David Gartside

As Chief Digital Officer and a member of the Strategic Leadership Team, I lead Grant Thornton UK’s digital strategy and play a central role in shaping how technology accelerates our growth and enhances the client experience. My focus is on building next generation digital capability across AI, data, automation and digital product innovation, ensuring technology is embedded in how we work and how we deliver value for clients.

I bring extensive experience as a digital transformation leader, with a proven track record of delivering enterprise scale change across complex, global organisations. My work has focused on strengthening digital foundations, improving technology governance and driving measurable business impact at scale.

Before joining Grant Thornton UK, I held senior leadership roles at McKinsey & Company, where I oversaw the firm’s digital knowledge capability and enterprise product management functions, including its transition to a GenAI powered client delivery model. Earlier in my career, I held technology leadership roles at Google, shaping strategy and designing digital tools for HR and legal systems, and at Accenture, where I was a Partner and Global HR and Talent Practice Lead, advising Fortune 500 C-suite leaders on the adoption of emerging technologies and modern digital practices.

My approach to leadership is grounded in connecting technology, people and strategic ambition. I’m passionate about modernising how organisations operate, removing friction from ways of working and ensuring digital investment translates into real world impact for clients and colleagues.

At Grant Thornton, I’m leading the firm’s digital evolution as we continue to invest in cutting edge capabilities that support high quality, technology enabled services and help redefine what great client experience looks like in modern professional services.

Outside of work, we have a teenage daughter, Arya who is heading to College in the Autumn and two dogs, Sansa and Benjen, who I greatly enjoy walking each day. My current passion is playing pickleball, which is a phenomenal social game and reminds me that, once in my dim and distant past, I used to be a competitive athlete. I also enjoy talking about all the things you are not supposed to talk about at a polite dinner conversation. I am a lifelong Liverpool fan and a more lightweight Quins supporter.