Winners

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Lisa Fernihough is one of life’s connectors – whether that’s people, ideas or joining the dots to unlock intractable client challenges. Newly appointed as Chief People Officer in January 2023, she has excelled in several leadership roles during her 35-year career at KPMG across the consulting and financial services in the UK, Switzerland and the US.

Former Global Head of Financial Services Advisory and Head of Financial Services Consulting UK, Lisa was the driving force behind the recent radical turnaround of the practice’s commercial performance and culture, steering it to major growth. She’s also delivered a range of demanding finance and regulatory client transformation projects, including some of KPMG’s largest multi-country programmes.

Lisa remains the lead partner for a priority account, which returned to a top-performing client on her watch. She took an eight-year break from KPMG in 2003 to set up a technical training company, before re-joining as Financial Services People Partner.

Lisa radiates warmth, energy and positivity, inspiring her colleagues’ respect as much for her collaborative style as for her business acumen. She is a high-profile champion of diversity and inclusion and has set up several internal networks helping women, working parents and people from ethnic minorities. She was recognised in the 2021 Women in Banking and Finance achievement awards.

With her deft people skills, visionary leadership and extensive insider knowledge, the role of Chief People Officer couldn’t be in better hands.

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Raj represents the future of technology consulting at KPMG; he is our role model for the next generation of tech consultants, demonstrating how to deliver outcomes for our clients, create long-term sustainable relationships, be values-led in delivery; constantly seeking to be better through new learning, all whilst remaining humble in his success.

Raj isn’t your typical tech-consultant. He talks about his work in terms of positive outcomes for staff, citizens, and patients of the NHS. That becomes the articulation of something very clean and simple that his peers, teams, and clients can understand and action.

Whilst this seems novel and ideological, it is the foundation of KPMG’s remarkable growth in Digital Healthcare Advisory. The trusted value-led consulting which Raj has overseen has led to Digital Healthcare Advisory growing by 73% last year, and it is predicted to grow by a further 97% in FY23. The outcomes delivered have been at the strategic and policy level with NHS England and Department of Health and Social Care, but also on the ground helping ICS’s and NHS Trusts deliver real outcomes for their staff, local citizens, and patients.

He does all this whilst staying true to who he is outside of work; regular trips to support his charitable work in India and Africa, food ‘pop-up’ kitchens, and teaching music at inner-city schools. Raj isn’t afraid to share his story of socio-economic and dyslexia challenges to support other tech-consultants facing similar struggles, showcasing how this is a career they too can excel in.

Highly Commended

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Hugh O’Reilly is a leading-industry expert in terms of customer-centric digital transformation within financial services. For almost three decades - as the landscape has evolved at breakneck speed - he’s made it his mission to help clients understand how customer outcomes are their key to success.

Now KPMG’s Head of Customer and Digital Transformation, Hugh has steered financial service clients into the digital age, smoothing their path from branch to phone to online to mobile banking – and whatever innovations lie ahead.

In recent years, he’s led several multi-year, multi-million-pound customer-led transformation programmes across commercial and retail banks and building societies. That includes designing and implementing a global client insight programme for one of the world’s largest banks and successfully managing the relaunch of a UK commercial bank.

Hugh is a visionary practice builder, creating diverse teams of consultants, while doubling headcount and revenue. He also oversaw the launch of KPMG’s Global Centre of Excellence in Atlanta, with a team of 1000 people in 55 markets curating market-leading propositions and client insights. Likewise, he headed up KPMG’s strategic acquisition of Nunwood Consulting in 2015, bringing on board pioneering best practice, data and technology.

He is a regular speaker at senior industry events – with former clients rating his expertise so highly that many still request his help years later. He is also an empathetic, popular team-leader, committed to developing the team and handing on a positive legacy.

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Uzoma has made an impactful start to her consulting career, implementing the skills that she learnt in her three previous roles in telecoms, a start-up and as a Product Manager in retail. In her role as Assistant Manager - Tech Strategy and Transformation, Uzoma has mentored colleagues and led challenging assignments that required sensitivity in dealing with the client’s own staff, whose roles would necessarily change as a result.

