Consulting leaders receive King’s Birthday Australia AM honours

Two consulting industry stalwarts have received King’s Birthday AM honours: former KPMG chair Alison Kitchen, and one time EY Oceania consulting division managing partner Lynn Kraus.

The pair were among 131 individuals appointed as Members of the Order of Australia (AM) in the general division, recognised for their significant services to business and commerce, governance, gender equality, and the community.

They join other recent consulting sector AM recipients Angela Coble, Accenture’s products group chief technology officer, and former PwC CEO Kristin Stubbins, who is reportedly set to launch her own consultancy, Ironbark Associates.

Originally joining Peat Marwick in the UK, Alison Kitchen spent altogether four decades with KPMG, culminating in a six-year stint as national chairman (as the first woman elected to the role at the firm) before handing over to Martin Sheppard last September. Prior to presiding over the board, Kitchen also led KPMG Australia’s national energy & natural resources practice.

Kitchen currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards of NAB and data centre operator Airtrunk, along with the Belvoir St. Theatre, and is a member of the Australian National University’s governance council. Additionally, she is on the board of directors of the Business Council of Australia, and serves as chair of its women's participation task-force committee.

Lynn Kraus meanwhile spent more than a decade and a half as a partner at Ernst-Young in Australia after originally joining the firm in the US, including time as Oceania consulting leader and Sydney managing partner, before being recruited as the inaugural CEO of Australian Payments Plus in late 2021. She further headed regional market strategy and HR functions during her time at EY.

Kraus is widely recognised for her gender and LGBT+ advocacy, and launched EY’s D&I council while serving as regional people leader – subsequently receiving an Australian Workplace Equality Index executive leadership award with the firm later named Pride in Diversity’s employer of the year. Outside of EY, Kraus has also served as a long-time council member of Kidsafe NSW.