KPMG appoints Alyse Sue as its first Head of Metaverse Futures

In a recruitment coup, KPMG has appointed future tech entrepreneur Alyse Sue as its first Head of Metaverse Futures, with the goal of creating a multimillion-dollar business by 2025.

The appointment marks Sue’s return to the professional services firm after a seven-year absence, during which time she founded multiple tech start-ups. The newly-created position will see Sue lead the build of new business models and ventures around emerging metaverse technologies, with the goal of creating a multimillion-dollar business line over the next two years.

“I’m excited to join KPMG as they are operating at the forefront of game changing technologies, offering a unique approach to growth and innovation,” Sue stated.

KPMG’s Futures practice focuses on incubating and building new ventures from within the firm, with the aim of accelerating outcomes for the firm and its clients. “I’ve spent the past seven years building ventures and this is what I love doing.”

Sue crosses from software development and innovation consultancy Palo IT, where she has served as a software engineer and Head of Web3 for the past three and a half years. Alongside a packed schedule of public future tech roles, Sue has in recent times co-founded two Web3-related ventures, including Transhuman Coin – a decentralised finance project which invests in and supports emerging human-enhancing technologies.

Previously, she spent three and a half years as part of KPMG’s management consulting and innovation teams, in the latter advising high-growth tech startups on strategy and capital-raising as a senior consultant. Sue arrived at the firm after several research analyst intern stints at Bain & Company, Ernst & Young and Deloitte.

In her new role as a director and Head of Metaverse Futures she will report to James Mabbott, who leads KPMG’s Futures practice.

“We are fielding an ever-increasing number of enquiries from clients around the use of metaverse and web3, and are excited to be appointing Alyse to this pivotal role for the firm,” Mabbott said. “We are constantly looking at how we can harness the firm’s depth of capability around emerging technologies, and Alyse will help us test and develop new business models and applications utilising the technologies that make the metaverse real.”

In a surprise twist, Sue will also be working alongside her husband, KPMG director and Digital and Data Solutions lead Peter Zing, who co-founded Transhuman Coin alongside Sue and according to a Forbes interview also applied for the newly-created Metaverse role. As a member of KPMG’s Emerging Technologies leadership team for the past six years, Xing works in areas such as artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain, and Web3.

According to recent research, the metaverse market could grow to a worth of up to $13 trillion globally. “It will need to have mainstream adoption and what is going to drive us toward that mainstream adoption is the intersection of the acceleration of metaverse technologies and increasing consumer demand for more immersive experiences. We did not evolve to use 2D screens. We want, as humans, immersive experiences.”

Earlier this year, consultancy rival Accenture launched a global practice dedicated to the metaverse.