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Our team

We are a team of almost 60 professionals in the UK who have a passion for governance, client service and team work. All of our Company Secretaries are members of the Corporate Governance Institute and have over 330 years experience between them. We are proud to have won or been shortlisted for the institute's 'Service provider of the year' category every year for the last four years.

Being part of Link Group, a global, digitally enabled business, our UK team work with our Australian Company Matters colleagues, who bring together more than 300 years' cumulative experience and expertise – much of which spent at the "coal-face" in-house, as well as in top tier legal and advisory firms.

This means we provide our clients with market-leading, trusted and comprehensive governance support across both UK and Australian markets.

Meet our senior team

This team works with a very talented group of managers, assistant managers, senior consultants, consultants, assistant consultants and a great business support team.

Kathy Cong

Managing Director, Company Matters

Kathy is an experienced company secretary and governance professional with over 19 years’ experience. Prior to joining Company Matters as its Managing Director, she was Equiniti Group plc’s Company Secretary for four years and then led EQ’s company secretarial and governance services business, Prism Cosec. Kathy has also worked in-house for Investec plc, a dual-listed international banking and wealth management group, for over 13 years.

With extensive international governance experience, Kathy is an expert in Financial Services, Risk Management, Due Diligence, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Corporate Governance. She is dynamic, versatile and commercially focused and highly skillful in a broad range of areas; successfully leading teams and creating efficiencies in working practices, with a particular emphasis on corporate governance, board support, regulatory and statutory compliance, subsidiary management, share options and managing change and transformation in fast growth companies.

Michael Conway

FCG
Associate Director

Michael is an Associate Director at Company Matters. He joined us in 2016 after an extensive career as an in-house Company Secretary for several FTSE companies, making him one of our most experienced CoSec’s. Michael leads our Technical Committee, which ensures that colleagues are up-to-date on legal, regulatory and corporate governance developments relevant to company secretaries and their clients.

Michael is client lead on some of our largest clients, including a major US investment bank. He also supports many premium-listed clients, including investment trusts, with a full range of company secretarial services such as board support, advice on the FCA’s Listing and Disclosure Rules and corporate governance best practice.

Paula O’Reilly

FCG
Associate Director

Paula is an Associate Director at Company Matters with over 15 years’ experience in professional services firms. Paula provides senior oversight in the provision of our services which includes corporate governance advice, board support and statutory compliance to a range of clients including investment trusts and other Premium Listed companies. She has also led project-based work, including pre and post IPO support, corporate reporting and secretariat reviews.

Prior to joining Company Matters in 2014, Paula worked for BDO Ireland where she provided corporate governance and company law advice to a FTSE 250 company and a portfolio of private limited companies, with full oversight of team client deliverables. Previously, she was a Company Secretary in Matheson, a big four law firm in Ireland, assisting in the provision of board support and advisory services to Irish listed open-ended funds.

Paula holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Public & Social Policy and a Bachelor of Law (LLB) from the University of Galway, Ireland. She is a Fellow of The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland.

Caroline Emmet

FCG
Associate Director

Caroline joined Company Matters in 2014 and has provided a variety of tailored company secretarial services to a range of our clients, including AIM, Main Market and overseas commercial and investment companies. For the past seven years, she has supported one of our largest FTSE 350 clients with a full suite of board, corporate governance and statutory compliance services. Caroline is also a member of our Technical Committee, which ensures that colleagues are up-to-date on legal, regulatory and corporate governance developments relevant to company secretaries and their clients. She particularly enjoys considering how to apply good practice in a proportionate and tailored manner.

Caroline became Fellow of The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland in 2020. Prior to qualifying as a Company Secretary, she worked at Rothschild & Co, a leading investment bank providing advice to large and mid-cap companies and private equity groups on mergers, acquisitions, disposals and debt and equity financings, in the UK and abroad – experiences which continue to stand her in good stead in her current career.

Wendy Hazley-Payne

Associate Director

Wendy is an Associate Director with Company Matters with over 20 years’ commercial experience, CIMA qualified finance and corporate governance professional.  Her most recent role was Christie Group Plc’s Group Company Secretary and prior to this she established and ran her own accountancy practice for 8 years.  Her previous business experience is broad, having held leadership roles in large corporate's including Nestle UK and EE, in addition to significant experience in professional services, including internal audit, finance and IT project management.  She has been a director of a number of businesses and has a keen interest in process improvement, business growth and adding value.

