Dan Cobley

Dan Cobley is an entrepreneur and investor in some innovative technology startups, primarily focused on the financial services sector. He is the CEO of Brightbridge Investment Company, which is committed to investing in the creation of enterprises with a focus on developing financial technology and is currently a subsidiary of Blenheim Chalcot. By holding this position, he has co founded three rapidly developing financial technology companies and served as their chairman, namely SalaryFinance, BusinessFinanceCompared, and ClearScore. In addition, he also serves on the board of directors of Liberis, Modular, and Onfido companies. As of the end of 2014, Cobley had been working at Google for over 8 years. For the past three years, he has been serving as the General Manager of Google's UK Ireland region, which is Google's largest market outside the United States and the most advanced country in e-commerce and online advertising investment. He worked in Google's marketing department for 5 years, initially as the Marketing Director for the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg regions, then as the Vice President of Marketing for Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions, and finally promoted to the General Manager of the UK region. Previously, Cobley served as Vice President of Branding and Marketing for Capital One Europe; Marketing Director for Ask Jeeves, PepsiCo, and the Walker brand. Cobley often serves as the keynote speaker for major conferences, delivering speeches on the destructive power of financial technology, technology, innovation, and Google's unique approach to business development. He is also a successful host, journalist, and post dinner speaker. He shared his physics and marketing ideas with over a million online viewers at the TED conference. He ranked third on the 2012 UK Top 100 list compiled by Wired magazine and second among the 1000 most influential Londoners selected by The Flag Evening News. He served as a technical commentator for the BBC's Future World program and helped Alan Hughes choose the role to play on the 2014 Apprentice program. Cobley holds a degree in physics from Oxford University and a master's degree in management from Cambridge University. He is the trustee of a technology trust charity, as well as the CEO of the UK branch of Santander Bank and an acting advisor to the board of directors on all matters related to financial technology. In addition to work, Cobley is very passionate about sports challenges, adventurous vacations, and enjoys spending valuable time with his two teenage sons.