EY Newcastle Hires New Partners with a Majority of Women

Four new Partners have been appointed by EY in its Newcastle office, continuing the company's strong investments in top talent to fulfil client demand and support business expansion. The new hires are a part of a 10% growth in the number of EY Partners overall in the UK.

In Newcastle, three of the four new partners are female, and their positions and specialties reflect the range of services offered by EY, including Audit, Tax, and Consulting.

EY has reinforced its collaboration with the UK with 267 new employees, of which 106 are from outside the country and 161 are internal promotions. The number of UK Partners at EY has now reached 1,683 following the most recent round of hiring.

"The four new Partner appointments continue our investment in the region as we look to expand the range of skills and services we're able to provide to clients," said Michael Scoular, Managing Partner of EY's Newcastle Office. With these additions, EY is in a strong position to maintain its trajectory of double-digit growth in the UK, which it is on target to achieve for the third consecutive year.

This is wonderful news for our company and marks an important turning point in the professional lives of our newest Partners in Newcastle. I'm excited to watch them succeed in their new positions with the company.

New Partners in Newcastle bring a diverse range of expertise to EY
After almost eight years with EY, Claire Mellons has been elevated to Partner in Newcastle. In her tenure with the company, Claire has contributed to a variety of difficult audits including local government, the NHS, and institutions of higher learning in the North East and beyond. In Newcastle, Claire is now in charge of the Government and Public Sector Audit team.

As a new Partner in EY's Newcastle-based Technology Consulting division, Jane Behenna joined the company in June. As a member of Accenture's SAP leadership team in the UK and Ireland, Jane has spent the last 16 years of her career working with customers to accomplish technology transformations powered by cloud technologies and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software SAP.

Following the business's recent acquisition of the North East-based technology consultancy company whyaye ltd, Maureen Robson-Norman joined EY as a Partner in May. Currently, Maureen is in charge of EY's 150-person ServiceNow practise in the UK and Ireland.

Prior to leading the start-up and expansion of whyaye ltd as a ServiceNow partner, Maureen held a variety of positions in HR and business consulting earlier in her career. She eventually grew the company to 130 employees.

After more than 15 years at Deloitte, Deven Vedhera joined EY as a Partner in January. He has extensive expertise in assurance, advising, and transaction services. Deven joined the company to expand the EY Finance Operations product, which offers managed accounting, management reporting, and statutory compliance support for companies going through a substantial period of transition and expansion.

Commitment to diversity
EY has set clear goals to increase the percentage of female and ethnic minority Partners in its UK business to 40% female and 20% from ethnic minority backgrounds (of which 15% will be Black) by July 2025 as part of the company's commitment to accelerating its progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

All levels of the organisation employ targets and metrics to measure success, and each business unit's yearly performance scorecards include them as well.

Targeted initiatives to further the aims include leadership development workshops, mentorship programmes, and sponsorship programmes for high potential female and ethnic minority employees. EY collaborates with suppliers to ensure that job prospects are varied, and it continually assesses the proportionality of task allocation across gender and race, as well as promotions and performance evaluations.

Additionally, EY keeps funding seven staff networks, including a 3,500-strong Women's Network and a Race and Ethnicity Network, which promote professional growth and foster a sense of community inside the company.

In terms of the new Partners hired this year, 7% (5 Partners) of them identify as Black / Mixed Black, and 28% are women and from ethnic minorities. With the recent appointments, there are currently 28% women and 17% people of ethnic minority in EY's entire population of UK partners, of which 8% identify as Black or Mixed Black. This contrasts with 8% Black/Mixed Black, 15% Ethnic Minority, and 27% Women in the prior fiscal year.

"I'm encouraged to see the progress we're making to increase the diversity of our Partner population, but we know there's still a way to go," Michael Scoular continued. “EY places a high premium on fostering a diverse and inclusive culture, and we are accelerating the pace of change by taking specific action.”