The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants announced Wednesday that it has appointed finance business leader Simon Bittlestone as its 91st president, and as ninth chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants.
Bittlestone, who first became a CIMA member in 2009 and was admitted to the fellowship in 2016, previously worked in both private and public companies in the U.S., U.K. and Asia, and currently works in advisory and nonexecutive roles for several technology businesses, investment funds and charities.
He was a member of CIMA's Audit and Finance Committee in 2016-17 before being co-opted to CIMA Council in 2018. In 2021, he was appointed to the association's board of directors and Audit and Finance Committee and has previously served on CIMA's Thought Leadership and Business Ethics Committee.
"The world is ripe with opportunities for the accounting and finance profession to create sustainable value, innovate and be inclusive," Bittlestone said in a statement. "Despite prevailing uncertainty in the world, these are exciting times for our profession and over the next year I intend to help accelerate and lead its continuous evolution to make the most of these possibilities."
During his year in office, his leadership focus will be on:
- Innovation and transformation, including new technologies like generative AI and robotic process automation;
- Value and sustainability; and,
- Inclusion and opportunity, adapting to the evolving demographics of the profession.
Bittlestone will work closely with Carla McCall, co-chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and chair of the American Institute of CPAs, in helping lead the nearly 600,000 AICPA and CIMA members and candidates. His appointment comes soon after
Bittlestone's career includes 12 years of working in the financial analytics industry, 10 years of which he served as CEO of Metapraxis, a finance technology company based in London and New York. While working for technology and services firm Xchanging PLC, he qualified as an associate chartered management accountant and worked on the company's IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2007.
"It is a great honor to serve the profession and I want to say a huge thank you to CIMA members for putting their trust in me to act as CIMA president and chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants," Bittlestone said in a statement.
