EY expands North West presence with key appointments

Multinational professional services firm Ernst & Young is targeting expansion in the North West with the appointment of four equity partners.

Stephen Clark and Victoria Price both joined the partnership internally, while newcomers Christopher Gallagher and Jenn Hazlehurst have come on board from PwC and Deloitte respectively.

A senior North West partner at the firm, Simon Allport, commented: “Developing our people is a vital part of our growth strategy, and this investment in senior talent reflects not only our growing ambition in the North West but also our confidence in the long-term outlook for our regional economy.

“Victoria and Stephen’s entry into the partnership recognises their outstanding contributions to expanding the firm in the region; Victoria through building our practice with high growth entrepreneurial companies, and Stephen through developing and cementing our position in the government and public sector arena.”

He added: “Jenn and Christopher’s expertise and leadership will also strengthen our Assurance and Advisory businesses respectively, in key areas where we see real opportunity for growth.”

Stephen joined EY last year and is the head of the firm’s northern Government and Public Sector Assurance team. Victoria, who has been with the company for nine years, specialises in corporate tax and has taken a lead role in expanding EY’s presence in the North West’s entrepreneurial market.

Elsewhere, EY took on Jenn as an assurance partner, while Christopher has been welcomed to the company’s North West advisory team.

Speaking further about the changes, Simon Allport continued: “These appointments show a commitment to investing in our people and our offering to North West companies.

“The professionalism, commitment, ambition and experience of these individuals will be absolutely critical in continuing our strong momentum and achieving our expansion plans over the coming years.”

EY has this year appointed 40% more equity partners to its UK business than it did in the last, including 44 who were promoted internally.