BDO has appointed Alan Walsh as a partner in the Birmingham audit team, and he brings over 20 years’ experience in audit, particularly in FTSE and listed audit, and extensive knowledge of the Midlands market. He joins from PwC where he was an assurance director, having originally joined the firm as a graduate trainee. Meantime, the firm has hired Hannah Routh as head of sustainability and ESG, to lead the specialist practice. She brings nearly 30 years’ experience with a focus on sustainability and climate with Big Four experience across Asia Pacific. She was previously a partner at Deloitte where initially she led the sustainability and climate change advisory business for AsPac before returning to the UK in 2020 to take on a similar role.

Grant Thornton UK LLP has strengthened its tax advisory team with a raft of senior hires and internal promotions. Antoinette Quinlan joins as partner in the innovation tax team and brings over 20 years’ experience in R&D tax incentives and funding, most recently at a partner, global investment, at Deloitte in Australia. Chris Macdonald joins as partner to lead the private capital tax team in London, focusing on private and PE-owned businesses. With more than a decade of experience at Big Four firms, previously he was a partner, private equity and company tax at EY. Former graduate trainee Jack Newton has been promoted to tax partner in the Milton Keynes office, as part of the national transaction tax team. He specialises in corporate buy side transaction tax, with 12 years’ experience in tax due diligence and structuring services. Tax restructuring expert Colin Park, based in Glasgow, has also been promoted to partner and will focus on growing the Scottish tax practice. Meantime, Michelle Perry in Birmingham, Cristina Pavel in Glasgow and Michael Cooper in Southampton have been promoted to directors in the tax team. 

Gravita has strengthened its board of directors with the appointment of former PwC partner, Heather Swanston, as chair. She brings several decades of experience at partner level, joining the private equity backed firm after a 35-year career at the Big Four firm. In the last 10 years, Swanston led the refinancing & restructuring practice at PwC UK and sat on the supervisory board, before relocating to Tokyo, where she joined the Japanese leadership team as the business scaled rapidly.

Evelyn Partners has announced that Bahador (Bids) Mahvelati is to join the firm in March as chief operations officer and a member of the group executive committee as the business refocuses exclusively on wealth management and divests the accountancy and professional services part of the group under the SW brand. The appointment is subject to regulatory approval. Mahvelati is currently at PwC UK, where he is a strategy and operations partner and leads the financial services value creation practice.

Johnston Carmichael has appointed David Tait as a tax director in the private client tax team. Based in Edinburgh, he will work closely with the 60-strong team across the UK, providing tailored tax planning services, as well as working with the wealth management and business advisory specialist teams, to deliver integrated support to a diverse client portfolio. Tait joins from PwC in Cambridge and London, where he spent nearly 14 years specialising in tax advisory services, most recently as a tax director.

Sumer Northern Ireland has appointed Nicola Averell as an associate director in the tax team to head up the private client tax department. She has 14 years’ experience in tax, with expertise in capital gains tax, inheritance tax, tax residency issues and employment taxes. She joins Sumer from KPMG Belfast, where she was an associate tax director, private client, and is CIOT and ATT qualified.

Greaves West & Ayre has appointed two associates, Carron McEwen and Neil Robertson. Chartered accountant McEwen focuses on general practice working with owner managed business clients across various sectors and has 15 years of experience working as a chartered certified accountant. Previously she was an associate at Gall Roberton, having originally traied at Douglas Home & Co. Robertson has been promoted internally in the wealth management department, having joined the firm as a graduate trainee financial advisor in 2012. The chartered financial planner is also undertaking CTA qualification and is deputy fund manager of the firm’s Qualis Funds.  

RPC has elected Antony Sassi as managing partner for a four-year term starting on 1 May. He succeeds James Miller, who has been in the role since 2017. Sassi, currently based in Hong Kong will relocate to London. He has been Asia managing partner since 2019 and is a member of the law firm’s strategic decision-making body, the partnership executive committee. He has been a partner since 2010 and is a leading Hong Kong litigator, advising on some of the most significant pan-Asia and international disputes.

BlackLine has announced that Stuart Van Houten, a technology and enterprise SaaS veteran, will assume the newly created role of chief commercial officer in mid February. He will be responsible for leading global sales and revenue operations, and will succeed current chief revenue officer, Mark Woodhams, as head of the global sales team, who is due to retire in June. Van Houten joins after a 20-year career at SAP, most recently as chief revenue officer for the North American Intelligent Spend Management division, where he doubled the division’s revenue during his tenure.

Kreoh has appointed Dr Brian Williamson as chief strategy officer to drive growth at the artificial intelligence company focused on the R&D sector, where he is currently chair of the advisory board. The R&D tax specialist will focus on building commercial capabilities, strategic partnerships, and accelerating business growth. He is founder and CEO of Your Research and Development Advisory Board, and also chair of FWB and Elevator.