EY shakes up UK leadership as exec to move to EU role

One of EY’s top British-based executives, Alison Kay, is set to transfer into a new European role, which will potentially remove her from the running to replace UK managing partner Hywel Ball, according to Sky News.  

The firm reportedly told partners through a memo last week that it was cutting the size of its executive committee from a total of 13 members to eight, and would also no longer have a CEO. 

This comes as EY is looking to shake up the leadership of its UK operations after the collapse of its global break-up plot, which would have separated its audit and consulting arms. 

According to the same memo, Kay, who was appointed managing partner for client services in 2020, will move to work across EY’s European regions. 

EY maintains that the changes to its UK leadership are “unrelated” to the break-up plot. 

An EY UK spokesperson told Sky News: “EY has reshaped two of its internal UK management teams. These changes will allow more EY partners to be focussed on serving our clients and stakeholders.

“EY’s UK LLP board is the ultimate governance and decision-making body for the UK firm and remains unchanged.”