Founder & Group CEO play a crucial role in any startup. It takes an extraordinary person to fulfil the Founder & Group CEO role. We have selected these Founder & Group CEO’s for this list as they are inspiring for a variety of reasons – whether that’s pushing boundaries, creating groundbreaking products, or doing their bit to save the world.
Our analysts did their best to select be best, and most innovative Founder & Group CEO’s. The list is in no particular order!
Adrian Durham
Founder & Group CEO @ FNZ
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Adrian is the founder and CEO of FNZ and has overseen the development of the company since it started in 2004. He is currently based in the company’s London office. Prior to starting FNZ, he worked as an equity analyst for what at the time was Credit Suisse NZ now First NZ Capital. Adrian has a BSc (Hons 1st Class) in physics and mathematics, and a BMus in performance piano, both from Victoria University Wellington.
Learn more about Adrian Durham on Crunchbase…FNZ partners with financial institutions to enable them to provide multi-channel wealth management services to their clients. Read more about FNZ on Crunchbase…
Arun Bala
Group CEO @ Invenio Business Solutions
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Arun has held various leadership positions in a career spanning over 27 years with companies across Consultancy, IT and BPO services industries in the US, UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and Indian markets. Having worked in companies including Wipro, Cognizant, Cable & Wireless and Siemens, prior to joining Invenio, he was Vice President for Sutherland Global Services, managing their Communications business in the Asia Pacific region.
Learn more about Arun Bala on Crunchbase…SAP Gold Business Partner offering a global portfolio of SAP solutions and services. Read more about Invenio Business Solutions on Crunchbase…
Richard H Harris
Group CEO, Founder @ Ensygnia
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Richard is known as a hands-on, technology entrepreneur with a track record of building and transforming early-stage technology companies such as Ensygnia, Swivel Secure, Mobix, SAVortex, Clearswift and Tumbleweed. As Chief Executive and a founder of Ensygnia, Richard conceptualised and patented a visual alternative to NFC called Onescan. Ensygnia’s Onescan platform enables a consumer to go from looking to buying in under 10s from first contact – including new customers! At the Mobile World Congress over 1500 industry leaders voted Onescan as one of top 3 the innovations most likely to have the greatest impact on the mobile industry over the next ten years! Ensygnia beat tough competition from AirWatch, CloudX, Metrical and SpatialBuzz to win the Mobile Industry Awards 2014: Best Use of Software. In his spare time, he enjoys Ceroc & Scuba, is a campaigner for the rights of vulnerable adults and mental health issues when possible working with Zacchaeus 2000 Trust and Mental Health Research UK as well as mentoring Nicholas Fearn a young man with Asperger’s. Also enjoys mucking around with molten glass, composing music, painting and digital art.
Learn more about Richard H Harris on Crunchbase…Ensygnia delivers integration Platform as a Service for large payment companies and corporations deploying omnichannel solutions Read more about Ensygnia on Crunchbase…
Phil Fearnley
Group CEO @ ODD
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Read more about ODD on Crunchbase…
marco muccini
Group CEO @ Topos Network
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Read more about Topos Network on Crunchbase…
Jeremy Ben-David
Group CEO @ Waterlogic
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Read more about Waterlogic on Crunchbase…
Atte Miettinen
Group CEO @ Limitless Mobile
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Read more about Limitless Mobile on Crunchbase…
Rajesh Parmar
Co-Founder & Group CEO @ Cloud Africa
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Rajesh is the co-founder of Cloud Africa Ltd. He brings a wealth of hands on experience having previously worked for Reuters and Investis in London for 10 years (Investis the leading corporate communications and investor relations company in the UK for web and mobile services providing online innovations to the London Stock Exchange which works for over 70% of the FTSE 100 companies) before moving to Barcelona to head up business development for NFC and beacon technology company Futurlink, a startup backed by La Caixa, the second largest bank in Spain. Under his guidance Cloud Africa has built up a very strong market reputation in Africa. A mobile and technology visionary and one of the early movers into the African region where he commands great respect from his peers in Africa and innovators looking to enter the market. He brings credibility and most importantly trust and gravitas both at the highest level in the African continent and with vendors and partners across the globe looking to successfully deploy products and services in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Learn more about Rajesh Parmar on Crunchbase…Cloud Africa is a FinTech (Financial Technology) platform with a strong focus on the mobile payment space. Read more about Cloud Africa on Crunchbase…
Greg Lawless
Group CEO @ Arena Events Group plc
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Arena Events provides event overlay services, designing and delivering complete temporary environments for sporting and cultural events. Read more about Arena Events Group plc on Crunchbase…
Carl White
Co-Founder, Group CEO @ Nano Interactive
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Carl has extensive experience leading significant businesses in the online and offline world. He was CEO for ValueClick’s International business for over a decade and was responsible for building a very significant and profitable business for the NASDAQ listed enterprise. He oversaw huge growth in areas as diverse as affiliate marketing, mobile advertising, shopping comparison, display advertising and analytics. He was also responsible for a number of very successful acquisitions and integrations. Prior to his time in digital Carl also had a successful career as a magazine publisher. He lives in South West London with his wife and three children and includes in his list of achievements the fact that he has successfully indoctrinated his children to join him as Aston Villa supporters.
