Grant Thornton appoints new trio of national industry leaders

Three new leaders – Anika Reside, Tom Williams, and Cameron Bacon – have been appointed to oversee Grant Thornton’s Australian real estate, energy, and food & agribusiness practices.

Professional services firm Grant Thornton has appointed three new national leaders for its real estate & construction, energy & resources, and agribusiness and food & beverage segments, respectively Anika Reside, Tom Williams, and Cameron Bacon. The trio have each spent upwards of six years at the firm, with Reside and Williams both joining in 2017 and Bacon on board since 2010.

The trio of appointees take over from Sian Sinclair, Tony Pititto and Brent Steedman.

“Grant Thornton is proud to recognise the accomplishments of these new leads after years of dedication to their industry specialisation,” said CMO Fraser McNaughton. “Their knowledge, strong leadership skills, capacity to share insights that influence business decisions, and dedication to client success make them all assets to our firm. We look forward to the positive impact each new industry lead will undoubtedly have on our clients and firm.”

McNaughton continued: “Anika will provide a unique lens on efficiencies and incentives organisations can adopt through her governance experience in the sector, Cameron has been at the forefront of insights by leading our Agribusiness, Food & Beverage Dealtracker report’s creation and publication for the past decade, and Tom has had a true focus on all stages of the mining life-cycle and the unique finance challenges companies face.”

Anika Reside

Elevated to the indirect tax partnership in 2021 after first joining the firm as a manager from Deloitte four years earlier, Perth-based Reside now takes on the national Real Estate & Construction portfolio. She brings specific expertise in GST, including the imposition and recovery of GST, tax implications of M&A activities, the application of GST to domestic, cross-border and international transactions, and improvements to governance and processes.

Tom Williams
Williams meanwhile becomes Grant Thornton’s new head of Energy & Resources, after being admitted to the firm’s corporate finance partnership in the middle of last year. Williams joined the firm in Sydney in 2017 after five years with HCF International Advisers in London, bringing expertise in M&A and equity raising, now with a particular focus on the mining sector. Earlier, he kicked off his career with a four-year stint at BDO.

Cameron Bacon
Taking on the national Agribusiness, Food & Beverage leadership role, Cameron is the longest-serving of the trio, having joined Grant Thornton in Melbourne in 2010 after close to two decades in the assurance and corporate finance practices of KPMG. Like Williams, he holds expertise in M&A and capital raising, and has further served clients in the retail, manufacturing, education and real estate & construction industries among others.