Our Management Team

Our Management Team

Colin Tenwick
Chief Executive Officer

Colin joined Livebookings in November 2010, with a remit to drive the company’s growth and cement Livebookings’ position as the market leader in providing reservations and marketing services to the restaurant industry. Colin has come to Livebookings with an immensely successful track record of scaling fast-growing SaaS companies, most recently at StepStone ASA, where he built up the company and its revenues over eight and a half years from €17m to €120m before the business was sold.

His previous positions include European Vice President and General Manager for RedHat Inc, European Vice President and General Manager for Sybase and Director of International Business at Ingres Corp.

Colin was named UK CEO of the Year at the 2008 UK Innovation and Growth Awards and he considers Calle Le Canyon in Val d’Isѐre, The Square in London and Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill to be among his favorite restaurants.

Ian Cole
Chief Financial Officer

Ian joined Livebookings in November 2010. Prior to joining the company, he worked in successful partnership for nine years with Livebookings’ CEO, Colin Tenwick, at RedHat and most recently as Chief Financial Officer at StepStone ASA.

Ian started his career at Coopers & Lybrand – now PwC. He considers his favorite restaurants to be Lofoten in Oslo and Da Vinci’s in Falmouth.

Benjamin Smith
Finance Director

Benjamin joined Livebookings in 2007. His previous roles include Financial Accountant at Vans Services Ltd, where he managed financial reporting for Vans footwear in all their European markets and Senior Financial Analyst for Office Holdings Ltd, where he was instrumental in providing and researching key data to facilitate a three-fold increase in outlets across the UK and Ireland. Benjamin graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in music but swiftly realised he was more suited to a career in finance. He is a huge foodie, eating out at London’s best restaurants at least twice a week and considers L'Etranger, Tom Aikens and in Arbutus in London and Tao in New York City among his favourites.

Robert Swerling
Chief Commercial Officer

Robert joined Livebookings in April 2010, having previously held the position of New Business Development Principal for Google EMEA. Prior to that, he was Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of Credit Market Analysis Limited (now part of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange) which has become the leading provider of intra-day credit derivative data systems and services to the financial markets.

Robert began his career as a commercial barrister with Maitland Chambers in Lincoln's Inn, where he practiced for four years and his favourite restaurants include L'Absinthe in Primrose Hill, London and Roland Pierroz in Verbier, Switzerland.

Matthew Batchelor
Chief Technical Officer

Matthew joined Livebookings in March 2010. Previously Chief Technology Officer at Breakingviews (a subscription service offering comment to businesses on news stories, now owned by Thomson Reuters), Matthew has vast experience in running large scale websites and was a key figure in developing the software that Breakingviews currently boasts. His remit at Livebookings is to manage Livebookings’ software-as-service (SaaS) platform, future technology projects and to ensure restaurant clients continue to be provided with fast and dependable booking services.

Christopher Persson
President US operations, Livebookings Inc

Christopher joined Livebookings in February 2006 after the company he founded, Loghos (Loghos Logical Hospitality Systems), merged with Livebookings. Prior to Livebookings, Christopher held positions including General Manager of business simulation company BTS Group and Sales and Marketing Director for French online health and wellbeing provider Vielife. He has a soft spot for the English pub tradition and after graduating from Jefferson College, St Louis and Stockholm University, held various positions in the industry.

After moving to London Christopher was fortunate to run his own pub for a few years - the Phene Arms in Chelsea, London. His favorite restaurants include the Spotted Pig in New York, East in Hamburg, Pappa & Ciccia in Fulham and Bistro Ruby in Stockholm

Guy Halfhead
Vice President Sales

Guy joined Livebookings in July 2011, with responsibility for leading the company's global sales division. Guy was previously Business Development Director at KickApps (the market leading social publishing solution acquired by NASDAQ listed Kit Digital), where he was responsible for driving sales, customer acquisition and strategic partnerships across EMEA. Prior to this, he led the integration of CTSpace to Sword Group, listed on Euronext.

His favorite restaurants include Hakkasan and Banners in Crouch End.

Celia Pronto
Vice President Marketing

Celia joined Livebookings in November 2010, initially as Managing Director of Consumer Marketing at Livebookings’ consumer restaurant reservations website, Bookatable. She took on the position of Vice President Marketing in June 2011, with responsibility for global customer acquisition and retention activities, brand development, marketing and communications. With experience in industries spanning travel, hospitality, FMCG, services and e-commerce, she has previously held senior marketing roles at STA Travel, InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, Rank Group Plc and Unilever.

She considers Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London, The Butcher Shop & Grill in Johannesburg, Bouchon by Thomas Keller in Las Vegas and Indra in Mauritius among her favorite restaurants.