Grant Thornton US welcomes two new members to partnership board
Grant Thornton US has elected Mike Desmond and Kelli Knoble as new members of its partnership board. The Chicago-headquartered accounting and consulting firm also re-elected two current board members to new three-year terms and named a new chairman.
Mike Desmond has more than three decades of public accounting and corporate industry experience primarily focused on the manufacturing and technology industries. He currently serves as national client experience leader for audit and managing partner of the Charlotte office. Desmond previously was national audit industry and growth leader and leader of the consumer and industrial products practice in the Carolinas.
Prior to joining Grant Thornton as a partner in 2007, Desmond was chief accounting officer at tobacco manufacturer Reynolds American. Before that he was an audit partner at Deloitte and Arthur Andersen.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a certified public accountant.
Kelli Knoble has more than 25 years of experience providing state and local tax services. Also based in Charlotte, Knoble is Grant Thornton’s national tax business lines leader and previously served as leader of the tax services practice in the Carolinas. Prior to joining Grant Thornton as a partner in 2002, Knoble worked at Arthur Andersen.
She holds a master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a certified public accountant.
“Grant Thornton has combined flexibility, innovation, and quality to thrive in today’s unprecedented and uncertain times, posting record high earnings in our last fiscal year,” said Brad Preber, CEO of Grant Thornton. “Our elected and renewed board members will be critical to our ongoing success — using their exceptional skills to help steer the growth and strategic direction of the firm.”
Doreen Griffith, managing partner of the Dallas office, and Enzo Santilli, leader of the transformation advisory business line and managing partner of the Pittsburgh office, were re-elected to three-year terms on the partnership board.
Muhammad Bhayat, an audit partner based in Iselin, New Jersey, was named chairman of the board.
Grant Thornton’s partnership board has 11 members, including CEO Brad Preber.
The firm has approximately 8,500 people across more than 50 offices.