She is passionate about empowering communities, sharing and learning, and doing meaningful work. She set up and leads KPMG’s Global Agile Community, which brings together over 18 member firms and has led to thought leadership, client wins, and a general community feel across the world.

After seeing the value this brought to the organisation, she created a UK’s Community of Practice. Uzoma has established herself as an SME in Product and Agile. She has contributed to a flagship client engagement and developed thought leadership on a topic that will keep KPMG competitive in the market.

Uzoma’s passion for sharing and learning is also shown through the training she delivers firmwide. She’s trained more than 300 people in Product and Agile, an initiative that has built capability within KPMG.

Her drive to empower others is not confined to work. Uzoma supports a local charity that works with disadvantaged young people, encouraging them to use education to forge their way out of poverty. She supports them through mentoring and career advice/talks on her volunteer days and in her free time.

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Mark Essex helps KPMG’s clients navigate problems for which there is no playbook. Brexit – Covid – hybrid – an upside-down labour market. They’ve kept coming in recent years…

Doing this requires a completely different approach to most research and thought leadership; there is no evidence to assess, and often no methodology. And yet Mark’s clients are in need of answers. They can’t afford to wait until the facts are clear to take decisions with long lead times. This is the ambiguous world in which decisions have to be made with uncomfortably little to go on. It requires the painting of plausible futures and then testing strategies against each. Identifying the no-regrets decisions which seem to be good value across a myriad of situations.

Mark uses analogy, plain English and a bit of humour to get his message across. He often finds himself on the opposite side of prevailing wisdom and is entirely comfortable in that space. Tackling today’s systemic challenges and the megatrends of the future, Mark keeps his eye on the fact that, sometimes, it’s the peripheral risk that bites you – it’s all very well getting salad on the shop shelves but if your fridge spare parts are stuck in a traffic jam, the store is still shut…

Mark’s raison d’etre is to find high percentage plays for clients which get the right balance of risk and reward. And if views and click-throughs, radio interviews and client feedback are anything to go by, he’s succeeding. Truly, a thought leader.

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Helen Jones joined the KPMG360° apprenticeship scheme in 2019. Two months later, she was knocking on senior partners’ doors to campaign for better social mobility at the firm. Within six months, she co-founded KPMG’s first Social Mobility Network, in Scotland. And within 18 months this had led to the launch of our Social Mobility Network UK – now one of our fastest-growing employee networks, with more than 800 members.

Having established herself as a strong advocate for social mobility, our partners now seek her expertise – to help improve social mobility at the company, and help clients worldwide enhance their policies. That’s just some of the volunteer work she does on top of her role as an Associate Risk Consultant in the IGH Grants Centre of Excellence (GCoE).

Having struggled at school and university due to ADHD, Helen recognised the need to secure her professional qualifications another way. She is now forging a path as an apprentice.

Helen has proactively worked her way up to a management role she loves in the GCoE team. She’s currently Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and Finance Lead on a multi-million-pound, cyber-capacity building programme across several African countries.

Helen continues to impress, and to drive others to do better, with every step she takes. She’s a shining example of someone who’s grasping the full opportunities of the KPMG360° apprenticeship scheme.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council is undergoing the most ambitious transformation attempted by a UK local authority.

In 2019, a local government reorganisation (LGR) brought four existing councils together. The new Authority’s vision was to create a truly connected organisation, driven by technology, powered by data, and capable of providing seamless digital experiences for customers and employees.

Its ambition is for residents to access the right level of service, at the right time, and get the right response. That means moving simple transactions online, while focusing support on areas and residents with more complex needs.

Following a project to define what the new council would look like, and how it would operate, KPMG worked with BCP Council to underpin these with strategic, enterprise-wide technology platforms.

