Ashurst Consulting adds Niki Short and Chris Baker to partnership
The partnership team of Ashurst Consulting has been extended to eight, with the addition of former Deloitte director Niki Short and promotion of Chris Baker within the firm’s risk advisory team.
Ashurst Consulting has rounded out its second year in business with the addition of two new partners to its risk advisory team; Chris Baker in Sydney and Niki Short in Melbourne. The pair boast close to six decades worth of professional experience in the financial services and risk & assurance industries between them, with Short crossing from a managing partner role with risk management boutique Blackhall & Pearl.
“We are thrilled to welcome Niki to Ashurst, and extend a welcome to the partnership to both her and Chris. Their appointments bring the number of Ashurst Consulting partners to eight, capping off an amazing year of growth for the team,” commented Ashurst’s Risk Advisory head Philip Hardy, who joined the law firm part way through last year to help launch its consulting practice after more than a decade spent in leadership roles at Deloitte.
Since then, Ashurst Consulting has added a number of other Deloitte veterans and alumni to its partnership team, including Philip Hope, Sid Maharaj, Elena Lambros and Tony Morris in March of this year (with former PwC partner and Ashurst head of Transformation Risk Melina Sehr the eighth member of the consulting ranks). Now, Short follows suit, having previously spent over a decade at Deloitte in a variety of assurance roles.
Niki Short
Kicking off as an audit graduate with PwC in 1992, Short made her way to Deloitte two years later, ultimately serving as a director in assurance and advisory for five years to 2010 before joining NAB, where over six years she worked her way up to general manager for enterprise operational risk & advisory.
After a period as managing director for V Advisory, she has spent the past four years as managing partner at Blackhall & Pearl. “I look forward to playing a key role in a dynamic, fast growing team,” Short commented.
“Our clients value holistic solutions, including the way we can uniquely combine risk and legal capabilities, and I look forward to collaborating with them to deliver the quality advice the team is known for. Ashurst’s global reach and innovative outlook provide a significant opportunity to continue to grow and expand our practice.”
Chris Baker
Baker meanwhile has been promoted to partner in Sydney after first joining Ashurst toward the end of last year to head up its risk advisory managed services offering.
Prior, Baker spent over a dozen years between National Australia Bank and later MLC, where he served as general manager for regulatory change and remediation and for business management. Earlier, he was head of Business & Technology Solutions for AAPT.
