HighQ's leadership team

Ajay Patel

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Ajay is the founder and CEO. He oversees HighQ’s global operations and business strategy. Ajay graduated with a first class degree in computer science and mathematics from Manchester University and later completed a master's degree in information systems at LSE. He qualified as a chartered accountant at PwC in London and later occupied roles in leading investment banks, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. After spending several years in the city, he realized the corporate environment didn’t fulfill his creative, professional or personal ambitions and subsequently started HighQ. The vision was simple: to create a dynamic, fun and successful company that puts its employees and clients at the center of everything it does. read less

Saviz Izadpanah

Co-Founder and Chief Technology Advisor

Saviz is the co-founder and chief technology advisor. He has had the role of chief technology officer at HighQ from 2006 until 2018 and is now acting as a senior advisor of technology spanning the technology infrastructure and product development. Prior to HighQ, Saviz was the global head of debt capital markets sales IT at Deutsche Bank where he was responsible for the program management of multiple applications including Deutsche Bank’s online debt order capture system “dbbonds” for the global DCM sales teams. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Saviz was part of the lead web development team at Barclays Capital. Saviz holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and Technology from Imperial College London. read less

Stuart Barr

Chief Product and Strategy Officer

Stuart leads product strategy and innovation at HighQ. Stuart has considerable experience in business strategy and extensive technical, design, project management and product marketing experience. Stuart has a diverse background in collaboration, social computing, process improvement and digital transformation in the professional services industry, having previously worked at leading organizations including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hays plc and Headshift, an innovative social computing agency. Stuart has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Cardiff Business School, is an international speaker, author and thought leader with a passion for transforming the way people work. read less

Amit Patel

Chief Financial Officer

Amit leads global financial strategy, reporting, planning and analysis, legal and human resources at HighQ. Prior to joining the business, Amit founded and built a prepaid credit card and e-money business, Blue Sky Card Solutions, which he successfully sold to the company’s largest UK competitor in 2012. Before setting up Blue Sky, Amit built a career within banking and private equity where he was involved in several multi-billion pound leveraged buy-outs, principal investments and other high-profile transactions with Bank of Scotland. Amit has a bachelor’s degree in banking and international finance from Cass Business School, London. read less

Steven Robertson

Chief Technology Officer

Steven leads the technology organization within HighQ. He is responsible for the India engineering team, technical operations, security and internal IT departments. Steven is a strong advocate of Agile & DEVOPS methodologies and conducts hands-on training with his teams. Prior to HighQ, Steven has been responsible for the development and operation of large-scale SaaS platforms, including ForcePoint Cloud Security, and Cisco Cloud Security.  Steven holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Canterbury University in New Zealand but switched early in his career from hardware to software engineering. read less