RSM International has confirmed that long-serving CEO Jean Stephens will quit as CEO at the accounting network next May after 17 years
Stephens will remain as CEO until May 2024, and then will stay with the firm ‘for a period of time' in an advisory role 'with a focus on member matters and development, and to support an effective transition’, RSM said.
During her time as CEO, the network has nearly quadrupled global fee income from $2.4bn (£2bn) to $8bn (£6.5bn) and is ranked as the sixth largest global network. It has 57,000 people across member firms in 120 countries.
She has been instrumental in the launch of the organisation’s ambitious 2030 Global Strategy which was launched in January this year and targeted a doubling of network revenue by the end of the decade.
As the only top 10 global professional services network until as late as 2022 to have a female CEO, Stephens has been a role model for women in leadership positions across the profession.
Stephens said: ‘RSM is one of the most progressive professional services organisations in the world. It has been an extreme honour and a real privilege to lead such an ambitious and entrepreneurial network and to work so closely and for so long with RSM’s exceptional leaders and teams of professionals around the world.
‘With a new Strategy to 2030 firmly in place, it is the natural next step in the evolution of RSM that we welcome in a new global CEO that will complete that journey and take RSM from the strength of today to a new high in 2030.’
Joe Adams, chairman of the RSM International Board, said: ‘We are grateful to Jean for her outstanding service to RSM over the last 17 years as CEO. Her significant and sustained leadership has been instrumental in building the RSM network into the dynamic, global organisation it is today and her engagement in the development of our Global 2030 Strategy will help lead us into the future.’
Stephens joined the RSM global executive office in London in 1996 as chief operating officer before being appointed CEO on 1 January 2006, after originally working as a senior manager at RSM in the Los Angeles office.
She will leave a lasting legacy at RSM through programmes such as the RSM Academy, which provides global leadership development; her work to embed quality as a cornerstone of the RSM strategy and drive a robust global training, inspections and monitoring programme across the network.