Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer play a crucial role in any startup. It takes an extraordinary person to fulfil the Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer role. We have selected these Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer’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 Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer’s. The list is in no particular order!
Mohammed Tayeb
Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer @ Medicalchain
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Internet entrepreneur and founder of several technology and e-commerce start-ups. Mohammed specialises in bringing together technological efficiencies to the business world. Most recent start-up is ReadyCache, a web acceleration platform using Multi-CDN technology. Mohammed holds an Executive MBA from University of Oxford and a BSc in eCommerce from Brunel University, London.
Learn more about Mohammed Tayeb on Crunchbase…Medicalchain is a decentralized platform that enables secure, fast and transparent exchange and usage of medical data. Read more about Medicalchain on Crunchbase…
Dominic McGregor
Chief Operations Officer @ Social Chain
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Social Chain a social media marketing agency. Read more about Social Chain on Crunchbase…
Gareth Williams
Chief Operations Officer @ Citywire
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Gareth joined Citywire in 2003 after running a number of software development teams. He looks after technology, HR, production and fund manager research. Outside of work he enjoys skiing, cycling and his guitars.
Learn more about Gareth Williams on Crunchbase…Citywire provides news, information and insight for professional advisers and investors around the world. Read more about Citywire on Crunchbase…
Alan B. Buckelew
Chief Operations Officer Carnival Corporation & plc @ Carnival Cruise Line
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Alan Buckelew has been chief operations officer of Carnival Corporation & plc since December 2013. In this capacity, Buckelew is responsible for oversight of all maritime and port operations around the world and group collaborative functions, including information technology; group strategy and global operations; ship retrofits; newbuilds; research and development; risk advisory; and quality assurance. Additionally, Buckelew has oversight of Carnival Asia, with responsibility for coordinating all our brand and related activities in that part of the world. Previously, he served as chief executive officer of Princess Cruises from 2007 to November 2013, and as the line’s president from 2004 to November 2013. Prior to that he was executive vice president of corporate services from 2000 to 2007. Buckelew also served as chief operating officer of Cunard from 2004 to 2007.Before being appointed president of Princess Cruises, Buckelew was the company’s executive vice president of corporate services, a position he was appointed to in 2000. Responsible for strategic planning, marketing and yield management, he also served as chief information officer and chief financial officer. Buckelew began his career as manager of management information for Sitmar Cruises in 1977. Rising through the ranks of the company with increasing responsibility for a wide array of areas, Buckelew was appointed senior vice president of corporate planning in 1984. When Sitmar was acquired by Princess Cruises, he was placed in charge of the company’s reservations and data processing departments. During his career at Princess, he has held the positions of senior vice president of corporate services, senior vice president of customer service, and senior vice president of corporate services and yield management. Buckelew received his MBA and bachelor’s degree from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).
Learn more about Alan B. Buckelew on Crunchbase… Read more about Carnival Cruise Line on Crunchbase…
Mark Richardson
Chief Operations Officer @ Ocado Group
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Mark was Head of Technology at Ocado from 2001 until he joined the Board in 2012. He is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Ocado operation, including CFCs, logistics developments, customer service, business planning, engineering and technology. Mark is a Director of Paneltex Limited, a company in which the Group holds a 25% shareholding. Prior to joining Ocado, Mark held a number of IT positions at the John Lewis Partnership, including Head of Selling Systems at Waitrose. He graduated from University College, London with a degree in Physics.
Learn more about Mark Richardson on Crunchbase…Ocado is an online grocery retailer providing services, technology, and automation to grocery e-commerce businesses around the world. Read more about Ocado Group on Crunchbase…
Nick Ruotolo
Chief Operations Officer @ MOO.COM
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Nick met Kealan in Barcelona in 2012 and subsequently joined the board in January 2013. Just five months later with customers in 150 countries around the world and 20M birthdays added to the Cleverbug system, Nick took on the role of Chief Marketing Officer. Nick set up HSN.com (Home Shopping Network) in 1999, a pioneer in electronic retailing which subsequently generated $1.5bn in revenues. Prior to joining Cleverbug Nick was President of Vistaprint Europe, where revenues grew from $30m to $1bn in just 6 years, propelling it into one of the top 25 eCommerce companies in North America.
