HMRC has appointed Jon Thompson as chief executive and first permanent secretary following Lin Homer’s decision to step down from the tax authority. Thompson, who is currently permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence, will take up his new post in April. He has a background in finance with senior roles across the public sector. Edward Troup has been named executive chair and first permanent secretary and will be responsible for governance issues and chair HMRC’s board.

KPMG has appointed Michelle Quest as UK head of tax, pensions and legal services. She succeeds Karen Briggs, who now leads KPMG’s solutions practice in the UK and sits on the executive committee of the board. Quest joined the firm in 1997 and has been a tax partner for the last 12 years, holding a number of senior roles at KPMG including head of the UK private equity and EMA M&A tax practices. Sue Kershaw has joined KPMG as a director and UK head of infrastructure programme and project management. Kershaw, who is a board member of the Association for Project Management, brings over 30 years’ experience as a civil engineer and programme manager to the role.  She was most recently at CH2M HILL where she was director of rail for Europe.

PwC has appointed Dame Helen Alexander, chairman of UBM and chancellor of the University of Southampton, to its public interest body (PIB). Dame Helen, a former president of the CBI and chief executive of the Economist Group, joins Sir Ian Gibson, Justin King, Sir Richard Lapthorne, Lord O’Donnell and Paul Skinner as independent non-executives.

Bill Stamatis, a Deloitte partner from Toronto, has joined the UK’s valuations team. A partner for 15 years, he led valuations for a number of high-profile life sciences, private equity, infrastructure and industrial clients. Additionally, Colin Tait, a valuation director based in Edinburgh, has recently joined the team from PwC, and will be focusing on the financial services industry.

Begbies Traynor is building on its presence in Oxford with the appointment of Carolyn Meister as a senior manager. She has worked in insolvency since 1985 and was most recently working at for Jamesons Insolvency & Business Rescue, covering Witney, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.

Creaseys in Tunbridge Wells has recruited Maria Gammon as a client manager in its expanding corporate and business division. Gammon joins the practice after three years as a supervisor at the international network RSM, where she had particular responsibilities for charities, trusts, independent schools and professional firms. 

Alison Welch has joined Clive Owen as senior tax manager, bringing more than 20 years of experience in tax planning and compliance. Welch will be involved in expanding the tax services at the Darlington and Durham offices. 

Specialist consultancy Edge Tax has appointed James Middleditch as tax manager. He joins from the tax reporting department at private bank Coutts.

Mazars managing partner in Birmingham, Lee Cartwright, has been named one of the 2016 Out at Work – Top 50 LGBT executives. He has been with the firm for 20 years, and is the partner sponsor of the Mazars LGBT Champions diversity network.

The National Trust for Scotland has appointed Allan Bowie as chief financial officer and director of corporate services. He was previously director, global operations accounting for the Bristow Group, which provides helicopter services to the offshore energy industry. A member of ICAS, Bowie has worked for a wide variety of industries in both the UK and US, including as finance director for Babcock Rail and the Scottish Resources Group.    

Takatsugu (Tak) Ochi has been re-appointed for a second, three-year term on the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), while Pat Finnegan is to retire.