Ernst & Young South Africa is responding to recent significant clients wins and anticipating further high growth by announcing the appointment of 10 new partners with effect from 1 July 2001. The new partners represent over 15% of the partners in South Africa after taking into account the retirements at the end of June 2001, and the two new partners welcomed into the firm at the beginning of the year. The new partnership announcement creates a diverse leadership team overall in South Africa, doubling the number of female and black partners to eight and four respectively.
These changes to the partners reflect the strategic growth of Ernst & Young in non-Audit areas - 40% of the new partners are outside of the Audit Division. In addition, two-thirds of the Audit appointments are industry specific, strengthening our financial services, mining and construction, and energy capabilities in particular.
The appointment of such a large group of partners and directors reflects Ernst & Young`s confidence in the opportunities in South Africa and the firm`s commitment to democracy and empowering its people. The firm has made significant strides at the executive level through the expanded partnership, to complement its aggressive recruitment drive at the graduate level for black professionals. It is also benefiting from the international firm`s leadership position, having won 21 out of 25 global accounts over the past 18 months.
Phillip Hourquebie, CEO of Ernst & Young South Africa, said: "Employment equity is one of the biggest challenges South Africa faces, but will bring tremendous value to us as we succeed. The development of Ernst & Young`s personnel is one of the primary responsibilities of all executives in the firm. Individuals are admitted to the partnership ranks based on their track record, knowledge and expertise they bring to the firm. This enables Ernst & Young to harness the added value that comes from having people with diverse backgrounds in their teams and use it to help our clients create their future.
"From our entry level joiners through to our partners, we need to work together through this transformation not only to achieve equity in employment but to ensure that we create value for our people, our clients and our firm," added Hourquebie.
"Our clients also will benefit as our new partners bring their entrepreneurial skills to existing customer relationships," continued Hourquebie. "We believe the expanded partnership enhances our ability to create unmatched solutions for our clients.
The new partners are:
Karin Biggs - Financial Services: Retirement Funds
Karin joined Ernst & Young in May 2000 as the senior manager of the Retirement Funds business unit. Before her career with E&Y, Karin was employed as a senior manager at another Big Five firm, specialising in retirement funds, where she established the specialist division in 1996. She will now be the lead partner of the Retirement Funds business.
Mark Blair - Retail and Consumer Products
Prior to this appointment, Mark was the director in charge of the largest corporate clients in the Durban office. These clients are mainly in the Retail and Consumer Products group, which includes transport and distribution. Mark has been with E&Y since March 1994. As partner, Mark will assume a client service role in the Durban office, focusing on clients in the retail sector. In addition, he will lead and drive our marketing initiatives in the KwaZulu-Natal region.
Jane Fitton - Audit EGC
Jane was a director of Audit EGC in Cape Town, where she was responsible for the client service delivery and risk management for her portfolio of clients, as well as the management of the financial results, new sales at the clients, staff development and transformation within the service line. She has been with E&Y since starting her training contract in January 1989. Jane will now be an EGC Audit client-serving partner, as well as the Audit EGC leader and sales champion in the Cape Town office.
Anneke Grobbelaar - Financial Services: Treasury Consulting
Anneke has been a senior manager within Treasury Consulting and Advisory Services within the Financial Services Group where she was responsible for setting the strategy for the business unit and driving the roll-out of this strategy, including marketing, recruiting, development and sales. She also played a key roll in delivering consulting and advisory services within the treasury market. Anneke will be an Audit partner in Financial Service Group with specific responsibility for Investec Bank and Treasury auditing and consulting.
Adrian Macartney - Outsourcing Solutions
Until his appointment as partner, Adrian, as senior manager, was responsible for the overall operation of Outsourcing Solutions in the Johannesburg office, reporting to Jaco van der Walt. He was also involved in developing new lines of business for the service line. More recently he was involved in addressing risk management principles in Outsourcing Solutions. Adrian will now be the client serving and managing partner of Outsourcing Solutions in the Johannesburg office, with interaction with this division on a national level.
Celestine Munda - Business Risk Consulting
Before being invited to join the partnership, Celestine was a senior manager within Business Risk Consulting with responsibility for managing the delivery of internal audit services and other risk management solutions to clients. Prior to joining E&Y, she worked for the Shell Group (Kenya & South Africa) as well as PwC (UK & Kenya). Her role as partner will be to drive revenue growth within BRC. Her role will also involve an element of service delivery around key accounts in BRC.
Norman Ndaba - Energy, Chemicals and Utilities
Norman was a director within Argil Ernst & Young and also in our former consulting group. He has been responsible for energy services in both firms. As partner with responsibilities for revenue generations in the Energy, Chemicals and Utilities (ECU) industry group and privatisation unit, Norman will play a lead role in pursuit strategies, client relationship building and the identification of opportunities and follow through to completion of assignments.
Frantz Scheepers - Audit EGC
Frantz has been the group senior manager in Audit EGC for the past two years where he is responsible for the audit and reporting of all the clients in his portfolio. He also managed the full budgeting and operational functions of the group during this time. Frantz joined E&Y in 1994. Frantz will now be the partner within EGC Audit with specific focus on the Industrial Products and Financial Services sectors. He will also be responsible for developing the Audit EGC external brand and will lead our interventions with venture capitalists and private equity firms for the cross referral of clients.
Christo Theron - Tax: Indirect Tax Group
Christo has been a director within our Tax practice in the Johannesburg office, specialising in Value Added Tax. He has been with the firm since 1992, and spent two years with the Receiver of Revenue after completing his articles with Ernst & Young in 1991. Christo will now be the partner with responsibility for growing the Indirect Tax group.
Lance Tomlinson - Audit: Industrial Products
Lance was a senior manager within the Industrial Products group (Audit), having been with the firm since he joined in January 1994 for his training contract. Since completing his articles with the firm, Lance has seen a series of promotions, leading to his recent appointment as partner. Lance will be a client-serving partner for some of our large clients within the IP group.
Ratha Nayager
Ratha, a Direct Entry Partner, joined the Public Sector Group within Audit in January 2001. Ratha was previously the Provincial Auditor General for Gauteng and contributes significantly to our key goals of growth and transformation.
Trevor Cuss
Trevor, previously a director within Corporate Finance, joined the partnership in January 2001. Since joining the firm from Deloitte & Touche, Trevor has demonstrated his capability, technical skills, his contacts and networks in the marketplace and his sales ability in this area, as well as his considerable strategic thinking ability. Corporate Finance offers significant growth opportunities to the firm and Trevor`s role as a partner ensures we are well positioned to seize these opportunities.
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