KPMG introduces 11 new partners

15 March 2011

KPMG introduces 11 new partners

KPMG announced today that it has welcomed 11 new partners into its New Zealand firm.

KPMG Chief Executive Jan Dawson says, “In today’s complex world, we understand that business is more than just transactions. It’s about the strength of relationships and it’s the reason why we are investing in high performing staff who are dedicated to the success of our clients.

“It also reflects our strong growth in the New Zealand market. The new partners are from a range of service areas and locations nationwide mirroring the increased demands of clients for advisory, tax and audit skills.”

Find below some information about our new partners:

Sarah Hipkiss
Sarah Hipkiss was made Partner in January 2011 and works in the Audit team.
She joined KPMG Auckland in 1996 and has over 15 years experience with a range of clients while working in New Zealand, Belgium and London. Whilst in London she specialised in property and construction and has extensive experience in this area in the New Zealand market also.

Sarah has worked with numerous global companies and has extensive experience of managing group and multi-location audit engagements. Sarah has worked with both NZX and ASX listed entities during her career.

Sarah also has experience in a number of other areas including electricity distribution, retail, manufacturing, shipping / logistics clients and technology companies. Sarah is a Chartered Accountant and graduated from the University of Auckland.

Ben van Delden
Ben van Delden was made Partner in January 2011 and is the Partner-in-charge of KPMG’s National Markets team which incorporates business development, CRM, events, marketing and communications and research and information services. He is based in Auckland.

Ben has over 13 years audit experience. He has serviced a wide range of audit clients in the Consumer and Industrial Markets, Information, Communication and Entertainment, Infrastructure and Finance sectors. Ben has worked with several NZX and ASX listed companies during his career. In addition to his local experience Ben has delivered audit services in Australia, Belgium, Japan and Brazil.

Ben is heavily involved in the development of KPMG’s sector strategies and client care programmes. He leads the business development and marketing initiatives for our Agribusiness and Asia sectors.
Ben is a Chartered Accountant and graduated from the University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Management Studies (Hons).
Interests include family, kite boarding, soccer, the outdoors and his Committee For Auckland projects.

Kay Baldock
Kay Baldock was made Partner in January 2011 and works within KPMG’s Financial Services Audit team based in Auckland. Kay joined KPMG in Bermuda in 1999 as a newly qualified chartered accountant and moved to the New Zealand firm in 2006.
Kay’s primary focus has been on the insurance/reinsurance industry, 7 years being in a US GAAP environment and from 2006 to the present in an NZ IFRS environment. Her experience ranges from captive insurers through to publicly quoted reinsurance companies.

Kay’s current portfolio, although predominately insurance focused, includes a wide range of financial services audit clients.

Kay is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and has attained the Associate of Reinsurance designation issued by the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters.
Justin Ensor

Justin Ensor was made Partner in January 2011 and he works within KPMG’s Corporate Finance team. He specialises in valuations, financing, MBO’s and financial modeling. He is based in Auckland.

Justin has over 18 years of professional experience. He has advised companies spanning a wide range of sectors, including several well known New Zealand and multinational clients. Justin has sector expertise in the area of healthcare, aged care and retirement.

His valuation experience includes business valuations, independent valuations, NZX independent appraisal reports, options valuations, IFRS valuations and impairment and business valuations for transfer pricing purposes. Justin has also led several financing mandates, ranging in size from $10m to $150m.

Interests include family, mountain biking, golf and running.

Stephen Bell
KPMG has appointed Stephen Bell into the partnership and he currently heads KPMG’s Forensics Services. He is based in Auckland.

Stephen has significant experience providing clients and their counsel privileged consulting and expert services in civil lawsuits and regulatory (e.g. - Securities Commission) investigations.

He also specialises in financial reporting and securities investigations, due diligence and fraud investigations, neutral services including purchase price arbitrations involving buyers and sellers of enterprises and other alternative dispute resolution.

Stephen has provided accounting, investigative, dispute resolution and expert services, arbitration and computer forensic services to clients across a number of industries.

