EY has appointed Liz Jones as Liverpool office managing partner, taking over from Jennifer Hazlehurst. She will be responsible for leading the firm’s growing team of 70 people, including four partners, based on the Albert Dock in Liverpool city centre. Jones is an audit partner with over 25 years’ experience who joined EY in 2015 and was promoted to partner in 2020. She has spent much of her career based in the north west and has extensive experience of working with the region’s private mid-market businesses. Jemma Inker has been promoted to partner in the south west audit team. She has extensive knowledge of the region, working with listed and private businesses across a range of sectors. In addition to her role in the audit team, Inker is also responsible for talent strategy in the region and is a mentor and coach to a number of employees.

RSM UK has appointed Dan Thompson as people partner to lead the national talent team. He joins from a HR director role at ISG and has over 20 years’ HR experience working at Marks & Spencer, UK Civil Service and Countrywide plc. He also sits on the remuneration committee for the National Trust. In his new role, Thompson will help to shape the people team’s long term growth programme to strengthen recruitment. Martin Brown has been hired as share schemes director in the employer solutions team in a national role based in the Bristol office. He is a specialist in advising firms on the design and implementation of employee share plans, workplace incentives and employee ownership trusts. He joins from PKF where he led the share plan and reward offering and was previously at Grant Thornton and the Big Four.

Armstrong Watson has appointed Jonathan Lewis as a partner in its growing corporate finance team in Yorkshire. Previously he was at Olympia Capital Partners, where he was partner and chief investment officer. Lewis has worked in corporate finance for more than 15 years, as both an adviser and an investor. Originally from Yorkshire, he trained as a chartered accountant with PwC and worked in the M&A teams at PwC and Deloitte in London, before moving to a private investment fund in Singapore.

KPMG UK partners have re-elected Jon Holt as chief executive and senior partner for a five-year term. He was first appointed to the top job at the Big Four firm in 2021, and was re-elected with ‘overwhelming support’ for a second term. Before taking up the role, Holt, who has been with the firm since 1994, was head of audit and previously headed up the financial services practice.

PKF Francis Clark has strengthened its corporate tax team with a trio of appointments at the Bristol office. Senior manager Rhiannon Baynham has joined from HMRC, where she spent eight years working as an international and corporate tax specialist focusing on large corporates and mid-sized businesses. Robert Waterhouse is a manager specialising in research and development (R&D) tax credits and corporate tax, having previously spent five years with ForrestBrown. Joe Martin has joined as an assistant manager from KPMG, where he worked on client tax governance, compliance and advisory, and previously spent eight years at HMRC.

Xeinadin has hired Chantelle Grobler as chief financial officer to head up the financial operations at the private equity backed firm. She brings 15 years of experience leading financial teams across global tax, risk, legal and IT, and has a deep understanding of how to link strategic objectives with the financial goals of a business. Previously Grobler was CFO at carbon project and climate consultancy South Pole and also before that at Westfalia Fruit. She originally trained as an auditor and chartered accountant at KPMG in South Africa.

BlackLine has appointed Camille Drummond to the board of directors at the enterprise software company. An accountant by training, Drummond will draw on her 36 years leading finance and global business process services at energy giant BP to support BlackLine’s long-term growth plans. She is currently senior VP of global business services at BP, overseeing worldwide finance, procurement, customer, and HR business services teams.

Kreston global tax group has re-elected Mark Taylor, head of international at UK member firm Duncan & Toplis, as chair of for another three-year term. Taylor is responsible for coordinating the tax group and leading Kreston’s tax network of 5,000 advisors in 115 countries. It is tasked with ensuring the team remains up to date on international taxation developments while fostering knowledge-sharing and commercial opportunities across the network.

Cartwright, the pension specialist, has appointed Ian McKnight as senior adviser, with an initial focus on business development. Based in London, he will be responsible for supporting and developing new business strategies across the company. McKnight joins from Royal Mail Pensions Trustees where he was chief investment officer. He is a trustee of the Rowland Hill Fund, a charity helping current and past postal workers in financial need.