Accountants and business advisory firm, Baker Tilly, has named Richard King as its new managing partner in West Yorkshire.
Richard (41), who joined the firm 3½ years ago, has been head of audit for Baker Tilly in West Yorkshire for two years. In his new role, which he officially starts next month, he will be responsible for leading and developing the firm’s offices in Leeds and Saltaire.
Richard, who trained with a ‘Big Four’ firm and worked in a number of senior finance roles for a large consumer facing financial services sector PLC before joining Baker Tilly, specialises in advising large corporate and listed organisations.
In addition to his role at Baker Tilly, he was recently appointed to the steering committee at Financial Leeds.
Richard takes over from Kevin O’Connor, who has been promoted to regional managing partner for Baker Tilly responsible for the firm across the north of England and Scotland. At the same time he will also join the National Management Board of the firm. Kevin was chairman of Financial Leeds from 2007-2009
Kevin has been office managing partner in West Yorkshire since 2002 and during this time has grown turnover from £4.5m to over £15m.
Commenting on his promotion, Richard said:
“This is of course a very exciting role and I’m honoured to be taking over from Kevin. I consider myself very fortunate to be heading up an incredibly successful office with great partners and real strength throughout the staff group.
“The next 12 months will continue to provide a number of challenges for the business community, but I’m convinced we have the range of services and depth of knowledge to make a real difference. Though continuing our recent growth within West Yorkshire is important, the firm’s number one priority will remain the delivery of service quality that is second to no one.”
Kevin O’Connor said:
“I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of being managing partner in Leeds and Saltaire - particularly the last couple of years following the successful merger with Howarth Clark Whitehill (Yorkshire).
“Richard has made a real impact since joining us as a partner in 2006. I’ve no doubt that he will make a big impression in his new role and continue to drive the practice within West Yorkshire on to even greater success.”