Learn more about Nick Ruotolo on Crunchbase…MOO.COM is an online print and design company. Read more about MOO.COM on Crunchbase…
Phil Cox
Chief Operations Officer @ Silicon Valley Bank
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Read more about Silicon Valley Bank on Crunchbase…
Kareem Khouri
Director, Chief Operations Officer @ Patronus Partners Limited
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Kareem first became interested in the wealth management industry during Thatcher’s privatisation programme in the 1980s and knew from a young age that he wanted to have a career in the stock market. His career in the industry started straight from university with a graduate trainee programme at Fidelity Brokerage Services before joining stockbrokers, Killik & Co in 1995. As well as advising and managing his own clients and their investments, his role at Killik & Co grew as he took on more internal responsibility, initially managing an office for the Firm in Canary Wharf and more latterly as an Equity Partner and Managing Director of Killik Capital, an internal division specialising in derivatives. In addition, Kareem sat on several internal boards and committees including the Executive Management Board and the Risks Committee. As well being a Chartered Fellow of the Securities Institute, Kareem holds an honours degree in Business Studies and passed the Securities Institute’s Certificate in Private Client Investment Advice & Management, with distinction. Away from the office, Kareem’s focus is Suzy, his wife of 18 years and his two boys, Tom and Archie. If he is not (often, too enthusiastically) watching Tom & Archie play rugby, nothing makes him happier than being stood next to his barbecue entertaining family & friends.
Learn more about Kareem Khouri on Crunchbase… Read more about Patronus Partners Limited on Crunchbase…
Seema Desai
Chief Operations Officer @ iwoca
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Seema Desai is the chief operating officer of iwoca, joining the company in 2017 as head of people. Most recently, she served as head of product at Zopa and head of mobile money at GSMA. Prior to this, Seema was head of products at HBOS.
Learn more about Seema Desai on Crunchbase…Iwoca offers credit financing services for small businesses. Read more about iwoca on Crunchbase…
Laurent Van Houcke
Co-Founder & Chief Operations Officer @ BBOXX
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Laurent is a graduate from Imperial College London where he obtained a first class honours (M.Eng) degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He was part of a team of students that founded “e.quinox” in 2008 and co-founded BBOXX in 2010.Laurent is responsible for macromanaging BBOXX’s operations globally from shipping to the point of sales going through marketing and long term business development in our different markets. Laurent has professional experience in the Energy Distribution Sector with EDF Energy in London and the Energy Consultancy Sector with Norman Disney & young. Laurent travels across our different markets to support BBOXX’s local partners from a technical, market and business development points of view.
Learn more about Laurent Van Houcke on Crunchbase…BBOXX designs, manufactures, and distributes plug and play solar systems. Read more about BBOXX on Crunchbase…
Rune Tybirk Kvist
Chief Operations Officer @ Aula
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Aula is a social learning platform that brings university content and learning experiences online. Read more about Aula on Crunchbase…
Robert Mansfield
Chief Operations Officer @ Deep Branch Biotechnology
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Trained as a metabolic engineer, Rob earned his stripes developing new ways to engineer industrial microbes to optimise product formation. Rob has extensive experience in successfully organising and executing international, interdisciplinary research projects. He translates this skillset into his role as COO, keeping the Deep Branch machine well oiled and operational.
Learn more about Robert Mansfield on Crunchbase…Deep Branch Biotechnology is developing scalable technology aimed at transforming the polluters of today into the producers of tomorrow. Read more about Deep Branch Biotechnology on Crunchbase…
Mayank Prakash
Group Chief Operations Officer @ Tilney Smith & Williamson
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Tilney Smith & Williamson is a financial planning and investment firm. Read more about Tilney Smith & Williamson on Crunchbase…
Yuval Odem
Chief Operations Officer @ PlayerMaker
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PlayerMaker is a football tech startup that provides coaching enhancement solutions for football academies. Read more about PlayerMaker on Crunchbase…
Nahiem Razaq
Co-Founder And Chief Operations Officer @ Kinteract
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Kinteract is a portfolio and assessment platform that facilitates fast feedback and collaboration between teachers, students. Read more about Kinteract on Crunchbase…
Naomi Matthewman
Chief Operations Officer @ Pavegen
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Pavegen is the global leader in harvesting energy and data from footfall. Read more about Pavegen on Crunchbase…
John Crowther
Chief Operations Officer @ Sorted Group
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John Crowther is the COO at Sorted Group. Prior to joining Sorted Group, John served as a non-executive director at Electio. Before that, he served as a digital transformation officer at VictoriaPlum.com.
