Big Four firm announces series of promotions in South West

Accountancy firm PWC has announced a raft of promotions in its Bristol office.

The Big Four firm has announced four new partners in its South West practice.

Ben Pykett (government and health industries), Daniel Pearce (financial services) and Sam Preece (ESG) were promoted from director to partner, in a round that saw 124 promotions across the West and Wales.

Ben, who held roles in Cornwall Council and Pembrokeshire County Council before joining PwC in 2015, works with public sector clients on large-scale transformation programmes.

Daniel has been at PwC for his entire career and, having worked across all financial services sectors, now specialises in providing audit services to the banking and capital markets sector.

Sam leads on ESG sustainability reporting and ESG in capital markets for PwC. He joined the firm in 2022 after spells at Environmental Resources Management and Clean Invest Africa.

Aerospace, defence and security specialist Kempton Cannons joins as partner from Reuleaux, a firm he co-founded with Becky Watson, who also joins the firm as a director with a team of three others.

Kempton’s background is in supply chain management, and for the last 20 years his focus has been on the Defence sector, working for defence ministries and manufacturers in the UK, Canada, Spain, Australia and Italy.

Since 2010, he has been Bristol-based, with spells as a director at EY and chief executive of Techmodal before co-founding Reuleaux.

The team hire is a strategic move as the firm builds its Aerospace, Defense and Security capabilities around a hub in the South West.

PwC also promoted five new directors in the South West: Alexander Hunter, Antonio Cirillo, Craig Smith, Noel Brown and Tom Hicks.

The firm has also made two new directors in Wales: Wendy Edwards and Gavin Holland.

John-Paul Barker, market leader for PwC in Wales & the West, said: “Congratulations to all of our people who have been promoted across Wales and the West of England, and especially to Ben, Sam and Daniel – it’s a key milestone in your careers.

“We now have 60 per cent more partners and directors in the region than we did in 2019, which demonstrates our commitment and investment, and how much more we’re able to do to support our clients here.”