We're proud of our team. And we're proud of the people it includes - everyone. In 2022, we promoted and appointed one of our most diverse partner cohorts across large and complex advisory, deals and business consulting, audit, and tax. To celebrate this, we asked all of our new partners to tell us why inclusion and diversity is so important to them, and share their priorities for 2022.
Chris helps the corporate market manage technology risk across the UK. He's worked across a broad range of sectors, with a strong focus on retail and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"All the inclusion and diversity strands are important to me, though I personally relate most to social mobility. I joined the firm 23 years ago as a school leaver, so it’s great to see routes into the firm like this becoming more prevalent."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"In 2022, I'm focusing on supporting corporates with technology risk and assurance. I’m lucky enough to have a fantastic team supporting me and in devising innovative solutions that can help businesses gain assurance over rapidly evolving technology risks."
"What's life like outside of work?"
"I have a 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter, who keep me busy outside of work. In my spare time, I enjoy playing rugby and golf when I get the chance to play."
Hannah is a licensed insolvency practitioner specialising in contentious assignments.
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"Within inclusion and diversity, gender is the strand that resonates with me most. As a female practising, I see importance in having more female and gender non-confirming people as role models in senior positions. I’m passionate about mentoring within my team and the wider firm, to ensure everyone feels supported and able to reach their full potential."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"In 2022, I’ll continue focusing on assisting beneficiaries, trustees, and representatives in matrimonial, family, trust, and probate disputes."
"What's life like outside of work?"
"I live in Hertfordshire and have a 10-year-old son and two miniature dachshunds (who all keep me very busy). In my spare time, I love cooking, hosting for friends and family and enjoy travelling to new holiday destinations when I can."
Jason advises many areas of the transport sector and was an integral part of a government white paper on reforming the rail industry.
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"Growing up in Wolverhampton and being the first in my family to go to university, I am a big supporter of driving social mobility and believe we each have a role to play in enabling this."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"Over the next 12 months, I’ll be supporting clients to navigate recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 and longer term reform of the industry. For example, the rail sector has suffered significantly lower passengers travelling and there's pressure to deliver a challenging Spending Review, while driving through major reforms."
"What's life like outside of work?"
"I am married with two sons, 11 and three. Most of my time is spent running them around to various sporting activities, but when I’m not doing that, I enjoy running or swimming and watching football (a Wolves fan for my sins) and Formula 1."
“The quality of the team drives our success. We employ ambitious people who want to solve complex problems and collaborate to achieve their own goals. We’ve put I&D at the heart of our strategic priorities and we're working to remove barriers that can hinder progression for some of our people. I’m pleased that seven of 11 new partner appointments and 33 of 36 new director appointments in the past 12 months were from within our firm. I’m delighted to welcome our newest members whose appointments further demonstrate our confidence to invest in the evolution of the business.”
George was recently appointed to lead our corporate finance debt advisory team.
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"Inclusion and diversity are key in engaging with each other, our clients and the wider market. I’m proud that we have an open and progressive approach to inclusion and diversity, which is embedded throughout the firm."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"In my new role, I'll bring my knowledge of the funding landscape and existing connections to improving how we help businesses with debt advisory."
"What's life like outside of work?"
"I live in Hertfordshire and am married with a young daughter (and a poorly behaved dog). I like to spend as much time as possible with my family and friends and walk, run, or cycle in the countryside when I can."
Clare is a partner in our valuation and modelling team and leads our valuation advice and fairness opinion offering, working with our restructuring experts and our global team of valuation specialists to deliver these opinions, to support financial restructuring transactions across Europe.
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"Social mobility and gender resonate with me most. It’s so important that we help unlock talent and provide equality to enable everyone to fulfil their potential. I also believe leadership programmes that empower women and gender non-conforming people, and their advancement, need to be actioned alongside organisational change, where decisions are made that propel careers forward. I’m interested to see how our menopause policy progresses and have volunteered to get involved."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"My role in the valuations and modelling team means I lead our work supporting businesses with complex valuation assignments for restructuring purposes."
"What's life like outside of work?"
"I am married with two children, live in Hove and in my spare time, I enjoy running and cooking."
Pinkesh has accumulated extensive experience in his role advising and providing support to companies on financial reporting and accounting matters.
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"I’m proud of the diversity in my team and what we’re doing to create an inclusive culture. All our I&D strands are equally important and I recognise that I still have a lot to learn. Ethnicity and cultural heritage stands out for me. Being British-Asian, I’ve faced some challenges in my life and particularly earlier in my career. I hope to be a good role model and to inspire our diverse talent to flourish."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"The financial accounting advisory services (FAAS) team provides financial reporting and accounting support to clients who may lack technical expertise or resource in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. My priorities are to develop and grow the team and to identify opportunities to deliver growth in FAAS."
"What's life like outside of work?"
"Outside of work, I enjoy exploring the Oxfordshire countryside, travelling and am an avid follower of cricket, football and Formula 1. I'm also a volunteer for a charity."
“There are so many standout highlights from the past year, but I am most proud of the team’s hard work, commitment, and resilience through these unpredictable and challenging times. During this period, we have made over 200 promotions and brought in 170 new hires. We continue to invest in our partner team, and I’m excited to welcome the talented people who joined or were promoted in the firm at the start of this new year. Ensuring we attract and retain great talent will always be at the heart of our culture.”