Chandan Ohri
Chandan Ohri has been appointed as Partner at KPMG and he is based in Auckland. He leads the firm’s IT Advisory team which incorporates IT Strategy and Performance, Sourcing Advisory, Post-Deal Integration, IT Attestation, IRM in External Audit, IT Internal Audit, Information Protection and Business Resilience, ERP Advisory , Project Advisory and Business Intelligence

He has over 17 years of experience working with clients’ executive teams to help them fully exploit the use of IT, whilst effectively identifying and managing risk. With a focus on effective governance, Chandan brings the technology topic to the executive and board as actionable and decision making topic. He aims to extract value from high-level strategy, quickly discerns risk, prioritizes key initiatives and maximizes return on investment.

Chandan is a Chartered Accountant and also has a Masters in Business Administration. He is a Certified Information Systems Auditor and a Certified Fraud Examiner. He has a wide range of experience in automobile, banking & finance, public sector, utilities, construction, consumer and industrial sectors.

Interests include family, cricket and reading.

Tim White
Tim White has been appointed partner within KPMG’s Business Advisory team. He has over 15 years experience in management and professional services across a number of sectors, including manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, defence, retail and technology.

Tim leads our China Business practice and acts as an advisor and sounding board to many privately-owned businesses in the general areas of governance, strategy and performance improvement.

Tim takes a pragmatic approach to bringing together the relevant elements of organisational improvement and change to achieve the desired results.
Tracy Preston-Lett
Tracy Preston-Lett has been made partner within KPMG’s Business Advisory team. She enjoys working proactively with clients assisting with the success and growth of profitable SME businesses. Tracy assists clients with both the compliance and advisory aspects of their businesses, including attending to tax planning, structuring matters, succession issues and business planning, along with other advisory projects.

Tracy ensures clients consider both short and long term perspectives and thrives on adding value by providing both strategic and operational input on a timely basis. With her broad business skills and knowledge, Tracy guides businesses to maximise opportunities throughout the business cycle.

Located in the Tauranga office, Tracy works with a diverse range of SME businesses across a broad range of industries.

Gwenan Riley

Gwenan Riley will be joining the KPMG Partnership within the Tax Division in Wellington. She has been advising clients in New Zealand for the past eight years.

Prior to joining KPMG, Gwenan spent five years in the profession in England. Since joining KPMG New Zealand, Gwenan has been involved in advising various clients on taxation matters across a number of industry sectors, including financial services, infrastructure, information technology and Agribusiness.
Gwenan has also assisted clients across a wide variety of industries to maximise their R&D Tax Credit Claims within the short time-frame the R&D Tax Credit was available.

Adrian Wimmers
Adrian has been made Partner within KPMG’s Financial Advisory Services Team and he is based in Wellington. Adrian leads our Infrastructure and Projects Group and also leads our financial advisory services to government clients.

Adrian’s focus is adding value at the interface between public and private sectors. He previously worked for KPMG Corporate Finance in the UK and Europe as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) transaction advisor from 1996 to 2003. He has also had two stints in the New Zealand public service as a commercial advisor in the Treasury’s Crown Company Monitoring Advisory Unit.

Since rejoining KPMG New Zealand in 2007, Adrian has advised both public and private sector clients in relation to possible PPP transactions and advised government clients in relation to value for money initiatives. He is passionate about improving the quality of government decision making through smarter procurement methods and a stronger focus on whole-of-life performance.

Adrian is also committed to the voluntary sector through his role as the Deputy Chair of Volunteer Wellington and is a member of the Leadership New Zealand Alumni Board.

David Gates
David Gates has been made Partner within KPMG’s Audit team and he is based in Wellington.

He first joined KPMG in 1995 and has over 15 years experience with a range of clients while working in New Zealand, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. David spent three years with a listed Plc company in London and two years in KPMG’s UK transaction services group before returning to Wellington in 2003. He has worked with numerous global companies and has extensive experience of managing group and multi-location audit engagements.

David currently provides audit and related services to a range of clients in the energy, oil and gas, healthcare and telecommunications sectors and he is currently involved in the provision of Sarbanes Oxley advisory services to a leading listed company.

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