To enable the desired benefits for residents, we defined and delivered a technology architecture comprising three core systems:

  • Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
  • Customer relationship management (CRM)
  • Data platform

The programme ran across ten workstreams – running at unprecedented pace – and included extensive knowledge-sharing with the Council’s team. We’ve helped equip them to build the capabilities, applications and data analytics needed to redesign every one of the 700-plus services they provide to residents, visitors and businesses.

Each aspect of the transformation was people-led, technology enabled, and outcomes-focussed. The result will be a thoroughly modern organisation. With unrivalled customer insight, BCP Council is starting to meet its ambition of superior, frictionless experiences for employees and local residents, while driving almost £44 million in cost savings.

When the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) acquired Refinitiv, a financial data and analytics company for multibillion dollars, it transformed the 300-year stock exchange into a major market player for data. This type of transformation requires an infusion of new talent and skills, but LSEG’s demand for new talent was far outstripping the People Function’s ability to deliver.

LSEG needed to attract the right talent to accelerate their growth. It was therefore vital that they focused on improving their recruitment process – reducing hiring times, improving the hiring manager and candidate experience, improving the quality and diversity of candidates and elevating the LSEG employer brand. KPMG were brought in to help deliver these enhancements, supporting LSEG to transform their approach to recruitment.

KPMG focused on the problem the business was trying to solve and then helped implement a tailored strategy, approach and supporting technology products to fit the situation. KPMG took the time to understand what the business needed to grow and then deployed the right combination of strategic, project management, technical and implementation skills to deliver at the highest-possible quality. We ensured the business was involved and engaged at every step.

The project has already far exceeded some of its stated objectives. And the improvements in the performance of LSEG’s recruitment processes have put the organisation in a strong position to meet and exceed their investor/leadership expectations and growth objectives.

Buildings represent around 20% of UK carbon emissions. That makes ‘greening’ the nation’s homes and offices an essential step in hitting net zero targets and achieving a low carbon future.

As one of the UK’s largest lenders, this is a subject of great significance to NatWest. The bank has a target of halving the carbon impacts of its lending by 2030, and wants to help customers address climate change by taking actions that make a difference and benefit them financially.

Recognising the challenges, NatWest asked KPMG to support it in crystallising a vision and a project plan for tangible action. The consultancy worked alongside NatWest on the project, helping it articulate the vision, define the strategy, identify partners to collaborate with, and mobilise action.

KPMG facilitated a series of internal workshops with a range of leaders from across the Banking group, helping filter ideas into a strategy. A key realisation was that NatWest couldn’t solve the issue alone. Using its convening powers and client connections, KPMG helped the bank establish a unique coalition that brought together British Gas from the energy sector, Worcester Bosch from heating/technology manufacturing, and homelessness charity Shelter for critical perspectives from broader society. The result was the launch in July 2021 of the Sustainable Homes and Buildings Coalition, with Citizens Advice also involved in an advisory capacity.

The coalition members shaped their group vision, with KPMG providing secretariat support to drive, structure, and help realise their ambitions, underpinned by additional data-driven insights that KPMG derived from public sources. For this, the strength and depth of KPMG’s energy transformation and data analytics expertise was instrumental.

One of the coalition’s principal aims was to conduct research and map customer journeys to decarbonising their homes. With the support of KPMG, this resulted in a seminal report that was published with high impact at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November 2021.

The next stage for the Sustainable Homes and Building Coalition has been to reach out to real-world customers to apply the low carbon lessons to their actual homes in a pilot retrofit programme. This will demonstrate what it takes to make the transition happen and the true challenges and opportunity facing the buildings sector in the UK. One year on, the coalition has built a lot of momentum by hosting eight coalition events, engaging directly with 10 local authorities and funding nine households in the retrofit pilot.

It’s a pioneering initiative that is leading the way towards a decarbonised buildings future that KPMG has been proud to support. 

Even today, around 40% of the world’s population has no internet access, creating a damaging digital divide. There are widespread efforts to address this – but as digital access improves, digital safety and security typically lag far behind. The gap between the two is fertile ground for cybercrime, putting a significant brake on development and prosperity gains.

