Gregory signs off after 35 years with E&Y
RESPECTED Ernst & Young audit partner Jan Gregory is retiring today after 35-year career.
Gregory, 56, bade farewell to many clients and colleagues on Tuesday at the firm’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards when he presented a £50,000 cheque to the Prince’s Trust after leading a 260-mile cycle ride from Liverpool to Newcastle.
It was an appropriate gesture given that Gregory was instrumental in bringing Entrepreneur of the Year to the North West in 2000.
Speaking to TheBusinessDesk.com ahead of his last day the father-of-four said he’d been proud to be part of a “great, dynamic and changing firm.”
“I promised myself when I was in my early 20s that I would leave when I stopped learning and I am now in my late 50s and still learning every day.
“The firm has given me many opportunities to travel all around the world to see the power of our global brand and the spirit of partnership around the world.
“My proudest time was being given the honour of leading nearly 400 people in the Manchester office for three years until 2009 as office managing partner and I know with the new talent we take on each year the success story will continue.”
North West senior partner Simon Allport paid tribute, adding: “Jan has been a great partner and leader whose energy and drive knows no bounds. His contribution to the firm has been significant he’s a great inspiration and will be hugely missed.””
Gregory moved to Manchester in 1980 – actually starting work on the day music icon John Lennon was murdered in New York.
Originally from Shropshire, he trained with Marshall & Company in Shrewsbury, before moving to London to join Turquands Barton and Mayhew in London in 1977.
At this firm, which later became part of Ernst & Young, he earned £100 a week – nearly four times his previous income.
Among his highlights in the North West include working with a wide range of businesses, from having board meetings with the late Tony Wilson’s Factory Records and its bands New Order and the Happy Mondays to high profile clients such as American Golf Discount and floating companies such as Expansys.
