KPMG appoints new partners in Management Consulting division
KPMG has announced its mid-year partnership intake, with the firm’s management consulting division welcoming a further twelve partners through both lateral hires and promotions.
The Management Consulting division of KPMG Australia has welcomed a dozen new members to its partnership team, five of which have been internally promoted and the rest have been hired laterally. The appointments are among around 40 newly appointed partners firm-wide, bringing the firm’s overall partnership tally close to the 600-mark.
With 20 in total, more than a quarter of the new partners admitted in KPMG’s latest financial year belong to its Management Consulting practice (Audit & Assurance and Tax & Legal welcomed 17 apiece), a recruitment and promotion strategy being mirrored at rival firms. According to KPMG, the increase in its consulting leadership is being driven by client demand for digital services.
“I’d like to congratulate all those who have been promoted, and welcome those who have recently joined the firm,” said CEO Gary Wingrove. “The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation and changed the way our clients work and do business. Our new partner line-up reflects how we are supporting our clients to grow and adapt to the changing world.”
Nina Spiccia
Spiccia, a law and business administration graduate from Macquarie University, first joined KPMG in Sydney in 2003 as a consultant in corporate tax, before moving into management consulting and workplace relations advisory and change management. She has been a director since 2017.
Danny Flint
KPMG’s national lead for Identity & Access Management, Flint joined the firm at the start of 2018 on its acquisition of cybersecurity outfit Cyberinc, where he had served as APAC Project Director. Earlier he had spent a decade with Accenture in the UK, along with a six year stint at Barclays.
Ben Kilpatrick
Presently a member of KPMG’s Customer, Brand and Marketing Advisory team in Sydney, Kilpatrick has been with KPMG between the UK and Australia since 2007, starting out as an Audit Assistant Manager in London before joining The Strategy Group. He relocated to Sydney in 2013.
Sarah Varghese
Coming from a two-decade urban design, architecture, and project management background – with stints at AECOM, WSP Middle East, and the NSW Department of Planning and Environment among others – Varghese joined KPMG from Jacobs toward the end of last year.
Drew Baker
Arriving at the firm’s Canberra office in October of last year, Baker is now a partner in People and Change within KPMG’s Management Consulting business after more than two decades in the public sector, most recently serving as CEO of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.
Barry Sterland
Coming on board at the beginning of the year as KPMG’s national lead on Energy Transition policy, Sterland has a lengthy public service background dating back to 2001 and spanning numerous government departments – most recently as Deputy Secretary for the Dept. of the Prime Minister.
Christiane Brendel
Currently serving as KPMG’s mining industry leader, Brendal joined the firm at the beginning of the year after more than a decade at BHP, latterly in a global role as a vice president for Projects Analysis & Improvement. She has previously held a number of management consulting roles.
Steve Pratley
Pratley has been with KPMG since 2017, crossing from a Managing Director of Transformation role with advertising giant WPP. Previous to that he spent nearly five years as Director in management consulting at PwC, responsible for business and finance transformation programs.
Brendan Gialouris
With the firm for more than a decade and originally of an accountancy background, Gialouris is the practice lead for KPMG’s Technology Enablement group, where he focuses on “developing the data strategies and execution approaches for organisations that are separating or integrating businesses.”
Additional
Former PwC partners, financial tech expert David Cummins and data transformation specialist Danielle Malone were also among those named, as well as Alex Moreno, who leads KPMG's national Salesforce capability. At the beginning of the year (January intake), eight consultants joined KPMG’s partnership.
Mid-year intakes
KPMG is the third of the Big Four in Australia to announce its mid-year partnership intake, following earlier announcements from Deloitte, which is set to admit 35 new consulting partners, and EY, with 26 new consulting partners of its own. PwC and Strategy& are expected to announced their mid-year intake in the coming two weeks.
