Steve Harris
Managing Director, EQ Advisory
Steve Harris became Managing Director for the EQ Advisory business during 2022. EQ Advisory is focussed on supporting corporate governance and investor relations objectives. This business area of EQ, under Steve’s leadership, brings together the brands of Boudicca (proxy solicitation and corporate governance advisory), Prism CoSec (Company Secretarial Services) and RD:IR (investor relations).
When I asked Steve what he was looking forward to he commented “The individual teams are collaborating and pooling knowledge to support our clients and demonstrate the value that all three areas can bring. With many business-wide initiatives underway we look forward to delivering enhanced value in the form of advice, new products and developments in technology.”
We would now like to introduce the three business areas, all providing interlinking and connected advisory support. I took time to ask each of my colleagues a few key questions (and considered these myself too).
EQ Proxy Solicitation Advisory (formerly Boudicca)
Wayne Slyfield, Head of Operations
An introduction to your role at EQ
I’m Wayne Slyfield, a Chartered Fellow of Securities & Investments, Head of Operations Proxy Solicitation in EQ Advisory UK Shareholder Services. I joint manage the proxy team with Anne-Marie Clarke, ACG, Head of Corporate Governance. I project manage all proxy related campaigns and lead all M&A transactions. I have a corporate broking, corporate finance and dealing background covering IPOs and secondary fund raising and trading. I have in-depth knowledge of front, middle and back-office processes, & Proxy Corporate Governance, advising and executing our AIM and the Main Market corporate client’s objectives, across all industry sectors. I also design and build bespoke systems, enabling straight through processing and removal of manual processes.
What’s your biggest EQ achievement?
Designing and building the new Proxy Research system and being part of a wider team working to integrate all parts of the EQ UK Shareholder Services.
What are you looking forward to in the future at EQ?
Digitising all our processes, growing our products and services offerings and shaping the future of Financial Services.
Anne-Marie Clarke, Head of Corporate Governance
An introduction to my role at EQ
I’m Anne-Marie Clarke, Head of Corporate Governance within the EQ Proxy Solicitation Advisory business. I head up the Corporate Governance team and, together with my counterpart, Wayne Slyfield, Head of Operations, we are responsible for delivering our corporate governance advisory and shareholder engagement services to our clients. I’m also delighted to be Chair of the CGPro Network, a network supported by EQ for the wider corporate governance community.
What’s my biggest EQ achievement?
Developing a high quality, corporate governance team who are passionate about the work we do for our clients. We love research and we enjoy communicating this through our regular monthly updates.
What am I looking forward to in the future at EQ?
Being part of developing and delivering the EQ Advisory business. Working with my colleagues in RD:IR and Prism Cosec, to deliver enhancements to our existing products and services and to launch new ones to market, all with the aim of supporting ESG!
To find out more, please visit: Proxy Solicitation Advisory
EQ Investor Relations Services – RD:IR
Isabel Richardson, Head of IR Services
An introduction to your role at EQ
I’m Isabel Richardson, Head of Investor Relations (IR) Services at RD:IR within the EQ Advisory business. I am currently responsible for the IR CRM & Targeting services delivered into our clients’ Investor Relations teams via our platform IR:InTouch, including data provision, functionality and client support. I have 22 years’ experience in the industry, joining EQ following the acquisition of RD:IR in 2019 after working at RD:IR since its inception in 2002.
What’s your biggest EQ achievement?
Being part of the senior management team at RD:IR and building up the business from the original four employees. It’s now the UK leading provider of share register analysis and IR CRM services. Instrumental to this success was the development of the IR:InTouch platform which is now fully embedded into our clients’ equity and debt IR processes.
What are you looking forward to in the future at EQ?
We have some exciting new functional enhancements coming to IR InTouch in 2023. Beyond those, I am looking forward to further integrating the services we deliver to our client base. These include the services that my colleagues in RD:IR, Prism Cosec and EQ registration deliver to their clients, contributing to the aim of EQ being a trusted advisor to multiple teams within each client.
Ian Smith, Head of Analytics
An introduction to your role at EQ
I’m Ian, Head of Analytics EQ Advisory, having joined EQ following the acquisition of RD:IR in 2019. I have worked in Investor Relations for my entire career, having spent the last 17 years in the sector. I lead the Share Register Analysis team, where we provide services to over 750 issuers. I am also responsible for the development of the analytics content of our online platform IR InTouch.
What’s your biggest EQ achievement?
Without doubt, building an extremely knowledgeable analytics department that provides unrivalled analytics and customer services to our large and diverse client base. I have worked with many of the team for over ten years and having that longevity in the department has been vital to our success.
What are you looking forward to in the future at EQ?
Expanding our analytics services by working with and incorporating other areas of EQ into our offering. We are in a fantastic position to drive our offering forward to benefit our clients even further. These really are exciting times.
To find out more, please visit: Investor Relations Services
EQ Company Secretarial Services – Prism Cosec
Matthew Jones, Client Director
An introduction to your role at EQ
I’m Matthew Jones, one of the Client Directors at Prism Cosec, the company secretarial services team within the EQ Advisory business. Together with my fellow client directors, we manage an experienced team of company secretaries to provide full company secretarial support to our corporate clients in the listed and private sectors. We are also involved - together with our EQ colleagues in the share registration business - in assisting client IPOs and in providing corporate governance support to them over their initial years as listed companies.
What’s your biggest EQ achievement?
Being part of the EQ team which managed the acquisition of EQ’s listed parent company by Siris Capital.
What are you looking forward to in the future at EQ?
Being part of developing and delivering the EQ Advisory business and working with my colleagues to deliver high quality services to our clients.
Sally Chandler, Client Director
An introduction to your role at EQ
I’m Sally Chandler, one of the Client Directors at Prism Cosec, the company secretarial services team within the EQ Advisory business. I joined Prism in 2017, prior to which I was an in-house Company Secretary at various companies in the property, retail and aviation sectors. I currently act as Company Secretary for two AIM listed clients and have supported clients on IPOs on AIM and the Main Market. With my Client Director colleagues, we manage a team of experienced and some newly qualified company secretaries.
What are you looking forward to in the future at EQ?
Working with my colleagues to build and develop our Prism Cosec team, providing high quality company secretarial support and best practice governance advice to our clients.
Madeleine Cordes, Client Director
An introduction to your role at EQ
I’m Madeleine Cordes, one of the Client Directors at Prism Cosec, the company secretarial services team within the EQ Advisory business. I have just joined Prism and have a background in both industry and working for clients. I previously led the company secretarial team at Capita and worked at TMF and Ernst & Young, as well as acting as the Company Secretary of FTSE 250 company Carpetright PLC for 10 years and working on many flotations on the Main Market.
What are you looking forward to in the future at EQ?
Working with my colleagues to continue to provide high quality services to our clients and to introduce new services and webinars and training.
To find out more, please visit: Company Secretarial Services