Grant Thornton names new Partnership Board members

Mike Desmond and Kelli Knoble elected to board; Doreen Griffith and Enzo Santilli re-elected

Grant Thornton LLP’s partners and principals have elected two new members to the firm’s Partnership Board, which helps govern the partnership and helps determine the firm’s direction. The new members include:

• Mike Desmond, national client experience leader for Audit and office managing partner for Charlotte, North Carolina — where he is based.
• Kelli Knoble, national business lines leader for the firm’s Tax practice (based in Charlotte, North Carolina).

In addition, two current board members have been re-elected to new three-year terms:

• Enzo Santilli, Transformation Advisory business line leader and office managing partner for Pittsburgh — where he is based.
• Doreen Griffith, office managing partner for Dallas — where she is based.

“Grant Thornton has combined flexibility, innovation and quality to thrive in today’s unprecedented and uncertain times, posting record high earnings in our last fiscal year,” said Brad Preber, CEO of Grant Thornton. “Our elected and renewed board members will be critical to our ongoing success — using their exceptional skills to help steer the growth and strategic direction of the firm.”

Continuing Partnership Board members who are currently serving terms include:

• Brad Preber, CEO (based in Phoenix).
• Muhammad Bhayat, Audit partner (based in Iselin, New Jersey).
• Bert Fox, national managing partner of Professional Standards (based in Chicago).
• Catherine Hyodo, office managing partner for Los Angeles — where she is based.
• Chris Smith, national Strategy Solution leader for Advisory Services (based in Charlotte, North Carolina).
• Mark Sullivan, office managing principal for Chicago — where he is based.
• Jim Wittmer, national market growth leader for Tax (based in Philadelphia).

Finally, the Partnership Board has named current member Muhammad Bhayat as its chairman.

About the new board members

Mike Desmond joins Grant Thornton’s Partnership Board with more than three decades of public accounting and corporate industry experience focused primarily within the manufacturing and technology sectors. He currently serves as the national client experience leader for Audit as well as the office managing partner of the firm’s Charlotte, North Carolina office. Desmond joined Grant Thornton as a partner in 2007 and previously served as the firm’s national Audit Industry and Growth leader. Prior to that, he led the firm’s Carolinas Consumer and Industrial Products industry team. Desmond received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a CPA in North Carolina and a member of the AICPA.

Kelli Knoble joins the Partnership Board with more than 25 years of experience providing state and local tax services. She currently serves as the firm's national Tax business lines leader and has held a range of other leadership positions, including Tax Services practice leader for the Carolinas. She focuses on income and franchise tax reviews and planning opportunities, with a specialty in helping clients manage the tax impacts resulting from business expansions and contractions. She received a master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a CPA in North Carolina and a member of the AICPA.

About Grant Thornton LLP

Founded in Chicago in 1924, Grant Thornton LLP (Grant Thornton) is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd, one of the world’s leading organizations of independent audit, tax and advisory firms. Grant Thornton, which has revenues of $1.97 billion and operates more than 50 offices, works with a broad range of dynamic publicly and privately held companies, government agencies, financial institutions, and civic and religious organizations.

“Grant Thornton” refers to Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL). GTIL and the member firms are not a worldwide partnership. Services are delivered by the member firms. GTIL and its member firms are not agents of, and do not obligate, one another and are not liable for one another’s acts or omissions. Please see grantthornton.com for further details.

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