Solent: EY Southampton welcomes two new partners

Tony McCartney has been appointed as office senior partner at EY and Geraint Davies as audit partner.  Both are based in EY’s Southampton office.

McCartney and Davies discuss the firm’s ambitious growth plans and continued commitment to the region.

Firstly, tell us about your roles at EY?

McCartney: I’ve recently joined the Southampton office having spent previous parts of my career within EY in London and Cambridge, where I worked across industry with clients ranging from listed multinationals to small start-ups.
Davies: I am re-joining the Southampton office to reinforce the firm’s commitment to the south coast market, bringing many years of experience working with entrepreneurial businesses in diverse business sectors, in particular those with significant international operations.

What does EY Southampton specialise in?

McCartney: We specialise in providing outstanding client service across a broad range of industries.  Personally, I have taken on clients in the leisure, defence, technology and insurance outsourcing industries, to name a few, and that is a microcosm of the industries that we serve as a wider office.
Davies: We are proud to count a large number of the south coast’s best-known companies as our clients, covering a broad range of industries from hospitality and leisure to technology and defence, and recently we have moved into providing government and public sector assurance services. This diversity has been a major draw for me in my decision to return.

What are your recruitment growth plans in the region?

McCartney: As we grow our business in line with our 'Vision 2020' ambition, we need to recruit more talented people. To help with this we are building on our existing operations in Southampton and aim to recruit heavily over the next few years. This will not only provide even greater capacity to serve our clients, but will also mean more opportunities for our people overall.
Davies: We are looking to recruit in excess of 25 positions in the office between now and the end of the year. A group of graduates and school leavers will join us in September, who will benefit from our world-class training and development programmes as they study to attain their professional qualifications, and we are now actively recruiting experienced staff to work with us on some significant new client wins. Creating these new roles in Southampton is one way that we will build the capacity required to fuel our growth plans across the UK and Ireland, and reaffirms EY’s commitment to Southampton.

What are your plans for the future?

McCartney: We have a great practice in Southampton, and with Geraint and the wider leadership team I want us to build on that fantastic foundation.  The office has recently undergone a substantial renovation, and we were fortunate to welcome Hywel Ball, our UK&I managing partner for assurance to the office for a day when he shared his growth aspirations for EY on a national basis, and how the Southampton office is a fundamental part of this vision.  This all shows great commitment and investment to the region by EY. We remain relentlessly focused on providing exceptional client service to all of our clients whether multinational, entrepreneurial or social enterprises whose growth we support every day.
Davies: The improving economic indicators are providing exceptional growth opportunities for businesses on the south coast. We are positioning ourselves to be able to respond to the needs of those businesses, and through our established Entrepreneur of the Year programme we hope to be able to help some of these businesses to fast-track their development.