KPMG the ‘clear choice’ for excellent service

Professional services firm KPMG has announced some changes in leadership within its Barbados and Eastern Caribbean operation. In a release, the organisation said it retained many of its long-time partners – Baldwin Alcindor, Lisa Brathwaite and Christopher Brome.

“Jan Martinek and Grant McDonald, partners who have most recently joined, are highly qualified to lead our Audit and Tax and service lines, respectively, with over 65 years of combined experience serving KPMG clients around the world.

“Managing partner Grant McDonald joins KPMG Barbados and Eastern Caribbean with over 39 years’ experience at KPMG in Canada and the United States. He is also a Corporate and International Tax Partner, serving both multinational and enterprise clients with tax compliance and planning matters.

He spent the past 10 years as Managing Partner of the Ottawa, Canada office of KPMG and over his career has served clients in a variety of industries including industrial manufacturing, technology, financial services, real estate, and government.”

Meanwhile, Alcindor, audit partner in St Lucia, has a wide range of experience in providing audit services in the Caribbean, US and Offshore Industry. He has been engaged on assignments across a diverse number of industries and business sectors including the International Financial Services (Offshore) Sector, banking, Asset Management, commercial banking, insurance, credit unions, manufacturing and retail, universities and other tertiary education institutions, finance, and hospitality.

Lisa Brathwaite, the audit partner responsible for Antigua and Barbuda, works primarily in the financial services sector but has also worked on entities in various other sectors.Working on these varied audit engagements and being actively involved in the research of specific engagement issues, has enabled Lisa to acquire a solid working knowledge of international financial reporting standards (IFRS).

Martinek, the head of Audit, first joined KPMG in 1992 and became a partner in Prague in 1999. After 20 years in the Czech Republic, he moved to Barbados and subsequently Vietnam. He worked as a mergers and acquisition director from 2016 until 2019, rejoining KPMG BEC in February 2020.

Chris Brome, who leads the advisory practice, is a partner with over 22 years of experience with KPMG in Barbados, the Eastern Caribbean and Canada. He is an experienced business leader with experience in strategic management, financial management and financial negotiations, corporate finance and complex valuations.

He brings a wealth of technical experience gained within a wide range of industries that include governmental institutions, insurance, banking, manufacturing, construction, telecommunications,
retail, hospitality, tourism and leisure, oil and gas and not-for-profit organisations. The firm also announced the departure of partners Carol Nicholls and Michael Edghill, who will be leaving KPMG on September 30, 2021, after a combined 80 years of service.

Nicholls joined the firm in 1980, and was admitted to the partnership in 1994. She held the office of managing partner from 2004 to 2017, and has the distinction of being the first female managing partner in a Big 4 firm in Barbados. She was appointed senior partner in 2017.

In her years with KPMG Nicholls also served in the roles of head of audit, professional development partner, professional practice partner, risk management partner and independence and ethics partner. She is also a former chairperson of KPMG Caricom.

Meanwhile, Edghill joined the Firm in 1982 and was promoted to manager in 1990, senior manager in 1992 and partner in 1997. During his tenure with KPMG he served as the statistical audit specialist, head of audit and leader of the financial services sector within the firm. Edghill is also an accredited IFRS reviewing partner. (PR)