Learn more about John Crowther on Crunchbase…Sorted Group is a global SaaS company that provides data-driven software for checkouts, warehouses, and shipping. Read more about Sorted Group on Crunchbase…
Nicola Evans
Marketing Specialist, Chief Operations Officer & Founder @ Afin Technologies
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Having worked in the hospitality industry for several years I know how important it is to have an easy way for customers to give feedback about their experience. I had used both comment cards and online surveys. However, there were limitations with both these methods – usually time or money spent printing cards, inputting data and not getting all the feedback due to ‘human intervention’. This is why they wanted to change the future of feedback forever. I am passionate about businesses being in control of the information they can get from customers and employees.
Learn more about Nicola Evans on Crunchbase…Afin Technologies allows users to see businesses willing to reward customers for taking a brief questionnaire. Read more about Afin Technologies on Crunchbase…
Andrew Townsend
Director & Chief Operations Officer @ Kiteleys Solicitors
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Kiteleys are at hand to provide first rate personal legal services, with passion and understanding. Read more about Kiteleys Solicitors on Crunchbase…
Ian Smythe
Chief Operations Officer @ Do-IT Profiler
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Ian Smythe is an education consultant, bringing together expertise in literacy and assessment, with specific reference to those disenfranchised in an increasingly literate environment. He combines his research background and software development skills with his extensive expertise in literacy to produce effective solutions for wide implementation in the classroom and beyond. His international work developed out of his PhD research into cognitive diversity and reading difficulties in different languages. These include Brazilian Portuguese, Hungarian and Chinese, as well as English and Welsh. Dr Smythe has worked with foreign governments and non-governmental organisations (e.g. the World Bank) – conducting workshops, lectures and seminars around the world, including Angola, Brazil, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Poland and the Philippines. During his activities in 15 EU project support related to Specific Learning Difficulties, Ian worked with more than 20 countries, not only on resources development but also ensuring the adaptation and modifications were appropriate for the local linguistic and cultural environments. Dr Smythe has written several works on dyslexia and technology, and has worked with dyslexia in different languages and countries. His books have been published in Bosnian, Brazilian, Bulgarian, Polish and Czech and English. This is in addition to the multilingual resources of the EU projects. He has also written a large number of research papers, and continues to provide support and advise to NGO and individuals around the world. His activities in Do-IT are diverse, but include development of systems with respect to data analytics at the local (i.e. individual) level to the national level in terms of implementation and optimisation of the user experience, development of assessments in diverse language, and long term technical implementation strategies.
Learn more about Ian Smythe on Crunchbase…Do-IT Solutions is a specialist company providing a translatable modular accessible online assessment and monitoring system. Read more about Do-IT Profiler on Crunchbase…
Justin Buch
Chief Operations Officer @ Cipher Surgical
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Cipher Surgical is a medical device company established to design, patent, and globally market its laparoscopic medical device. Read more about Cipher Surgical on Crunchbase…
Karl Ian Belk
Chief Operations Officer @ Advanz Pharma
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ADVANZ PHARMA is a pharmaceutical company focused on serving the needs of patients and healthcare providers. Read more about Advanz Pharma on Crunchbase…
Gareth O Brien
Co-Founder & Chief Operations Officer @ Enertechnos
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Enertechnos develop, patent, and commercialize CTS as a new concept in ultra-low loss cable based on capacitance technology. Read more about Enertechnos on Crunchbase…
Andy Court
Chief Operations Officer @ YASA
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Andy has a wealth of experience in the development and production engineering of electric motors for high volume applications and mass manufacture. He started his career at Bosch and went on to hold senior roles with TRW’s Automotive Division. Andy has a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Learn more about Andy Court on Crunchbase…Yasa develops and manufactures electric motors and generators of high power and high torque density electric. Read more about YASA on Crunchbase…
David Naylor
Chief Operations Officer @ Monica Healthcare
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David Naylor joined the Monica team as their Operations and Quality Manager. David is a Chartered Engineer with over 20 years of Operational and Quality management experience at Director level within the electrical and electronics industry. During his career, David has worked in many specialised industry sectors (Aerospace, Military, UK Rail) and brings experience in global supply chain management to Monica.
