A pioneering partnership built on shared values
Drawing upon a legacy of experience and a commitment to philanthropy, our founders Leslie Murdock and Claire Martell have forged a pioneering partnership rooted in shared values. Learn more about their remarkable journey.
The founders, Leslie Murdock and Claire Martell have been dedicated visionaries in the fields of accounting, finance, and HR for decades. Recognizing the need for specialty financial talent, Leslie founded Murdock & Associates in 1989 after leaving Ernst & Young and Claire joined shortly thereafter from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
After building a successful practice, they sold Murdock & Associates to a national firm. While still under their management, the firm was rebranded under the names of Horn, Murdock and Cole, and ultimately, Accretive Solutions. Accretive was then acquired by RGP with the consulting practice absorbed into their consulting team and the startup practice branded separately.
Both leaders left a few years after the acquisition and pursued other projects. Claire and her husband became wine industry entrepreneurs and Leslie was a founder of a clean tech accelerator and CFO of a startup. In the meantime, former clients continued to request their assistance, so they joined forces to create the specialty professional services firm of Murdock Martell. Their goal was to build a boutique practice with focus on the clients and the employees with less emphasis on growth and expansion.
Leslie retired in 2016 and Claire continued to build the practice through periods of unprecedented market conditions and the challenges of the COVID pandemic effects. While others were focused on offshoring and outsourcing, Claire focused on making processes more efficient, utilizing state of the art apps and rigorous employee training. Together with a team of seasoned VPs and managers, the team includes talented professionals in the areas of accounting, finance, HR/people ops and recruiting.
Today, Murdock Martell serves clients around the globe, still with an industry focus in technology, med tech, life sciences and supporting services. Our consulting and recruiting solutions meet the demands of companies from startups to the Fortune 500.
Decades of Experience and Giving Back
Apart from managing Murdock Martell, Claire has played an active role in the community. She has enjoyed many roles including Executive Committee, Board and Advisory Board positions in several nonprofits, including education from Elementary to University levels. She has been an early childhood education teacher, started a uniform swap for school children, and been on two service trips to impoverished areas of Nicaragua. She has chaired the Parent Advisory Council, Finance Council and Audit Committee for the capital campaign to build a school. She was also the co-chair of a high-school’s largest fundraiser as well as serving on their Finance Committee and Board. She also served on the Santa Clara University Accounting Department Advisory Board.
Claire has enjoyed being on the board and executive committee for an all-volunteer organization that raises money for mental health-focused organizations. She has been involved for over 20 years supporting the philanthropic work of these organizations that have special meaning to her.
Claire celebrates over 30 years of marriage and enjoys the outdoors and spending time with family and friends. She considers her greatest accomplishment to be having raised her two daughters together with her dedicated husband.
Since retiring from Murdock Martell, Leslie remains active in the tech world as an Angel investor and advisor with the Band of Angels, promoting and supporting the vision of entrepreneurs. He is a past board member for the Cleantech Open, a business accelerator for clean/green technologies and also sat on the Board of Acterra, an environmental non-profit. Additionally, Leslie is the past-President of both the San Jose/Dublin Sister City Program and the San Jose Conservation Corps, a non-profit job training program for at-risk youth. Leslie and his wife continue to be active in supporting philanthropic causes.