Deloitte North West Europe (NWE) promotes 161 new partners

• 32 female partner promotions in the UK – up nearly threefold from last year
• Central Mediterranean countries join NWE partnership to form Deloitte North and South Europe (NSE)
• Richard Houston begins term as Senior Partner and Chief Executive

Deloitte North West Europe has promoted 161 people to partner, including 78 new partners in the UK.

Of the 78 partners promoted in the UK, 32 (41%) are women. This is a near threefold increase in female promotions from last year and takes Deloitte’s female partners to 223 (21%). Eight new partners are from BAME backgrounds*, equating to just over 10% of the promotions.

This month also sees central Mediterranean countries Greece, Italy and Malta join the existing Deloitte North West Europe partnership (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) to form Deloitte North and South Europe (NSE) from 1st June. Deloitte NSE is now the second largest member firm in the Deloitte network, with over 45,000 people in 13 countries.

Richard Houston, Senior Partner and Chief Executive of Deloitte NSE, said:

“It’s a privilege to be leading this firm and I’m delighted that my first announcement as CEO is the celebration of our partner promotions. I fully accept that we have more to do but I’m particularly pleased to see such a significant increase in female partner promotions in the UK.

“It’s clear that this is a time of great change, with a volatile economic landscape, technological disruption and regulatory scrutiny. This has been particularly apparent over the past 12 months, with various reviews into the UK audit market. I’m under no illusion that change and reform are needed and expected and we are deeply engaged in that debate.

“Our move to create Deloitte NSE reinforces our commitment to cross-border collaboration so we can better serve our clients, open up more opportunities for our people, and make an impact in our communities. Deloitte NSE brings together over 45,000 people in 13 countries, combining our unmatched breadth and depth of capabilities in audit and assurance, risk advisory, consulting, financial advisory, and tax across the region.”

Houston succeeds David Sproul as senior partner and chief executive. He was previously managing partner for Deloitte’s NWE and UK consulting businesses, and has over 20 years’ experience in the professional services industry.

Deloitte in the UK
The firm’s audit & assurance business has promoted 14 new partners, with 12 in risk advisory, 13 in consulting, 23 in tax, 13 in financial advisory and three in central management. A third of promotions (25) are based outside London. The number of UK partners overall now stands at 1,070. Deloitte also recruited an additional 38 new external hires at partner level in the UK during the financial year from June 2018 to the end of May 2019.

Houston has appointed a new UK Executive**, commenting: “One of the objectives of my executive team will be to empower and support the partnership in growing our UK business for the long term. They will also focus on ensuring our purpose is central to the decisions we make and the work we do, helping our people understand the difference they can make for clients and our communities.

“We will continue to develop our regional presence – just last month we opened our new Tech Foundry in Reading, where we expect to create 350 new positions over the next few years.”

Dimple Agarwal, Deloitte’s new Managing Partner for People and Purpose, added:
“Female representation at partner level has gone up from 13% in 2013 to 21% today, and we continue to work hard to further increase the number of female partners in our firm. We have prioritised the recruitment, development and retention of senior women as part of our gender balance action plan.

“In addition to bolstering our diversity and inclusion initiatives, we are also working to ensure our culture embraces purpose. Our recent millennial survey showed that their trust in business has decreased, in part, because millennials and Gen Zs believe that businesses focus solely on their own agendas. So we’ll build on our role in the communities where we work and make sure our actions reflect our commitment to making a positive impact on our society.”

Partner promotions by country:

• UK - 78
• Netherlands - 23
• Denmark - 16
• Belgium - 9
• Iceland - 1
• Switzerland - 6
• Sweden - 12
• Norway - 4
• Ireland - 7
• Finland - 5

Total - 161

UK partner promotions by business:

• Audit& Assurance - 14
• Central Management - 3
• Consulting - 13
• Financial Advisory - 13
• Risk Advisory - 12
• Tax & Legal - 23

UK partner promotions by office:

• Birmingham - 3
• Cambridge - 1
• Cardiff - 1
• Glasgow - 1
• Jersey - 2
• Leeds - 3
• London - 54
• Manchester - 4
• Newcastle - 1
• Nottingham - 1
• Reading - 3
• Southampton - 1
• St Albans - 3

*Those who disclosed their ethnicity.

End

Note to editors

** New UK Executive

About Deloitte
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Deloitte LLP is a subsidiary of Deloitte NWE LLP, which is a member firm of DTTL, and is among the UK's leading professional services firms.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

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