BDO makes CEO and senior leadership appointments in New Zealand
The New Zealand business of professional services firm BDO has appointed Jordan Cole to the newly-created role of chief executive overseeing strategic direction and day-to-day operations.
Jordan Cole has been bumped up to chief executive after joining BDO as chief operations officer in the middle of 2024 from law firm MinterEllison in New Zealand, where he served as operations director, with earlier time spent at Kiwi law firm Meredith Connell.
Meanwhile, BDO’s New Zealand branch has also recently appointed Josh Ambler as national leader of its digital division, with Mike Wyeth and Matt Brock having been promoted to partner within the firm’s deal advisory and business advisory services practices.
Altogether, BDO in New Zealand has a team of more than 125 partners and around 1,000 professionals spread across 21 offices country-wide (or country-long?), with the firm stating that Cole’s appointment to the newly-created chief executive position follows continued growth in demand for its services nationally, especially as to the mid-market.
The appointment also marks a rapid climb for Cole himself, from graduating a business degree with the Auckland University of Technology in 2016 to one decade on being responsible for overseeing the strategic direction and day-to-day operations for the local branch of the world’s fifth-largest accounting organisation of its kind, which globally generates revenues in excess of $11 billion.
“Jordan’s appointment marks an exciting new chapter for BDO,” said New Zealand chair Doug Haines. “Since joining, Jordan has impressed in demonstrating exemplary leadership commensurate with our network’s strategic intent, as BDO continues to grow sustainably in line with evolving market dynamics, client and stakeholder expectations, and rapidly advancing technologies.”
As to Haines’ latter point on emergent technologies such as AI, Auckland-based partner Josh Ambler will now play a bigger role following his appointment as national leader for digital, replacing almost four-decade BDO veteran Craig Gower. Ambler meanwhile joined BDO in 2019 upon its acquisition of his cloud consultancy ALTSHIFT, which he founded in 2012.
“Demand for future-focused digital solutions continues to rocket and we’re excited Josh will be stepping into the pilot seat,” the firm stated. “He brings a strong and practical appreciation of how technology applies to real life business scenarios and a unique ability to articulate this to clients, demonstrating the return on investment that can be generated through future-ready solutions.”
BDO has also added two new partners at the opposite ends of country and with contrasting career paths, Matt Brock in Auckland and Mike Wyeth in Invercargill, the latter who crossed at the beginning of 2025 after a decade and a half in various financial services sector roles and the former who first completed an internship with BDO in 2012 before later joining as an accounting graduate.
