Grant Thornton has appointed Debbie King as a partner in the restructuring, pensions and debt advisory (RPDA) practice. She is a respected advisor and insolvency practitioner, with strong experience in both the mid-market and large corporate spaces. In her new role, King will contribute to the growth of the practice leading large and complex cases, and will take a leadership role in people management and team development, bringing experience in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives and a passion for actively advocating for diverse talent. She joins from AlixPartners where she was a partner.

Moore Kingston Smith has appointed Tim West as a partner in the technical team, where he will play a key role in shaping the firm’s audit quality, while ensuring it continues to meet regulatory requirements, and maintain a strong audit quality infrastructure, as well as supporting audit partners and teams with technical guidance, training and best practice, ensuring audits are conducted to the highest standards. Previously he was an audit partner and head of financial services audit at BDO.

Armstrong Watson has appointed Lee Hayes as corporate finance partner - funding and debt advisory. He will focus on meeting with clients from across the firm to explore their current and future funding requirements, using his extensive market knowledge and experience in structuring funding packages. Hayes has more than three decades of banking and finance experience, and has worked at Bank of Scotland, Bank of Ireland, Bibby Financial Services, and most recently, Close Brothers Invoice Finance, where he was regional sales director.

Hurst has appointed Ellen Feetum as an associate partner to head a new corporate tax compliance offering. She will lead and spearhead the growth of the new offering, working with colleagues in the tax advisory and business services teams to deliver an integrated service focused on corporate tax compliance. Previously she was a senior manager in the corporate tax team at KPMG, where she began her career as a graduate in 2004.

Leonard Curtis has appointed Liz Welch as a director to strengthen its restructuring and turnaround team in Birmingham. She is a qualified accountant and insolvency practitioner with a 20 plus year career in corporate recovery, specialising in accelerated mergers and acquisitions (AMAs), sale of business processes and transactions on pre-pack administrations. Previously she was a director at Kroll, where she spent 14 years, moving to Kroll when the firm acquired Duff & Phelps in April 2021.

Wright Vigar has appointed accountant Lee Henshaw as associate director based in the firm’s new Mansfield office. He brings over two decades of accountancy expertise and deep knowledge of the Nottinghamshire business community. His appointment strengthens the firm’s capability to support local businesses, from sole traders to large corporates. Henshaw joins from Elkingtons Accountants, where he was a director.

PKF Smith Cooper has hired Harrison Wright as an R&D tax manager in the Birmingham team. He has experience in supporting a range of companies, working with both SME and RDEC schemes, in the turnkey delivery of robust R&D claims. He joins from CBTax where he started his career as a tax associate and was promoted to manager in under five years.

TheCityUK has named new chairs for its board, leadership council and next generation leadership council (NGLC) as current officers end their fixed terms. Omar Ali, global financial services leader at EY, will take up the role of board chair, succeeding Anne Richards DBE, vice chair of Fidelity International. Anne Richards will succeed Bruce Carnegie-Brown, chairman of Lloyd’s, as leadership council chair and Sir Edward Braham, chair of M&G plc, will take over from Carnegie-Brown as NGLC chair in April, with Ali and Richards stepping up in July.

IFRS Foundation Trustees have appointed Merran Kelsall AO as chair of the IFRS advisory council for a three-year term. She succeeds Bill Coen, who has stepped down after five years. Kelsall is an independent non-executive director with more than 25 years of board level experience in the public and private sectors. She currently serves on the nominating committee of IFAC and is chair of Dementia Australia and a non exec at the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood. Previously, Kelsall was president of CPA Australia, and CEO of the Australian Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.