and how that translates into the use of marketing technology. She leads the Pure360 marketing team with a focus on market positioning, market growth strategies and customer lifecycle marketing. Komal has worked with some leading brands including HSBC, Carphone Warehouse and Black & Decker, helping them get the best results from their email and digital marketing.
Follow Komalr Helye:
About DMA UK, Pure360: Pure360 provides email marketing and SMS software for businesses to access customers via mobile and web devices.
Maria Berkova
VP of Marketing of LeadsBasket
Follow Maria Berkova:
About LeadsBasket: LeadsBasket is a marketplace in the lead generation industry that connects service providers and potential customers.
Reggie James
Executive Director | Co-Chief Operating Officer & SVP of Marketing & Communications of Digital Brand Media & Marketing Group, Inc
Follow Reggie James:
About : DBMM Group provides investment opportunity in the growing Digital Marketing & Social Media sector. Operating in NY, London & LA
Damien Savage
Regional Vice President US of Kainos WorkSmart
Follow Damien Savage:
About Kainos WorkSmart: Kainos WorkSmart is a leading provider of digital services and platforms.
Mark Flynn
COO & VP Professional Services of Kainos WorkSmart
Follow Mark Flynn:
About Kainos WorkSmart: Kainos WorkSmart is a leading provider of digital services and platforms.
Glenn Bailey
VP, Technology of Mediawide
Follow Glenn Bailey:
About Mediawide: Mediawide provides cutting edge solutions to bridge this gap.
Malcolm Cox
SVP Product Strategy, Brand Engagement of Grapeshot
Follow Malcolm Cox:
About Grapeshot: Grapeshot is a contextual intelligence platform that empowers brands to deliver relevance to every customer experience.
Sean Ward
VP / Partner of NXFX Studios
Before founding Synthace, Sean was a Research Associate in Bioinformatics at University College London, where he conducted research into protein folding, protein structure prediction, and gene coding. Prior to his work in bioinformatics, Sean was the Co-Founder and CTO of Relatable, a leading US based acoustic fingerprinting company, who’s customers included major peer to peer companies such as Napster, as well as consumer electronics manufacturers, royalty collection agencies, and major labels. Sean has a BSc in Computer Science from UCL.
Follow Sean Ward:
About NXFX Studios: NXFX Studios is a Boston-based web design and online marketing agency that offers web-related services and marketing advice.
Adrian James
VP Sales and UK MD of Walkbase
Follow Adrian James:
About Walkbase: Walkbase, the in-store analytics and marketing platform for retailers and airports to personalize the omnichannel customer experience.
Adrian James
VP Sales and UK MD of Walkbase
Follow Adrian James:
About Walkbase: Walkbase, the in-store analytics and marketing platform for retailers and airports to personalize the omnichannel customer experience.
Steven Hanson
VP, International Sales of AdColony
Follow Steven Hanson:
About AdColony: AdColony is a mobile video ad network offering full-screen quality video ads through its Instant Play technology for brands and apps.
Benjamin Hansz
Vice President of Simplaex
Follow Benjamin Hansz:
About Simplaex: Simplaex is the company behind the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence-powered user targeting technology.
Alex McIlvenny
VP Sales Europe of Ligatus
Alex McIlvenny serves as VP of sales for Europe at Ligatus.
Follow Alex McIlvenny:
About Ligatus: Ligatus is a Native Advertising Solutions provider for brands, publishers, and programmatic buyers.
Richard Downey
SVP Global New Business of Connections
Follow Richard Downey:
About Connections: Connections is a global marketplace that helps brands monetize physical and digital consumer touchpoints.
Adam Simmons
VP, Content & Marketing of Level Up Media
Follow Adam Simmons:
About Level Up Media: Level Up Media is a technology company that creates online destination for gaming and eSports fans to watch on demand video.
Justin Kirby
VP/Strategic Content Marketing of Tenthwave Digital
Justin Kirby is an Internet veteran who has been writing about the impact of interactive technologies on business and marketing since the early 90s. His books include Connected Marketing (2005), Best of Branded Content Marketing: Volume I (2013), and Best of Branded Content Marketing: Volume II (2014). He chairs and speaks at conferences around the globe, and heads up strategic content marketing at Tenthwave, the new interactive agency from the US whose clients include Facebook, Google and eBay.
Follow Justin Kirby:
About Tenthwave Digital: Tenthwave Digital is a full-service digital agency with market-leading expertise in promotions.
