James Alexander

James Alexander is Co-Founder of Zopa, and former CEO of Green Thing. He is a highly innovative and practical business creator, builder and strategist.

He is currently a Partner of The Foundation, a leading growth and innovation consultancy (where he has worked with clients including M&S, O2, Just Giving, Barclaycard, The Guardian, Save the Children, A&N Media, Friends Life, Old Mutual, HSBC), a Trustee for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and a Trustee and former CEO of Green Thing, a public service that inspires people to lead a greener life. James is also an Advisor to Seedrs, the world’s first online platform for investing seed capital and Chair of GEN Community, an industrial provident society which delivers low carbon investments as well as social impact.

James was previously a Founder of Zopa, the world's first marketplace where people meet to lend and borrow money, which launched in 2005, and where James was CEO until 2007. Prior to Zopa he was Strategy Director at Egg. He joined Egg to create new things launching Egg’s digital TV and mobile services and the UK’s first and most successful account aggregation service. He became Strategy Director in 2001 and saw Egg through its highly successful period of growth and move into profitability in the UK, and led the breakthrough opportunity for Egg entering the US.

Before Egg, James worked at LEK Consulting, where he developed the business case for Smile, Co-operative Bank's Internet bank.

James holds an MBA from INSEAD and a first class honours degree from University College, London. He loves spending time with his family and bird watching – and in 1990, during an expedition to Sao Tome & Principe, helped rediscover 3 species of bird that had been considered by many extinct.