Anne-Marie joined Cleveland & Co in 2025 as Managing Director, Corporate, contributing to oversight of daily operations and implementing Cleveland & Co’s strategic vision. Anne-Marie is a commercially driven and results-oriented leader with over 25 years of experience in finance, strategic operations, and business transformation across global top-tier firms. With a proven track record in operational scale-up and performance leadership, Anne-Marie brings a powerful combination of financial expertise and organisational strategy to her role.
As a seasoned Chartered Accountant, Anne-Marie has held senior leadership and advisory roles at EY, PwC, and other top-tier firms, where she worked closely with executive teams to translate strategic ambitions into operational success. Her ability to deliver business transformation while maintaining organisational clarity and rigour has distinguished her throughout her career. Her leadership is marked by collaboration, commercial acumen, and a strong focus on developing empowered, high-performing teams.
As Managing Director, Corporate, Anne-Marie leads Cleveland & Co’s internal corporate strategy, business operations, and cross-border integration efforts. Her remit includes supporting the firm’s continued growth in the investment management sector and ensuring its infrastructure evolves in line with global client needs and ambitions.
Anne-Marie is known for her breadth of experience that enables her to quickly turn strategic vision into action. When she’s not an operations expert, you’ll find her travelling or cooking a meal for friends, adding balance to her life.
Anne-Marie is an experienced finance and strategic operations expert with over 20 years’ experience driving operational excellence and strategic growth in professional services firms. She has a proven track record of leading high-performing teams and implementing successful strategic initiatives, resulting in high-growth businesses.
- Audit
- Award submissions
- Client communications
- Compliance
- Conducting Interviews
- Customer service
- Employee engagement
- Finance
- Financial reporting
- Forecasting
- HR
- Performance management
- Sales presentations
- Sales prospecting
- Strategy development and delivery
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Anne-Marie brings over 20 years of experience in finance and strategic operations, having successfully led high-performing teams and delivered transformational change across EY, PwC and other professional top-tier services firms. As a proven leader, she has consistently delivered exceptional operational results, including scaling fast-growth businesses. She is known for her strategic vision and collaborative leadership style, Anne-Marie leads high performing teams and drives operational efficiency across organisations.
- Finance Trustee, Cooking Up
- Mentor, 30% Club
- B.Acc (Hons), University of Stellenbosch, South Africa (1997)
- Chartered Accountant (South Africa) (1998)
Emma Cleveland founded Cleveland & Co in 2012 with a vision to change the shape of legal services provision, and provide clients with high-quality effective advice. With over 20 years’ experience in the investment management sector, working with blue chips such as AIG, Threadneedle, Russell Investments and Aviva Investors, she is well-placed to do so.
A tri-qualified lawyer, whose noteworthy career began in litigation at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, her broad-based expertise covers all areas of investment management: front office, middle and back office, business development, risk, compliance and legal. Emma has also played a key role in building new legal departments, creating and implementing global policies and managing international teams.
As CEO, Emma provides leadership and vision for how Cleveland & Co serves its 180+ international clients which have a combined AUM of over £4 trillion. Emma’s forethought, work ethic and energy has set the pace for a brand new way of doing business in law. Along with her innovation in the sector, Emma is paving the way for women across the industry building a successful business which has reached an entrepreneurial milestone that only 0.5% of all women in the UK are likely to achieve. Emma’s dedication, drive and superstar success is what makes Cleveland & Co the incredible company is it today.
When she is not blazing a new trail, winning new clients, opening new offices around the world or championing Diversity & Inclusion, Emma loves spending time with her husband, two daughters and golden doodle Snowball.
Emma has a strong track record across the investment management industry globally, working with a cross section of industry professionals from Portfolio Managers through to CEOs, in EMEA, Asia Pacific and North America. She has significant technical skills in:
- ACD Arrangements
- Administration
- AIFs
- Appointed Representative Arrangements
- Broker agreements
- CISs
- Commercial Contracts
- Corporate Finance
- Corporate Restructuring
- Corporate Sponsorship
- Custody
- Distribution
- Hedge Funds
- HR and Employment
- ICAV
- Institutional
- Intra-group Agreements
- Introducer Arrangements
- Joint Venture
- Listed Investment Companies
- M&A
- Outsourcing
- Pooled pension funds
- Private equity
- Real estate
- Regulation, including: MiFID II, Listing Rules, Competition Law
- Research Payments
- Securities Lending
- Service Agreements
- SICAV
- Sponsorship Arrangements
- Transition management
- UCITS and non-UCITS
Qualified in England & Wales, Ireland and NSW Australia
- Investment Association: act as General Counsel and advise on industry documentation, guidance and regulatory issues.
- Invesco Asset Management: advised on all aspects of building the investment legal team including drafting templates, negotiation guides and procedures, and training across EMEA.
- Canada Life Investments: advised on all aspects of fund distribution via all European platform providers, including drafting and negotiating agreements across 20 service providers.
- LaSalle Investment Management: undertook the complete review of all of real estate private equity funds, producing an extensive summary of all key terms of the underlying fund documentation.
- Columbia Threadneedle: advised on listed investment company launch, including drafting, review and negotiation of all fund documentation such as the offering memorandum and all agreements.
- Aviva Investors: advised on all aspects of investment management agreements for major clients, including structuring the overall portfolios of up to £250bn. Some were highly complex: with 140+ portfolios and various overlay strategies with separate/interdependent guidelines.
- Round Hill Capital: advised on all aspects of the asset and property management joint venture transaction between Round Hill and Starwood worth £120 million.
- Rede Partners: act as General Counsel and advised on the placement of various private equity funds including Apax France XI, HgCapital 8, PAI Europe VI and Summa Equity I for Rede Partners.
- Investment Association 2010 IMA Technical Committee
- Law Society of England and Wales
- Law Society of Ireland
- Law Society of New South Wales Australia
- Association of Women Solicitors
- 30% Club
- Bachelors degree in Commerce majoring in Finance (University of Wollongong)
- Honours Degree in Law (University of Wollongong)
- Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (College of Law, Sydney)
- Graduate Certificate in Applied Finance and Investment (Financial Services Institute of Australia)
- Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (College of Law England and Wales)
- Influencing, Persuading & Negotiating (Cambridge Legal Summer School)
- Non-Executive Director Training (Institute of Directors)
