Danielle Baker
Business Development Manager, Shareholder Services (UK)
Introduction and what your role is at EQ?
I have worked within the share registration services business now for approximately 12 years and my current role is working as a Business Development Manager within our UK Shareholder services division. My role focuses on two areas to support growth of the business – transferring existing share registers to Equiniti from our competitors and supporting companies who are looking to list their shares and become publicly traded through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
This involves identifying opportunities, lead generation, building strong relationships within both the advisor and company secretarial community to promote business growth, securing register transfers and new IPO contracts, strategic planning, market research, building and presenting compelling sales pitches, proposal development and targeted marketing campaigns through collaboration with our marketing and bid teams and networking within the wider industry.
What office are you located at and tell us something special about this location?
I’m located predominantly in sunny Worthing! Those of us in Worthing are very lucky to be only a short walk from the coastline and only a 1.5-hour commute into London (when Southern Rail is behaving itself!). Overall, though, it’s the people that make it special.
What’s happened in your career to this point?
I’ve been very lucky to have had some amazing opportunities throughout my career to date at Equiniti. I started working within our operational teams back in 2011 where I was lucky enough to be a part of the creation of our Equiniti India teams. As part of this project, I was given the opportunity to go and work over in our Chennai offices to provide training and development support to colleagues.
In 2014, I joined the Relationship Management team, where I worked as a client services manager supporting our key accounts such as Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Dutch Shell, and then went onto become a relationship manager in 2017, where I managed a portfolio of clients across a range of sectors.
From there, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a secondment when Equiniti acquired Boudicca back in 2018 to support the integration and champion cross-sales within the relationship team. Fast-forward to September 2022, I decided to move over to the New Business Team, which is where I am currently. I am very grateful to have learnt so much from so many colleagues during my career and look forward to continuing to learn and develop further.
What do you like about EQ?
I enjoy working at Equiniti as I feel there is real opportunity for development here, and the work I get to do is varied and no two days are the same. The people also make it a great place to work and it’s exciting to see the business develop under our current ownership.
What’s your biggest EQ achievement?
There’s been so many highlights I’ve really enjoyed – achieving my CGI qualification in company secretarial and share registration practice and working at our offices in Chennai are two that stand out. The most fulfilling thing though is being surrounded by such a great and supportive team of people that I get to work with day in and day out – they really do make all the difference.
What you’re looking forward to in the future at EQ?
I’m looking forward to seeing our innovation and service improvements continue to be deployed and new products and technology such as EQ Insight being developed further. More generally, I’m looking forward to Equiniti continuing to lead the way with our digital-first approach.
Do you have a fun fact/hobby about yourself?
Its probably quite a typical response but I love to travel! I had the opportunity to travel around Vietnam last year and more recently, travelled to Mexico for two weeks where I got to see one of the seven wonders of the world, Chichen Itza.