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 Advanced Materials 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.
Ian Mellor
Managing Director of Metalysis
Ian joined Metalysis in September 2004. Prior to this Ian was a Project Manager at Morgan Fuel Cell, a subsidiary of the Morgan Crucible Company plc Ian has a background in physical chemistry, he has over ten years industrial experience leading teams, developing new products and commercialising technologies, primarily in the alternative energy and metals industries. Since joining Metalysis, Ian has developed and led the Technology team to improve the chemistry and morphology of the products, primarily for tantalum and titanium. He has also provided support to the Engineering team for the scale-up of the process. Ian was awarded a PhD in Heterogeneous Catalysis from the Nottingham Trent University.
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About Metalysis: Metalysis, a manufacturer of metals and alloys, offers both economic and environmental benefits over traditional metal production methods.
Ivor Guiney
Technical Director of Paragraf
Ivor’s experience is in physics, engineering and semiconductor materials, with focuses on solid state device development, epitaxial growth advancement and novel materials development. He has taken the lead on projects which have developed new combinations of functional materials with a view to linking innovative science with real-world applications. Throughout numerous projects, Ivor has taken charge of material deposition and characterisation for electronic and optoelectronic devices to solve issues endemic to the semiconductor industry. Ivor has held positions both in the commercial world of capital equipment manufacture and academia as a senior physicist at the University of Cambridge. He also sits on the Institute of Physics Semiconductor Committee.
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About Paragraf: Paragraf develop and deliver game-changing, commercial-quality, graphene-based electronic devices using contamination-free technology.
John Halfpenny
Director of Paragraf
John has a successful track record as a Director and CXO of several high tech and clean tech companies with experience in company level transactions in all areas of the business life cycle, including start up to sale, and floatation on AIM. John has considerable commercial experience from holding senior positions within global companies such as ARM and Texas Instruments. He has extensive international commercial experience, having negotiated IP licensing, outsourced manufacturing, distributor and joint venture agreements with organisations across Europe, Asia and the US. John has a Masters’ degree in Engineering Science from The University of Cambridge and currently holds a variety of non-executive and advisory positions within the science community, John is also a Fellow of The Institution of Engineering and Technology.
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About : Paragraf develop and deliver game-changing, commercial-quality, graphene-based electronic devices using contamination-free technology.
Godfrey Ainsworth
Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of IQE
Godfrey Ainsworth qualified as a Chartered Accountant and was employed by Coopers & Lybrand before becoming an audit partner and then corporate finance partner with Spicer & Oppenheim. He founded Gambit Corporate Finance in 1992, a practice specialising in the provision of corporate finance services where he was Managing Partner until his retirement from the firm on 30 November 2009. He has held several Non-Executive Directorship appointments, including assignments for 3i plc and the Welsh Development Agency. He has provided advice to IQE (formerly EPI) since its inception and was appointed to the Board in 1997. He was appointed to the Board of IQE Plc in April 1999, and was appointed chairman in February 2002.
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About : IQE is the global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced semiconductor wafer products.
David Grant
Senior Independent Director of IQE
David Grant has a background in engineering and technology and was appointed to the Board of IQE Plc in September 2012. He was Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University from 2001 to 2012. Previously he held leadership positions in a number of international businesses including United Technologies Corp., Dowty Group plc and GEC plc. He has been a Vice-President of the IET, and was a Vice-President of the Royal Academy of Engineering from 2007 to 2012. He was awarded the IEE’s Mensforth Gold Medal in 1996 and in 1997 he was made a CBE for his contribution to the UK’s Foresight Programme. He has a PhD in Engineering Science from the University of Durham. Sir Grant was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to engineering, technology, and skills.
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About : IQE is the global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced semiconductor wafer products.
Howard Williams
Director of Operations of IQE
Howard Williams has held a number of positions within both Manufacturing and Service industry sectors, with roles ranging from Engineering Management to General Management. He was a member of the founding team of EPI in 1988 and was appointed Operations Director for EPI in 1996. He was appointed General Manager of IQE Inc in 2002 and General Manager of IQE (Europe) Limited in 2003. He was subsequently appointed Chief Operations Officer in 2004 and was appointed to the Board of IQE Plc as Operations Director in December 2004.
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About IQE: IQE is the global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced semiconductor wafer products.
Phillip Rasmussen
Group Finance Director of IQE
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About IQE: IQE is the global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced semiconductor wafer products.
Andrew Flewitt
Director and Co-Founder of Sorex Sensors
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About Sorex Sensors, University of Cambridge, University of Cambridge: Sorex Sensors manufactures high sensitivity MEMS mass sensors to transform industrial and consumer products.
