Our Story
A combined 50 years of corporate governance and company secretarial experience brought Bernadette Young and David Gracie together in 2021 to lead Indigo. We provide bespoke, innovative governance advisory services.
Our mission is to offer a unique combination of independence, adaptability and expertise to businesses looking for support with their corporate governance and company secretarial needs. We are passionate about helping boards navigate a constantly evolving governance landscape and create long-term sustainable value.
Indigo is built on the success of Chadwick Corporate Consulting, a company secretarial and corporate governance consultancy founded by Bernadette in 2005.
Our Directors
Bernadette Young, FCG
Director
Bernadette has 30 years’ experience as a governance professional, working with numerous boards and businesses across the listed and private sectors. She is a firm believer in the benefits of good governance, strong organisational leadership, culture and values, and in the synergy between organisational purpose and value creation.
Bernadette is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute and a highly respected member of the profession. A frequent speaker at professional events, she is a regular contributor to the professional journal ‘Governance and Compliance’ and author of the ICSA Corporate Governance Handbook.
David Gracie, FCG
Director
David joined Indigo as Director and co-owner in June 2021. David performs the role of Company Secretary for both listed and private companies, covering all core duties including board support and corporate activity, and takes the lead on a range of governance projects including the Annual Report and Accounts.
Prior to joining Indigo, David was at KPMG where he had led the Global Company Secretarial division since 2016, and had previously spent 17 years at Makinson Cowell providing corporate governance and investor relations advice to FTSE 350 boards. David is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute, having qualified as a company secretary in 2005, and is also a Trustee of the Mulberry Schools Trust, a multi-academy trust based in East London.
Our Team
Claire Blackburn, FCG
Director of Governance Services
Claire has over 15 years’ experience of delivering governance and compliance services in a professional services environment. Claire joined the Indigo team in July 2021, having previously led the UK Company Secretarial team at KPMG. During her career Claire has supported a wide range of clients in the UK and internationally, including regulated firms. Prior to joining KPMG in 2015, Claire was a senior member of the company secretarial team at Eversheds Sutherland, responsible for transactional support services.
Claire is a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute and regularly attends and presents at seminars and events. Claire shares Bernadette and David’s passion for promoting good governance, in particular the importance of diversity and inclusion at the board level and throughout an organisation. Recently, Claire contributed to researching and writing a section of the 2020 Hampton Alexander Report, looking at the talent pool of females within FTSE 350 companies.
Caroline Adams
Governance Manager
Caroline is an experienced Compliance professional who joined Indigo in 2022, having previously worked for over 15 years in various Compliance roles. Caroline started her career at Ernst & Young in the Quality and Risk Management team before moving into Compliance roles within the Asset Management world and more recently working in a Compliance Advisory role at an Authorised Corporate Director firm. As such, she has a wealth of experience of working with, and supporting, clients with their regulatory requirements, including those of the FCA, and of supporting governance meetings.
Karoline Singleton
Governance Manager
Karoline is an experienced governance professional who joined Indigo and the world of professional services in 2022, having previously worked for several years in various governance roles in the NHS and social housing sector. As such, she has a wealth of experience of working with, and supporting, boards and their committees. Karoline is currently studying for her LLM Masters in Corporate Governance at the University of Law and is due to complete this in late 2022. On completion, she will simultaneously gain her Chartered Governance Professional qualification and will apply to become an Associate of the Chartered Governance Institute.
Mobile 07927 132060
karoline.singleton@
indigogovernance.com
Sarah Threadgold
Governance Manager
Sarah joined Indigo in 2022, having previously worked in governance and compliance roles across the public and third sectors, most recently managing the governance and safeguarding support function for a health-related national charity. She enjoys working with and supporting boards and finds great inspiration and motivation in the impact of good governance on organisations’ effectiveness, cultural health and sustainability.
Alongside her role with Indigo, Sarah is Chair of Trustees of a growing multi academy trust of primary schools across Essex.
Bev Siddons
Company Secretarial Assistant
Bev joined Indigo in 2014 and manages our clients’ statutory records, Companies House filings, and board and general meeting minutes for corporate changes.
Bev has previously worked at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Bankruptcy and Companies Courts.
Libby Gracie
Company Secretarial Assistant
Libby has been part of our team since 2018. She works closely with our clients where we are appointed to provide permanent board and committee meeting services, in particular supporting the chairs of those companies in drafting agendas, preparing papers, attending and minuting meetings and circulating actions lists.
Libby has completed the Chartered Governance Institute’s foundation programme. Earlier in her career, she worked as an insolvency administrator for Begbies Traynor.
Tim Page
Company Secretarial Assistant
Tim joined us straight from university in 2020 and has already nearly completed the Chartered Governance Institute’s qualification programme as he progresses towards achieving his ambition to become a Chartered Governance Professional. Tim maintains statutory records through Diligent Entities and makes filings on behalf of clients at Companies House. He has also been supporting the team on a variety of projects and attends and supports several client board meetings. Tim won the Chartered Governance Institute’s Tom Morrison Essay Prize competition in 2021 for his essay on what ‘building back better’ means for governance professionals following the COVID-19 pandemic and also won a DMJ Governance Hot 100 ‘Rising Stars’ award in 2022.
Tim’s professional experience includes working in the recruitment industry for financial services.
Telephone 01702 476824
tim.page@
indigogovernance.com
Our Advisory Board
Colin Watts
Colin spent more than 20 years at Makinson Cowell, the leading investor relations advisory company, where he advised FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies on the identification and characterisation of their institutional shareholder base. He also led Makinson Cowell advice to clients on all aspects of the AGM voting process, from developing the initial plans on engagement strategies with institutional shareholders, all the way to the analysis of the proxy votes lodged in advance of the shareholder meeting.
Colin has strong links with corporate governance teams at institutional investors and also with market participants such as proxy voting agencies. He is a regular presenter on corporate governance, AGM voting and the shareholder identification process, covering small group sessions for client investor relations and company secretarial teams alongside larger seminars and webinars.
Lorraine Young, FCG
Lorraine is a chartered governance professional and accredited mediator, who provides board advisory and related consultancy services. She is a Non-Executive Director of PHSC plc and a former Non-Executive Director of City of London Group plc, both AIM listed companies.
Lorraine is a Past President and Fellow of ICSA, the Chartered Governance Institute. She has held senior governance roles at a number of FTSE 350 companies. She ran her own company secretarial and corporate governance advisory practice for 13 years, which in 2016 she merged with the cosec team at a UK top 50 law firm, where she was a partner. Since February 2019, Lorraine has been pursuing her own consultancy interests.
Interested in joining Indigo?
Indigo is an independent specialist provider of corporate governance and company secretarial services to listed and large private companies. Indigo is going through an exciting growth phase and is keen to hear from individuals who may be interested in joining and help support its growing client base.
Based at our offices in Essex or Manchester, working remotely and/or attending at client offices, we are open to those looking for a full-time role as well as more flexible part-time hours for those seeking a better work-life balance or who need to fit their careers around other commitments.
Why join Indigo?
- You want to join a dynamic, growing business.
- You want to be the go-to person for clients
- You want to achieve a sustainable work-life balance.
- You are looking for greater in flexibility in how you work.
- You want to contribute to a broader range of governance projects.
- You want to feel valued and be an integral part of the team.
We offer a competitive salary, bonus arrangement and other benefits.
If you would like to find out more about joining our friendly team at this exciting time, please contact one of our directors using the details below.