Learn more about Carl White on Crunchbase… Read more about Nano Interactive on Crunchbase…
Jaidev Janardana
Group CEO @ Zopa
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Jaidev Janardana is CEO of Zopa, having joined the world’s first peer-to-peer lending service as its COO in 2014. Previously, Jaidev was the CMO and Vice President at Capital One (Europe). Jaidev joined Capital One, during 2002, in its US office in McLean, Virginia. After 5 years working in the US Credit Card business, he transitioned to the UK in December 2007 as Chief Credit Officer for the UK business. Since then he held a number of roles in the business, from heading up its Risk Operations function to leading its New Customer Acquisition and Business Development efforts. Jaidev has an M.B.A. from The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and a B.Tech. from Gujarat University. Jaidev was born in the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala in India.
Learn more about Jaidev Janardana on Crunchbase…Zopa offers peer-to-peer loans with low rates, flexible terms, and no early repayment fees. Read more about Zopa on Crunchbase…
Carl Barton
Group CEO @ Mobius Networks
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Carl Barton Founder of the Group of which Mobius is a part 30 years ago. The owner of the group vision and technology roadmap and the driver of the operational excellence programme using technological innovation to take cost, time and errors out of processes.
Learn more about Carl Barton on Crunchbase…Mobius is the UKs first integrated data airtime provider. Read more about Mobius Networks on Crunchbase…
Dan Saulter
Group CEO @ Davies Group
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Dan joined Davies in 2013 having spent five years at Towergate Insurance in various senior leadership roles including as Divisional CEO, and Group M&A Director. A Chartered Accountant, Dan trained with KPMG in London, working in the firm’s consulting and M&A businesses before moving to advisory firm Pannell Kerr Forster (now BDO) as a Director in their M&A practice. Prior to this Dan worked internationally with Shell Group.
Learn more about Dan Saulter on Crunchbase…Davies Group is a provider of insurance claims service for insurers, reinsurers, and brokers. Read more about Davies Group on Crunchbase…
Ido Erlichman
Group CEO @ Kape Technologies
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Kape Technologies is an online distribution and digital product hub. Read more about Kape Technologies on Crunchbase…
Kash Pandya
Group CEO @ Helios Towers Africa
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Kash has been Chief Executive Officer of Helios Towers since July 2015. Previously, he spent eight years with Aggreko plc, where he sat on the Board, running the European Business for three years. He was also Managing Director of Aggreko International for five years, with responsibility for Africa, South America, Central America, India, Asia, Australasia and the Middle East. In this role, Kash oversaw a doubling in size of Aggreko’s international business, heading up launches in over 10 African countries. Kash began his career at the age of 16 through an engineering apprenticeship. He then went on to complete a Bachelor’s degree in Technology Engineering and a Master’s in Manufacturing. In 1989, he began his progression through leading engineering and manufacturing companies, starting at Jaguar before moving to roles within General Electric and Caradon. In 1999, Kash joined APW to lead all operations outside the United States, taking the business through a process of re-engineering and consolidation across 23 factories. In 2004, he became the CEO of Johnston Group, a publicly quoted company, leaving the business on its sale to Ennstone plc.
Learn more about Kash Pandya on Crunchbase…Helios Towers Africa has operations in Ghana, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and a sister company in Nigeria. Read more about Helios Towers Africa on Crunchbase…
Des Lekerman
Group CEO @ TiG Data Intelligence
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Chief Executive, Des Lekerman is a proven business leader. He has a keen eye for technologies and trends – always seeking the next opportunity to grow the business and add value for his team and clients. Des has over 25 years’ experience in the technology sector. Having founded Eurodata in 1990 as one of the leading service providers in the UK, he went on to sell the business in 2011 (it’s now part of Capita). Since then, he’s been involved in several acquisitions – including ThirdSpace. Des is passionate about delivering the very best outcomes for both staff and clients alike – creating a growth environment that empowers everyone to deliver innovative services and solutions that delight our clients.
