Our Board

Lord Leigh of Hurley Non-Executive Chairman

Howard Leigh is a qualified Chartered Accountant. In 1988 he set up Cavendish Corporate Finance LLP where he remains Senior Partner. In 2000, Howard was appointed as the Chairman of the Faculty of Corporate Finance of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). In 2008 he was awarded the Faculty’s Outstanding Achievement in Corporate Finance award. In 2018, Cavendish merged with finnCap and the new group – finnCap Group plc
– was listed on the London AIM market. He is the Senior Treasurer of the Conservative Party and chairs four charities. In 2013, Howard was elevated to the Peerage as Lord Leigh of Hurley. He joined the Manolete Board in June 2021.

Steven Cooklin Chief Executive Officer, ACA ACSI CF

Steven founded Manolete in 2009 and is Chief Executive. Steven is a Chartered Accountant having qualified at PwC in 1991. Steven has over 20 years’ experience in corporate finance with National Westminster Bank, Calder Corporate Advisory Ltd and Hill Samuel Investment Bank and is a former director of HSBC Investment Bank (Corporate Finance Division). Steven is an Associate Member of The Association of Business Recovery Professionals. Steven has also been invited to share his views on the insolvency sector by the Bank of England Decision Maker Panel.

Mark Tavener Chief Financial Officer

Mark Tavener joined Manolete as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Board Director on 7 October 2019. Mark is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of experience. The core of Mark's career has been with Deloitte in London in Corporate Finance. He also served a secondment period within Government. Following his time with Deloitte, Mark was appointed Finance Director of a FinTech start-up company IPSX. Most recently, Mark has been a Director in the RSM due diligence team leading diligence on financial services businesses in the mid-market.

Dr Stephen Baister Independent Non-Executive Director

Stephen joined the Company in September 2017 as a senior adviser and was appointed as a Independent Non-Executive Director in November 2018. Stephen was appointed as a bankruptcy registrar (Judge) of the High Court in 1996 and as chief bankruptcy registrar in 2004, he retired in 2017. Stephen has also been consultant for Moon Beever LLP since November 2017. He has a PhD in Law and was admitted as a solicitor in 1981 and as a licensed insolvency practitioner in 1985. Stephen is a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, an honorary member of the Insolvency Lawyers Association and honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management. Stephen also chairs the Manolete Board’s Remuneration Committee.

Annie Devoy Independent Non-Executive Director

Annie Devoy was appointed to the Manolete Board in January 2022 as an Independent Non-executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee. Annie is a qualified Chartered Accountant. She was a Partner at PwC from 2002 to 2020 and a member of the executive leadership team for PwC’s Tax, Legal and People Advisory services business. Previously Annie led PwC’s UK Transfer Pricing Network and was part of the firm’s Global Transfer Pricing management team. Annie retired from PwC in 2020 and remains a trustee for PwC’s legacy Defined Benefit pension funds.

Mena Halton Managing Director

Mena qualified as a solicitor in 1985 and joined Manolete in 2014. She is Manolete’s Head of Legal and has specialised in contentious insolvency throughout her career. Mena is recognised for litigation funding in the Chambers and Partners Litigation Support Guide 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. Mena was recently included in The Lawyer Hot 100 and also in Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders – Third Party Funding for 2020 and 2021. She joined the Manolete Board as Managing Director in June 2022 and is a member of the Insolvency and Companies Court Users’ Committee.