Promotion Watch ’24: 56 People Rise to the Top of the Heap at Grant Thornton*

*Technically only 13 of them made partner, the rest are near but not actually at the top of the aforementioned heap.

Grant Thornton and Grant Thornton Lite™ today announced a partner, principal, and managing director class of 56 people. They’re going to make us do math here to figure out how many partners and principals they have this year so we can compare it to prior years. Sorry, MDs, you’re left out.

Historical number of partners and principals promoted each year at Grant Thornton:

• 2024: 22
• 2023: 43
• 2022: 38
• 2021: 46
• 2020: 30
• 2019: 42
• 2018: 32
• 2017: 39
• 2016: 47
• 2015: 50
• 2014: 32
• 2013: 30
• 2012: 27
• 2011: 26
• 2010: 22

Because this is the first PPMD announcement since Grant Thornton’s huge private equity deal and mixing attest services in with PE-backed entities is a no-no, they made sure to separate the audit and non-audit peeps. Everyone get used to these convoluted announcements, it’s only going to get worse from here.

In total, Grant Thornton Advisors LLC, which provides non-attest services, admitted nine new principals and promoted 22 professionals to managing directors. At the same time, Grant Thornton LLP, which provides attest services, admitted 13 new partners and promoted 12 professionals to managing directors. These appointments and promotions are effective August 1, 2024.

Seth Siegel, CEO of Grant Thornton Advisors LLC, emphasizes that the newly named leaders will serve clients with excellence and propel Grant Thornton forward at a poignant moment for the firm.

Poignant, that’s a new word for them. At least we got one familiar DYNAMIC among all this word salad.

Thanks for internalizing last year’s criticism and giving the people what they want, Seth.

Audit wins the PPMD race by a long shot with 44% of the newly promoted peeps coming from there and the only service line to have any new partners. Coming in second — and reminder, this is a separate entity — is tax with 27% followed by advisory at 20% and internal services at 9%.

New PPMDs at Grant Thornton LLP (the audit business):

Name	Title	Area	Market
Alex Banez	Partner	Audit	Los Angeles
Sydney Been	Managing Director	Audit	Wichita, Kan.
Caryn Blackwell	Partner	Audit	Dallas
Denny Childress	Managing Director	Audit	Phoenix
Kevin Dawson	Partner	Audit	New York City
Eric Elberg	Managing Director	Audit	New York City
Adrian Gaffney	Partner	Audit	Tampa, Fla.
Pat Grubb	Partner	Audit	Dallas
Andrew Herrick	Managing Director	Audit	Phoenix
Marcy Johnson	Partner	Audit	Metro D.C.
Joe Kilkenny	Partner	Audit	San Francisco
Sara Krueger	Partner	Audit	Detroit
Peter Ladas	Partner	Audit	Iselin, N.J.
Dan Mueller	Partner	Audit	Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Ross Ramsour	Partner	Audit	Houston
Matthew Rodriguez	Managing Director	Audit	New York City
Mike Schmidt	Managing Director	Audit	New York City
Laura Schuetze	Partner	Audit	Chicago
Sandra Seymore	Managing Director	Audit	Pittsburgh
Allison Smith	Managing Director	Audit	Chicago
Grant Spannuth	Managing Director	Audit	Denver
Destinee Swanson	Managing Director	Audit	Jacksonville, Fla.
Nate Wandel	Partner	Audit	Chicago
David Weber	Managing Director	Audit	Bellevue, Wash.
J.B. Yett	Managing Director	Audit	Dallas

New PPMDs at Grant Thornton Advisors (the PE side of the business that they will remind you multiple times is a totally different business from the attest side):

Name	Title	Area	Market
Jason Anderson	Managing Director	Internal Services	Chicago
Omri Avdi	Principal	Internal Services	Orange County, Calif.
Tracey Baird	Principal	Tax	Houston
Monica Bambury	Managing Director	Tax	Bellevue, Wash.
Renee Cahill	Managing Director	Tax	Chicago
Colin Crawford	Managing Director	Advisory	Philadelphia
Fletcher Davidson	Managing Director	Internal Services	Tampa, Fla.
Mike Del Medico	Managing Director	Tax	Cleveland
Oliver Dennison	Principal	Advisory	Charlotte, N.C.
Jeff Eichinger	Managing Director	Tax	Chicago
Justin Ferguson	Principal	Tax	Metro D.C.
Patrick Foos	Managing Director	Advisory	Charlotte, N.C.
Kelly Granado	Managing Director	Tax	Houston
Eileen Leyhane	Managing Director	Tax	Detroit
Catherine Love	Managing Director	Tax	Boston
Katie MacQuivey	Principal	Advisory	Bellevue, Wash.
Adam Martinson	Managing Director	Tax	Cleveland
Lindsay Miller	Managing Director	Tax	Orange County, Calif.
Mani Muthappan	Managing Director	Advisory	Boston
Matt Nelson	Principal	Advisory	Charlotte, N.C.
Ryan Nodal	Managing Director	Tax	Orange County, Calif.
Mark Owens	Managing Director	Advisory	Philadelphia
Brian Papsun	Principal	Tax	Philadelphia
Leena Patel	Managing Director	Internal Services	Metro D.C.
Sam Salha	Managing Director	Advisory	Bellevue, Wash.
Diana Schuetz	Managing Director	Internal Services	Bellevue, Wash.
Guinevere Seaward Shore	Principal	Tax	Metro D.C.
Supreet Singh	Managing Director	Advisory	Houston
Peter Stiegler	Managing Director	Advisory	Minneapolis
Rick Strasser	Managing Director	Advisory	Metro D.C.
Ray Vizza	Principal	Tax	Chicago

New this year thanks to private equity is the following disclaimer at the bottom of the promotions press release:

“Grant Thornton” is the brand for two professional-services entities: Grant Thornton LLP, a licensed, certified public accounting (CPA) firm that provides audit and assurance services ― and Grant Thornton Advisors LLC (not a licensed CPA firm), which exclusively provides non-attest offerings, including tax and advisory services. With revenues of $2.4 billion for the fiscal year that ended July 31, 2023, and dozens of offices nationwide, Grant Thornton represents a community of almost 10,000 problem solvers, relationship builders, and industry specialists who know that how we serve matters as much as what we do.

Grant Thornton LLP, Grant Thornton Advisors LLC and their respective subsidiaries operate as an alternative practice structure (APS). The APS conforms with applicable laws, regulations and professional standards, including those from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Grant Thornton LLP and Grant Thornton Advisors LLC serve as the U.S. member firms of the Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL) network. GTIL and its member firms are not a worldwide partnership and all member firms are separate legal entities. Member firms deliver all services; GTIL does not provide services to clients.

Congrats to all.

Grant Thornton names 56 new partners, principals and managing directors [Business Wire]