Learn more about Des Lekerman on Crunchbase…TIG is a provider of cloud services, unified communications, and infrastructure solutions. Read more about TiG Data Intelligence on Crunchbase…
Jacob Laurvigen
Group CEO & Co-Founder @ Dexi
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Dexi provides the leading Data Extraction and Data Automation Software. Read more about Dexi on Crunchbase…
Marc Nohr
Group CEO, Agencies @ Miroma Group
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Miroma Group is an end-to-end marketing and communications collective offering ideation, creation and distribution services. Read more about Miroma Group on Crunchbase…
Guy Tolhurst
Group CEO @ Indagate Group
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Indagate Group is a Richmond-based information technology and services firm. Read more about Indagate Group on Crunchbase…
Adrian Coleman
Founder & Group CEO @ VCCP Group
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Adrian started out as a client with Esso Petroleum before moving to the agency side. His strengths lie not only in cohesive and hard-hitting campaigns but also in client focus and business understanding – experience that means he understands the marketing mix. In 1986 Adrian began work at IMP, a below-the-line agency, and moved to HHCL in 1993. During his seven-year stint the agency was named ‘Agency of the Decade’. In 2000 he became Chief Executive for AMD. VCCP is now 12 years old and has grown from an agency of 4 to over 600 people. Its head office is in London, and it also has offices in Berlin, Prague, Madrid and Sydney. VCCP was named agency of the year in 2013.
Learn more about Adrian Coleman on Crunchbase…VCCP Group provides directory for top marketers, agencies, media companies. Read more about VCCP Group on Crunchbase…
David Rai
Founder & Group CEO @ Sparta Global
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David is the founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of Sparta Global, one of the UK’s leading technology and business services firms. He is a seasoned management professional with over 25 year’s leadership experience in the UK, Europe and North America Sparta Global is headquartered in London, and has training academies across the UK and employs over 300 staff. In 2019 Sparta Global generated over £25million in revenue and is hiring over 500 graduates in the next 12 months. As Chief Executive Officer, David Rai has overall responsibility for the day to day running of Sparta Global, its strategic development, growth strategy, financial performance and creating the optimum conditions to deliver future value. Prior to founding Sparta Global, David co-founded an online gambling organisation and worked for leading fast growth gaming organisations in key sales appointments in London, UK and the USA. He received his BSc Hons Management Studies from Aston University and MSc Management from Manchester University.
Learn more about David Rai on Crunchbase…Sparta Global provides high calibre graduates with intensive training in Testing, SDET, PMO, DevOps and Development Read more about Sparta Global on Crunchbase…
Rob Grimshaw
Group CEO @ Simply Conveyancing
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Simply Conveyancing is a fantastic business with a strong track record of innovation Read more about Simply Conveyancing on Crunchbase…
Matthew Vandrau
Group CEO @ CSM Sport and Entertainment
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CSM Sport and Entertainment provides sports and entertainment marketing services. Read more about CSM Sport and Entertainment on Crunchbase…
Noel O’Hanlon
Founder & Group CEO @ Genesis Automation Healthcare
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Noel has twenty five years of senior management experience. as Director and Managing Director in high tech manufacturing and software technology based companies. He founded Genesis in 2010, to bring best practice processes and innovative technology solution that have been proven in other sectors to Healthcare providers, in order to enable them to improve the quality and efficiency of their patient care. Since then, Genesis has grown to become UK market leaders in point of care traceability and inventory management solutions.
Learn more about Noel O’Hanlon on Crunchbase…Genesis Automation Healthcare is an IT company that offers healthcare IT solutions. Read more about Genesis Automation Healthcare on Crunchbase…
Mat Baine
Managing Director & Group CEO @ Collaborative Project Management Services (CPMS)
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CPMS is a provider of programme management, commercial management, safety assurance. Read more about Collaborative Project Management Services (CPMS) on Crunchbase…
Mike Cooper
Group CEO EMEA & Asia Pacific @ Omnicom Media Group
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Read more about Omnicom Media Group on Crunchbase…
Mike Norfield
Group CEO @ Team Telecom Group
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Operating in markets ranging from the emergency services and transport, to mobile networks and airports, each of our companies has a Read more about Team Telecom Group on Crunchbase…
Mike Norfield
Group CEO @ Team Telecom Group
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Operating in markets ranging from the emergency services and transport, to mobile networks and airports, each of our companies has a Read more about Team Telecom Group on Crunchbase…
Samantha Maxwell-Reed
Group CEO @ Expand Executive Search
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Read more about Expand Executive Search on Crunchbase…
Bor Boer
Partner & Group CEO @ JB Equity
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Read more about JB Equity on Crunchbase…
Peter Blanc
Group CEO @ AstonLark
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AstonLark is an Industry leading and completely independent insurance broker. Read more about AstonLark on Crunchbase…
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