Learn more about David Naylor on Crunchbase… Read more about Monica Healthcare on Crunchbase…
Sumita Dave
Chief Operations Officer @ Business Agility Group
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“The values we share at Business Agility manifest themselves in the relationships we have with our clients. We enjoy a level of respect that can only be earned by delivering precisely what we say we would – quickly and accurately. I’m proud to work on new projects with clients with whom we first partnered over ten years ago.”
Learn more about Sumita Dave on Crunchbase…Business Agility Group is a provider of specialist software development and integration consultancy services. Read more about Business Agility Group on Crunchbase…
Bartosz Bazinski
Co-founder, Chief Operations Officer @ SentiOne
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Read more about SentiOne on Crunchbase…
Craig Aston
Chief Operations Officer @ Celerity
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Craig Aston is the chief operations officer at Celerity. Prior to joining Celerity, Craig served as the vice president of European operations at Datatec Financial Services. He has also held positions at Flo Software Solutions Limited, IBM United Kingdom Ltd, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Learn more about Craig Aston on Crunchbase…Celerity designs and builds systems to support servers and data storage. Read more about Celerity on Crunchbase…
David James
Chief Operations Officer @ The Floow
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Leading the operational growth of the company, David is accountable for the timely and quality delivery of all facets of The Floow’s value proposition to our existing clients as we develop programmes, and to new clients who are working with us for the first time. David worked for GE Capital for 22 years, firstly in the underwriting business, and then for the lending business. He was responsible for the development, delivery and compliance of all insurance products and services sold across GE Capital within an intermediary based business model. In this role, David extended product sales to include all forms of life and general products, enhancing distribution beyond face-to-face sales to include telemarketing and digital media. Geographically, insurance sales now extend globally taking businesses in Asia, Australia, Europe and the US. David is extremely proud to have helped create over 100 jobs in the city of Sheffield for a range of talented people from a number of exciting and innovative backgrounds. During his spare time, David enjoys watching sport (he’s a Manchester United fan!), spending time with his children and generally having fun with friends and family.
Learn more about David James on Crunchbase…The Floow designs the world’s most advanced and lowest-cost telematic systems to make vehicles safer and cheaper for all. Read more about The Floow on Crunchbase…
Dave Bradley
Chief Operations Officer @ Steel Media
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Steel Media operate one of the largest advertising networks. Read more about Steel Media on Crunchbase…
Ryan Leather
Chief Operations Officer @ ITAL
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ITAL develops software solutions to businesses who rely on people and systems for their day-to-day activities. Read more about ITAL on Crunchbase…
Victor Parchment
Chief Operations Officer @ Ichthion
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ictor is in charge of project management and digital technologies. – Currently pursuing a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, with a focus on artificial intelligence in medicine and human factors psychology. – With expertise spanning multiple disciplines, Victor has over 15 years of programming experience, 8 years of project management experience in both hardware and software development, and has conducted scientific research on a number of topics at the intersection of neuroscience and computer science. – Since 2012, Victor has managed the software consulting firm Vixel, a boutique software company that designs and develops bespoke digital solutions, primarily for use in medicine or related technical field.
Learn more about Victor Parchment on Crunchbase…Ichthion engaged in Development of cutting-edge technology to restore the ocean environment. Read more about Ichthion on Crunchbase…
Melissa Mitchell
Chief Operations Officer @ Evoke Systems
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Melissa has over 10 years project coordination, operational and staff management experience. As an integral part of the management team, Melissa ensures the efficient running of the business from an HR and operational perspective whilst also being involved in strategic company plans and decisions.
Learn more about Melissa Mitchell on Crunchbase…Evoke Systems primarily focusing on the development of software to improve the efficiency of flight operations. Read more about Evoke Systems on Crunchbase…
Jes Ongley
Chief Operations Officer @ be the brand
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be the brand is a marketing solution that streamlines the storage, creation, approval and delivery of marketing campaigns and key assets. Read more about be the brand on Crunchbase…
Gary Pubrick
Chief operations officer @ Springboard Research
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Gary has spent 25 years in product development and operational roles. He has more recently been involved with analysing and resolving customer journey and queuing issues in retail environments across the UK and Europe. Holding a MBA, being very inquisitive and believing anything can be improved, has led Gary to develop technological solutions using both hardware and software for real life problems.
Learn more about Gary Pubrick on Crunchbase…Springboard Research provides predictive analytics for retailers, shopping malls, and downtowns using computer vision and AI. Read more about Springboard Research on Crunchbase…
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