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has been actively working to address this. Through its Digital Access Programme (DAP), supported by KPMG, it has worked with five countries – Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Indonesia – to improve their digital capabilities. The DAP is the UK government’s largest ever overseas cyber capacity building project.

The FCDO enlisted KPMG to help plan, design and deliver capacity building projects to strengthen defences against cyber threats across 16 projects in the five countries. KPMG put in place a rigorous commissioning process, having fully scoped and understood priorities.

Led by KPMG, the commissioning process began by canvassing a wide range of views – from partner governments, FCDO DAP leads at post, KPMG member firms, cybercrime specialists and a host of other stakeholders – on where support was most needed and where an intervention could have the greatest sustained impact.

A long list of possible interventions was methodically reduced through the assessment criteria, business case articulations and feedback from partner governments. Gender and social inclusion experts Social Development Direct (SDD) also provided vital input to every business case.

Every one of the projects was commissioned for its ability to deliver tangible benefits at a grassroots level, particularly with vulnerable groups in mind. These included women, children, the elderly, small businesses and rural populations.

Monitoring, reporting and evaluation frameworks were developed, and local delivery partners recruited. KPMG developed highly sophisticated – but user-friendly – dashboard reporting mechanisms covering 100 project milestones.

The dashboard turns complexity into simplicity, providing performance updates across all our projects. It covers 100 project milestones (with a value of over £7m); stakeholder relations with 18 different groups; project sustainability and finances; and multiple operational and strategic risks.

By 2022, all projects were delivered against goals, with team satisfaction scores running at 83%. A short sample of representative outcomes includes:

Brazil – Cybersecurity materials developed with the potential to reach 120 million people

South Africa – Over 150,000 South African police officers attended a one-day training course around the Cybercrime Act

Nigeria – Communications campaign reached 20 million people, 10% of the population

Indonesia – Cyber maturity assessment delivered to eight banks that together protect 180 million citizens’ banking data

Kenya – 12 public key infrastructure (PKI) policies developed in line with international best practice

KPMG successfully established the proof of concept – paving the way for new programmes in other countries and regions including the Indo-Pacific and India.

After Bain Capital acquired a majority stake in Kantar from WPP in 2019, it became apparent that Kantar needed to build its own procurement and supplier management capability to drive competitive advantage. The challenge was how to do that in a decentralised business of 27,000 people spread across 130 markets with tens of thousands of suppliers and more than $1 billion of annual supplier spend.

KPMG supported the total transformation of the Source to Pay process from assessing the existing capability against leading practice and developing a digital strategy through to redefining the S2P operating model and implementing new ways of work enabled by a cloud-based Source to Pay technology ecosystem.

The first stage involved helping Kantar articulate the strategy and value case – assessing Kantar’s current state, identifying the pain points, bringing leading practice insight and shaping a strategy to transform the S2P process in line with underlying business needs.

KPMG then supported Kantar on technology and solution selection – bringing together teams from across Kantar, building a picture of specific Kantar requirements, and running a technology sourcing process. The result of this was that Coupa was selected as the business’ primary solution as part of a connected eco-system.

From this work, KPMG was then able to map Kantar’s needs to its Powered Procurement approach – a leading practice reference model incorporating service delivery models, processes, skills, performance, governance and technology – and assembled a 20 strong multi-disciplinary team consisting of procurement, finance, tax, controls, change and other expertise to help deliver the solution. This enabled Kantar to move at pace, make a step change to leading practice and remain laser focussed on delivering outcomes.

The result has been truly transformational. Real-time spend management, business-wide control of supplier risk and end to end process automation all wrapped in a service model orientated around optimised business experience. Specific benefits include:

  • Over 70% of spend is now with contracted suppliers
  • Contracts, orders and invoices are all linked up
  • High levels of process automation have reduced manual effort, halving supplier onboarding times and reducing order approval times from days to hours
  • For suppliers, it has created greater transparency, engagement and a step change in on time payments

The project is on track to provide sustainable savings of >$25m per annum - worth 100s of millions in business value creation.

