Grant Thornton appoints independent director as chairman

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

Grant Thornton has appointed Kerry McDonald as its new chairman which makes it the first of the five major global accounting firms in New Zealand to appoint an independent director as chairman.

Wellington-born, McDonald has a distinguished background, in New Zealand and Australia, as an economist, senior executive and company director in diverse fields including manufacturing, mining, banking, logistics, energy and forest products - and in Public Sector roles including the e-Government Advisory Board, ABAC, Antarctica New Zealand, Chairman of the State Sector Standards Board and New Zealand Chairman of the Australia-New Zealand Leadership Forum.

Chief executive of Grant Thornton New Zealand Wayne Jackson says the company believes that bringing an external view to the Board table is a major and necessary step as it develops its business in New Zealand.

"Kerry Mc Donald brings a wealth of diverse experience at both the governance and executive levels and we are delighted to announce his appointment" he said.

McDonald is currently chairman of Opus International Consultants and i-lign Limited and a director of Leighton Contractors, NZ Institute of Economic Research and a number of other companies.

He is president of the Institute of Directors and a Trustee of WWF New Zealand. He was previously managing director of Comalco New Zealand, chairman of BNZ and OceanaGold and a director of National Australia Bank, Carter Holt Harvey, Ports of Auckland and many other companies.

Conferred with an honorary doctorate from the University of Canterbury in 2007, Kerry has a keen interest in public policy, New Zealand's economic development and in developing high performance organisations.

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When did there become a big 5?

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A bit rich to be claiming membership in the Big 5.. when GT are in fact ranked 6th in the pecking order.

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