Shakespeare Martineau has appointed a new director to help grow and enhance the reputation and brand of its company secretarial and governance business.
With more than 30 years’ experience, Maddie Cordes has joined the firm’s company secretary business, where she will also be sharing her knowledge with the team, as well as Shakespeare Martineau’s existing and new clients.
Prior to her new role, Maddie – who is based at the firm’s London hub but working with clients nationally – worked across both professional practice, including EY, Capita and TMF Group, and in-house as a company secretary for a range of listed and unlisted companies across all sectors.
She also spent three years as head of corporate services at law firms offshore where she was responsible for a team of 50 across four jurisdictions, supporting more than 13,000 legal entities and providing board support for investor funds.
Maddie said: “I am thrilled to have joined Shakespeare Martineau as a thriving and dynamic business and be given the opportunity to return to professional practice after working in-house as a company secretary recently to share my experience more widely. In particular, I am looking forward to developing new services and offering mentoring and training within the team and for our clients.
“I enjoy finding new opportunities and forging client relationships, so my top priorities in my new role are to raise awareness of the business in the marketplace generally and how we can help Shakespeare Martineau’s wider client base and businesses, while also growing my own client base.
“Corporate governance is ever-changing and developing, and the role of company secretary is full of variety. There are always new ways to support our clients and the wider company secretarial marketplace with thought leadership and practical advice in carrying out the role.”
Maddie is skilled in governance, business development, training and operational management, specialising in board and shareholder meeting support, company law, staff development, and change and performance management.
She has also been the co-editor of Shackleton on the Law and Practice of Meetings for more than 10 years and is a mentor and examiner with the professional body for company secretaries, the Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland.
Ben Harber, partner who heads up Shakespeare Martineau’s London-based company secretarial team, said: “We are delighted to welcome Maddie to our team. Her experience across both professional practice and in-house means she has an in-depth understanding of our clients’ challenges.
“Whether we are providing a fully outsourced company secretarial function or assisting a client carrying out the company secretarial role part-time alongside their other duties, our job is to provide comfort to both our client contact and the overall board that the role is being fulfilled professionally with an appropriate level of up to date governance knowledge and external support.
“With the ever-increasing spotlight on how companies implement and then apply good governance, our primary role is to ensure this is truly embedded. Boards rely heavily on us as governance advisers.
“I am looking forward to working with Maddie and to see her bring her deep knowledge and expertise to help strengthen and grow the team, as well as our overall client base.”
