KordaMentha expands risk advisory offering with several senior hires

Australian business consultancy KordaMentha has strengthened its risk advisory capabilities in response to what it says is a sustained rise in complex and high‑stakes risk facing senior leaders.

The consultancy’s risk advisory practice is led by Darren Gerber, who recently joined KordaMentha as a partner in Melbourne after spending more than two decades at Deloitte, including most recently as Asia Pacific leader for strategic & emerging risk.

Rather than focusing on just compliance or frameworks, KordaMentha says that what differentiates its risk advisory offering is in supporting senior leaders where risk actually impacts their organisation – in operations, technology, major programs, and moments of stress.

“Our experience is that risk issues don’t arise because organisations lack frameworks or policies,” Gerber said. “They arise because things are changing at an incredible pace – a transformation is running hot, a regulator is knocking, systems aren’t keeping up, or accountability is unclear. We work on the risk matters that really count, including the issues others won’t, or can’t, take on.”

In addition to his most recent Asia Pacific role, Gerber, a commerce and accounting graduate of Monash University and partner at the Big Four firm since 2012, also served as Deloitte’s global risk advisory sustainability & climate leader, and as Australian national lead partner for both strategic & reputation risk and for digital & tech risk for sustainability and internal audit.

Two further Deloitte partners – Jonathan Goldman and Nicole McDonald – have also now made the switch to KordaMentha in Melbourne and Sydney, the former after a decade and latter after five years, with both earlier serving in international risk-focused senior roles at respectively Thomson Reuters and PwC. Dean Kourlis likewise crosses from Deloitte as an executive director.

KordaMentha said its move to further expand its risk advisory capabilities reflected a shift in how risk is now managed – driven by geopolitical volatility, rapid technology and AI adoption, other large-scale transformations, and significantly greater regulatory scrutiny, with the fall-out for getting it wrong becoming increasingly damaging for organisations and decision-makers.

“Risk is no longer something organisations manage on the edges; it cuts across strategy, operations, technology and delivery,” said KordaMentha co-founder and CEO Mark Korda. “This move is just a natural extension of what KordaMentha has always done – helping clients navigate complex, high‑consequence situations with judgement, independence, and a bias for action.”

Korda added that the expanded risk practice also naturally aligns with the firm’s existing advisory, restructuring, transformation, and performance improvement services, and has already been supporting major clients across sectors where risk exposure is most acute, such as the financial services, infrastructure, energy, government, and other regulated industries.