Grant Thornton LLP has elected audit partner Jacqueline Akerblom to the firm’s Partnership Board.
[IMGCAP(1)]Akerblom is also the firm’s national managing partner of women’s initiatives and director of its West Region North International Business Center. She was elected at the firm’s annual partners meeting in November, but the announcement of her election was made Tuesday.
Two years ago, she won the American Society of Women Accountants Educational Foundation's 2008 Balance Awards "Woman of the Year" prize (see
Other incumbents who were re-elected to the board include Long Island office partner-in-charge John Desmond, and national Transaction and Risk Advisory Services partner-in-charge and Southeast Region tax managing partner Randy Robason. Grant Thornton’s Partnership Board provides oversight and governance relating to firm-wide partnership matters.
The following Partnership Board members are serving the remainder of their terms:
• Stephen Chipman – Grant Thornton LLP CEO, appointed member
• Scott Farber – Irvine, Calif., office audit partner and West Region South International Business Center director
• Doug Gawrych – South Florida managing partner
• Rick Gebert – Philadelphia managing partner
• Jack Katz – Northeast Region managing partner, New York Cluster managing partner and national Financial Services managing partner
• Rich LaFleur – Mid-Atlantic practice managing partner
• Antony Nettleton – Chicago audit practice leader and Midwest Region International Business Center director
• Jeff Robinson – Chicago audit partner
Former Partnership Board member and National Economic Advisory Services Managing Partner Larry Redler, who served from 2007 to 2010, will be retiring from the firm at the end of this fiscal year.
“Grant Thornton’s Partnership Board is critical to the strength and quality of our firm,” said CEO Stephen Chipman in a statement. “We are fortunate to have such a deep and diverse bench of leadership talent serving on our governing body. I congratulate the newly elected board members, as well as the re-elected board chair, Jack Katz, whose valuable experience has led to his re-election as board chairman every year since 2007.”
