Old Mill appoints COO to help it become South West's biggest accountancy firm

Accountant and financial adviser Old Mill has appointed Adil Taha as its new chief operating officer to accelerate growth at the business and develop its operational infrastructure along the way.

Chippenham-based Old Mill is currently almost halfway through its ambitious five-year plan to double in size, and Adil has been brought on board to work alongside CEO Kevin Whitmarsh and the Board to lead the business through the next three years of growth, and beyond.

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Adil has extensive experience in leading operations and executing strategy to achieve high growth within a range of sectors including private equity, legal and investment banking.

He played an instrumental role in turning around London law firm Child & Child as its COO through a private equity strategy, before going on to launch a corporate boutique start-up law firm on behalf of Top 50 UK law firm Taylor Rose.

Adil then assisted the UK’s largest consultancy law firm, Gunnercooke LLP, with their launch in New York, and most recently, was commercial director at start-up law firm Mezzle where he led the strategic international expansion of the firm’s unique consultancy model.

The role of COO is a new one at Old Mill, making Adil’s appointment a key strategic hire for the Somerset firm as it heads into its next stage of growth.

Adil’s initial brief will be to complete a strategic review of Old Mill’s current operations, and then over the next 12 months, he will use his extensive knowledge and experience to help restructure the business to enable faster growth in line with current strategy set by CEO Kevin Whitmarsh and the rest of the senior team.

Speaking about his new role, Adil said: “Old Mill has the drive and growth ambitions of a corporate but with the ethos and culture of a people-centric local business. That combination is something that doesn’t come along very often.

"From the moment I met the board, and certainly Kevin, I could feel their passion for the business, and knew that, after a number of consultancy roles in an extensive portfolio career across three industries, I had found something I wanted to be a part of for the long term.”

Adil says that unlike lots of professional firms he has worked with, Old Mill is not scared of trying new things, and this means the business has the potential to grow far beyond its current goal.

“Old Mill is now almost halfway through a strategic plan which commenced in 2021, and the growth so far has been hugely impressive, but if it is going to reach its true potential, and become one of the biggest – if not, the biggest – firm in the region, it needs a world-class operational structure to support high levels of growth.

“For many professional service firms, after a few years of strong growth, this is the point where things start to plateau due to closed mindsets and a reluctance to step out of the comfort zone. But Old Mill is full of ambitious people who are willing to embrace change, to be brave and bold, meaning the scope for success here is huge, and I am really excited to get started.”

Speaking about Adil’s appointment, Kevin Whitmarsh, CEO said: “The recruitment process for this role was vigorous, and there were several hugely talented and experienced candidates in the running for COO. Adil impressed us all with his ambition, drive, and alignment to Old Mill’s values. I as well as the Board and Leadership Team are looking forward to welcoming him to Old Mill to support us to achieve our growth potential.”

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Marina Griffin, chair of the board added: “Having spent my career working in senior operations roles across a range of businesses I know how effective a COO role can be in an organisation. Old Mill has huge ambition, and we are excited to kick start the next stage of our growth, but it is important that we stay true to our values and culture.

“We are therefore really fortunate to have found in Adil, a candidate with the drive and ambition we need - and the shared values we want - to take the business forward.”