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Crunch Leadership Team
Meet the team behind Crunch, a group of passionate, approachable people dedicated to supporting businesses like yours. With expertise, creativity, and a collaborative spirit, they guide Crunch with purpose, building products, services, and a culture you can trust. We’re not just another accounting service — we’re a partner that empowers your business, helping you take control of your finances while giving you the support and insight you need to grow with confidence.
Darren Fell, CEO & Founder
Darren founded Crunch in 2009 with a simple goal: make accounting easy, empowering, and actually affordable for Freelancers and Small Businesses. As CEO, he’s grown Crunch into one of the UK’s most trusted online accounting brands. Built on smart ideas, a team that genuinely loves what they do, and the occasional well-earned celebratory coffee.
For Darren, Crunch has never been just about numbers. It’s about people. Many of our team stick around for 7+ years, with our Leadership team going strong for over a decade. His passion? Helping people build the businesses they dream of and live the lives they want, without number-crunching nightmares.
For Darren, Crunch has never been just about numbers. It’s about people. Many of our team stick around for 7+ years, with our Leadership team going strong for over a decade. His passion? Helping people build the businesses they dream of and live the lives they want, without number-crunching nightmares.
René Moolenaar, Non-Executive Director
Dr. René Moolenaar brings a wealth of strategic, financial and academic expertise to his role as Board Advisor and Non-Executive Director at Crunch. With a background spanning large international corporates as well as startups, René is passionate about helping organisations grow with clarity and purpose. He has been instrumental in guiding Crunch’s evolution into a powerful accounting platform and responsive service, always emphasising innovation and long-term sustainability. René believes in the strength of collaboration and thoughtful challenge, often saying that the best businesses don’t just optimise the present, they reimagine the future. René is also an Associate Professor in the Strategy & Marketing department of the University of Sussex Business School.
Stephen Paynter, Finance Director
Stephen Paynter is Chief Financial Officer at Crunch, where he brings deep financial expertise and a strategic mindset to support the company’s growth. He is passionate about building robust systems and processes that allow Crunch to scale while continuing to deliver exceptional value to freelancers and small businesses. Stephen plays a key role in guiding financial strategy and planning, and he believes in the power of collaboration, often highlighting that the company’s success comes from the shared dedication and insight of the whole team.
Helena Straussmann, Transformation & Product Director
Helena Straussmann is Transformation & Product Director at Crunch, leading the strategy and delivery of innovative solutions that empower freelancers and small businesses. She combines a sharp commercial mindset with a people-first approach, ensuring products not only meet regulatory and technical requirements but also genuinely improve clients’ day-to-day lives. Helena is passionate about simplifying complex processes, reducing barriers, and using automation and AI to create intuitive experiences. A natural collaborator, she champions cross-team ownership and believes the best results come from curiosity, teamwork, and a drive to continually improve.
Courtney Frazer-Bates, Head of Sales & Marketing
Courtney Frazer-Bates is Chief Marketing Officer at Crunch, where he brings extensive experience, deep industry knowledge, and a passion for connecting with customers. He is dedicated to building a brand that reflects Crunch’s mission to empower freelancers and small businesses. Courtney plays a key role in shaping the company’s marketing vision, using his expertise to steer business growth by helping valued customers find the right products, whether Crunch Accountants or Crunch Software. He champions collaboration across teams and believes that the best marketing comes from initial analysis, teamwork, and a passion to understand the customer.
Helen Monk, Head of People
Helen Monk is Head of People at Crunch, ensuring with her amazing team that people remain at the heart of our decision making to ensure business success. Helen has helped to develop the unique Crunch culture that is definitely not corporate, one that instils passion, pride and ownership across the whole team. Helen ensures this spirit flows through every level at Crunch, and is always listening to feedback to help us continually improve and evolve. It’s very important to Helen that we embrace an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued, supported and empowered to grow.
David Loft, Head of Technical Strategy
David Loft is Head of Technical Strategy at Crunch, where he brings deep expertise and a forward-thinking approach to building the company’s technology roadmap. He is passionate about creating innovative, reliable, and scalable systems that support Crunch’s mission to empower freelancers and small businesses. David works closely with teams across the business to ensure technology aligns with customer needs and long-term growth, fostering a collaborative environment where ideas can flourish and solutions have real impact.
Jamie Hollis, Head of Engineering
Jamie Hollis is Head of Engineering at Crunch, where he combines technical expertise with over 12 years of experience at the company. Starting as a Java Developer, he progressed through delivery and management roles before taking responsibility for Crunch’s Engineering Department, including Site Reliability, IT, Software, and Application Support. He and his team have been central to Crunch’s growth into one of the UK’s leading accounting platforms for freelancers and small businesses, ensuring projects deliver client value, reliability, and scalability. A strong advocate of Agile methodologies, Jamie champions forward-thinking ways of working and fosters a collaborative culture of creativity, problem-solving, and continuous improvement.
Trusted by our clients
Established in 2009, trusted ever since.