Wendy completed her BA (Hons) degree in management science, French and German at Keele/Stirling University, with semesters at Osnabrück University in North West Germany and Angers University in the Loire Valley, France.

Geraldine Brown

Senior Manager, Business Enablement

Geraldine joined Link Group in 2016 after working in a recruitment consultancy for almost 15 years in a business support capacity. 

Geraldine’s current role is supporting the Company Matters team in all that they do. She is responsible for managing the support provided to the business by the Business Support Team and contributing to the Senior Leadership Team in the management of all operational activities. Geraldine has a particular focus on the HR and recruitment processes for the team, ensuring we hire the best people for our team, and supporting colleagues fully once they've joined.

Steve Playford

Senior Manager, Company Matters

Steve joined Company Matters in 2021 as a Senior Manager focussed on Business Development. He has over 30 years of Business Development experience gained in various industry sectors including International Trade, Education and Media. Steve was instrumental in the development of the Financial Times Board Director Programme, which included the FT Non-Executive Director Diploma, based on the UK Corporate Governance Code and now the gold standard of qualifications for NED’s and Board Trustees.

Steve has held many senior positions during his career, including the role of Managing Director at the UK’s leading executive job portal, exec-appointments.com. He also volunteers as Director of a Right to Manage Property Company.

Steve’s role at Company Matters is to provide our clients, current and prospective, with a best in class service, understanding their needs and requirements and providing them with effective solutions to help their organisation to thrive as they develop and grow.

Karen Waldron

Senior Manager

Karen is an experienced Company Secretary and Governance Professional and has been an associate member of the Chartered Governance Institute since 2002.

Karen has over 20 years’ experience gained in premium listed companies, and was Assistant Company Secretary at Rolls-Royce and prior to joining Company Matters in June 2022, Deputy Company Secretary  at Frasers Group, where as well as ensuring the compliance of the listed entity, she was responsible for the company secretarial  compliance of a large number of UK and overseas subsidiaries. 

Karen also has experience of governance in the Public and not for profit sectors, having worked in educational governance for Nottingham County Council and is currently Secretary and Trustee of the charity, Sharewear Clothing Scheme. Karen has a keen interest in ESG and leads on this as a member of our technical committee.

Aleksandra Saldarini

Senior Manager

As a Senior Manager at Company Matters, Alex is responsible for a portfolio of listed and limited companies, which have included premium listed FTSE250 investment trusts, FTSE250 and AIM companies. Alex supports her clients by providing advice on all areas of corporate governance, corporate reporting, regulatory developments, statutory compliance and best practice. Through full time in-house secondments, Alex has worked in company secretariats of FTSE100, FTSE250 and asset management companies and has experience working with investment companies and firms operating in a variety of sectors, including insurance, oil and gas and healthcare, as well as FCA-regulated entities.

Prior to joining Company Matters in 2015, Alex worked in Share Plans, where she was responsible for supporting a diverse portfolio of clients, including FTSE100 companies, with all aspects of operation of their employee share incentive plans. Alex holds an MSc in Management from UCL and qualified as a Chartered Secretary in 2018.

Amanda Read

Senior Manager

Amanda is an experienced Senior Company Secretary Manager and Governance Professional with over 20 years of experience gained within the offshore Corporate Governance sector, overseas and UK AIM-listed companies. Extensive knowledge of MAR compliance and listing rules.   

Prior to joining Company Matters, Amanda was the Group Company Secretary for a boutique asset management consultancy firm that provided corporate governance, law, fund management solutions, international administration and investment advisory in London.

Prior to relocating to the UK in 2021, Amanda was previously an Assistant Manager for IQ-EQ Group based in Guernsey, Channel Islands, where as well as improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the company’s business operations in key areas such as finance, risk management and compliance, she was responsible for leading teams in identifying and implementation of cost saving initiatives, improvement of management and sharpen quality in the Private Wealth arena.