Grant Thorton names practice head in region

Jonathan Riley, the managing partner of Grant Thornton’s Leeds office, has been promoted to senior practice partner in Yorkshire.

Garry Meakin, the current managing partner at Grant Thornton’s Sheffield office, will take on the managing partner role of the merged Leeds and Sheffield practice.

The merger sees Leeds become Grant Thornton’s Yorkshire headquarters. The company’s Yorkshire practice is the largest outside of the Big Four – Ernst & Young, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG – with more than 300 staff and a £27m turnover.

Mr Riley said his role would resemble that of a chief executive, while Mr Meakin’s job would be similar to a chief operating officer.

Mr Riley said: “I believe that the senior practice partner should be outward-facing in the market place with customers and clients.”

Mr Meakin will focus on the operational side of Grant Thornton’s work, and ensure the machine is being oiled internally, Mr Riley said.

Historically, the Sheffield office had been part of a sub-region including Leicester and Nottingham.

Senior management at Grant Thornton have decided that it makes more sense to combine Sheffield with the Leeds office.

A Grant Thornton spokesman stressed that the Sheffield office would be staying open. The move would lead to a greater sharing of services between Leeds and Sheffield, the spokesman added.

Mr Riley said he would set the mood in terms of the staff the firm wanted to recruit and retain. He said there would be “total integration” in work done by the Leeds and Sheffield offices.

“I believe that we will end up recruiting more specialists,’’ said Mr Riley. “They have got a very well run Local Enterprise Partnership in Sheffield.”

Scott Barnes, the chief executive of Grant Thornton’s national team, said: “Garry’s knowledge of the Sheffield marketplace and fantastic network, alongside Jonathan’s wealth of expertise and leadership in Leeds ensure we have an incredibly strong management team to steer our work in Yorkshire and North East.

“It gives Grant Thornton’s Yorkshire presence an enviable strength and depth, with extensive expertise across all areas for private and business clients alike.”

Mr Meakin said: “Having that breadth and depth of skills will ensure we remain a market leader and clients will have easy access to senior staff and expertise.”

Grant Thornton has 27 offices in the UK which serve more than 25,000 individual and 15,000 corporate and institutional clients.