Senior partner announced as KPMG’s Head of Regions
KPMG’s Leeds office senior partner and North Region Chair has been appointed Head of Regions for the firm.
Chris Hearld will join the Big Four’s national executive leadership team, with responsibility for its regional business across the UK.
Hearld has led the professional services firm in Yorkshire since 2012 and across the North for the last four years after joining the partnership in 2004.
During his leadership in this region, KPMG has moved into its Sovereign Square office, opened by HRH The Duke of York; has expanded its footprint to three Leeds city centre locations (a managed services centre at Broadgate and a base at the tech incubator, Nexus); opened a Sheffield office; grown its headcount to more than 1,000 people; and announced revenue growth of seven percent during its latest financial year.
His new role will take effect on 1 June 2019 and will see Hearld take responsibility for the performance of KPMG’s business across the Midlands, South and Scotland in addition to the North, where he will continue to be based. This covers more than 6,000 partners and employees across 21 offices, and thousands of clients and audit entities.
The process to appoint successors to his current Leeds and North roles is underway.
KPMG’s current Head of National Markets, Iain Moffatt, whose platform to the role was also leading the firm in Yorkshire (between 2008 and 2012), is retiring.
Hearld said: “The regions of the UK are amongst the most exciting, diverse and dynamic business heartlands to be found anywhere. So leading the part of our business that advises the entrepreneurs and executives at their helms as they work towards fulfilling their ambitions is an exciting privilege.
“The thousands of talented KPMG professionals throughout our regional markets work extremely hard to bring value to their clients and I am looking forward to working alongside many of them in my new role.”
His Ch appointment is part of wider changes to KPMG’s national executive structure. At the heart of this is the creation of a new Audit Executive Committee which represents a step change in the governance of KPMG’s audit business. More information about this Committee can be found at kpmg.co.uk.