Elizabeth specialises in the real estate and construction sector.
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"An area of I&D that I am passionate about is gender – specifically, attracting and retaining more senior female and gender non-conforming talent and how we can support our working parents to find that balance to allow them to achieve their personal goals. We need to think differently about what success looks like and consider what future generations want from their careers, so we can adapt and respond with something perhaps a little bit different."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"In 2022, my main focus will be real estate and construction audits. I'll also be spending some time working with our not-for-profit team in London."
"What's life like outside of work?"
"I’m married with two daughters and live in Blackheath, just outside of Guildford. It’s a great place to live with an active spaniel. My lifelong passion is horse riding and I still have my event mare, now 27, who is now in semi-retirement. I also enjoy walking, swimming and teaching my girls to horse ride."
Emily specialises in auditing businesses in the retail sector.
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"Being a role model for working parents is so important to me. I want to show others that you can have a successful career and be present for your kids. During the pandemic, our employers could catch a glimpse into our homes and watch first-hand how we masterfully juggled (and sometimes struggle with) home-schooling. I think we’ve all became far more understanding of people’s situations as a result of this."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"My priorities for 2022 are integrating into the audit practice and confidently navigating through all our systems. Longer term, I want to build a great retail audit business with clients that people will love working with.
"What's life like outside of work?"
"I’m married with two sons, aged three and five, and live in East London. In my spare time, I love exploring local parks with the boys and trying out new coffee shops and bakeries. When I have time to myself, I enjoy going to the gym or having cocktails with friends."
Sarah is our dedicated public sector audit partner for the North.
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"While the gender strand is important to me, the strand that resonates most with me is ethnicity and cultural heritage. Racial injustice has such a long history and deep impact on our unconscious minds. I really want to be the best ally I can be on this front."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"In my new role, I focus audits across the region; bringing together our brilliant team to deliver an excellent service."
"What's life like outside of work?"
"My house is busy with one cat, two dogs and two teenagers (although one is at university), plus my husband’s work visitors as he has always worked from home. Soon, we’re moving from Purley to Chester so I can be local to the North as part of taking on this role."
“Delivering high-quality audits to our clients is hugely important to the firm. We are investing significantly in our diverse leaders of the future through our two shadow boards (Shadow Audit Operations Board and Shadow Audit Quality Board). We're proactively building our network of leaders for the future and supporting our current team to achieve their potential regardless of gender, ethnicity, social economic background and disability conditions. That’s our aim within audit and we’re already taking steps to ensure we achieve that.”
Matt leads our international tax practice, helping multinational groups with the tax impact of cross-border activity.
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"Inclusion and diversity are essential for helping our clients succeed, and I’d like to see us be ground-breaking and market-leading on progress in all I&D areas. The LGBTQIA+ strand is of great importance to me personally as a queer person. I want others feel respected, included, and represented here and will always take my colleagues calls if they need a listening ear."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"This year, over 130 countries across the world will introduce a global minimum tax for large companies, so I’ll focus on understanding how those rules will work in practice and advising our clients on them."
"What's life like outside of work?"
"I live with my husband Kris and daughter Sophie in Buckinghamshire. We just bought a house, so DIY and gardening are filling most of our weekends these days! I enjoy running, swimming, travelling, listening to pop music, watching Eurovision, Harry Potter, and the Scream movies!"
Lindsey leads our research and development tax team, which helps companies access government funding.
"What does inclusion and diversity mean to you?"
"I started at Grant Thornton in Melbourne in 2010 as a trainee. As a female leader in the firm who has been internally promoted from the most junior level, it’s really important to me that I role model the career opportunities within the firm for everyone here."
"What are your priorities for 2022?"
"Our focus for this year is continuing our year-on-year double-digit growth, which we have been achieving for the past six years."
"What's life like outside of work?"
"Outside of work, I split my time between Edinburgh and London, and in my spare time I enjoy attempting to train the spaniel puppy we adopted a few months ago."
“There were so many standout moments in 2021 that make me proud to lead our tax business. I'm incredibly proud of our tax team, and how we’ve supported each other, our clients and how we’ve worked and collaborated with other service lines over the last two years through a global pandemic. We’ve still got lots to do across all the diversity strands, but we've seen real progress in terms of gender representation. Our vision going forward is to continue building a sustainable tax business for the future. We will have a continued focus on supporting our people to keep building their skill sets so that they can develop, and we can provide a technically excellent top-quality service to our clients and look at how we can leverage digital to keep improving our people experience."
Hannah Davie, Insolvency and Asset Recovery Partner, Head of Contentious Estates and Family Disputes
Jason Hurst, Public Services Advisory Partner
Clare Gilbert, Valuations and Modelling Partner
Pinkesh Patel, Financial Accounting Advisory Services Partner
Elizabeth Collins, Audit Partner
Emily Cheevers, Audit Partner
Sarah Ironmonger, Public Sector Audit Partner
Matt Stringer, International Tax Partner
Lindsey Copland, Research and Development Tax Partner