Client feedback has been extremely positive – consistently recording 9/10 in feedback rounds over the past 3 years. This was the first major technology-enabled programme at Kantar to be delivered on time, on budget and to target.

KPMG is proud to have partnered with Kantar on this journey to deliver real business value – better commercial outcomes, reduced business risk and a sustainable vision for the future.

Individual finalists

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Rachel Woods is a hugely experienced consultant specialising in major back-office integrations and transformations, with over 30 years’ experience at KPMG. She was amongst one of the early cohorts at KPMG to become a Chartered Management Consultant, seeing this as an important step that gives due recognition to the huge value of the work of a management consultant, and a sign of the professionalisation of the role, building even greater client trust and confidence.

Over the last two years, Rachel’s focus has been advising clients and leading work to prepare them for the government’s proposed corporate governance and controls reforms, or ‘UK SOx’ as it’s often known. This reform has enormous implications for UK plc and necessitates a huge amount of transformation and the upgrading of controls.

Rachel has been a key part of KPMG’s internal controls reform leadership team, helping shape and create a new model for how work could be delivered – breaking down barriers to create one unified go-to-market solution. Achieving this meant applying critical thinking and innovation as to how consultant teams were organised, articulating a powerful business case, communicating it effectively, and achieving the engagement of senior individuals and wider team members.

Results have been impressive – with the service line already delivering half its medium-term target income – despite the fact that the government’s requirements are still to be finalised.

Rachel also finds the time to mentor a wide number of men and women, run KPMG’s Women in Consulting Alumni Network, and is a keen sailor!

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Sometimes a role has your name written all over it. That’s certainly true with Louise Scott-Worrall. Head of KPMG’s Head of Learning Solutions in the UK, Louise is the powerhouse behind the firm’s award-winning learning programmes in the public sector, financial services and for corporate clients - including a game-changing initiative within the NHS.

Not only is she an experienced management consultant, but she’s also a former Associate Director in Further and Higher Education and worked as an NHS registered podiatrist. She is the perfect insider-outsider, uniquely qualified to understand what excellence should look like and how to devise the solutions to deliver meaningful change.

Since 2013 she has been the Delivery Partner of a KPMG-led consortium of prestigious academic organisations that delivered stand-out national leadership programmes for the UK NHS Leadership Academy. She led the win in 2016 and also the Quality Partner for the KPMG-led consortium on behalf of Civil Service Learning. On her watch, an innovative new core curriculum was launched, using a range of different methods, including self and experiential learning. The programme has been available to 400,000 UK Civil Servants since 2016, as well as learners overseas.

An inspirational leader and highly creative problem-solver, Louise’s unstoppable commitment to innovation has resulted in the development of many digital and technology assets. She is an internationally recognised expert in her field and regularly addresses audiences at leadership development conferences, as well as publishing thought leadership pieces to share best practice.

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This nomination is slightly unusual. It’s for an individual’s efforts over the past 25 years to change attitudes across the consulting profession. Melanie Knight is an activist supporting LGBT+ equality and equality for people living with, and impacted by, HIV/AIDS. She has championed KPMG’s LGBT+ community since joining the firm four years ago.

Tireless in her efforts to raise awareness of the issues that affect LGBT+ people, Mel aims to recruit more allies from outside the LGBT+ community to do the same. She believes real and lasting change can happen by helping to shift perceptions within the non-LGBT community.

She recently worked with the co-chairs of Breathe – KPMG’s LGBT+ network – to approach Chief Executive Jonathan Holt. He has now committed to taking an HIV test for World AIDS Day, to help remove stigma surrounding the virus.

She also arranged for the new Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust to speak at a KPMG Business Insight event that attracts 300-800 CXOs. He talked to them directly about how they can support ending HIV-related stigma.

Mel leads and facilitates discussions about the experience of LGBT+ employees; challenges processes and training; and raises awareness of intersectionality issues among Partners, and what they can do to help. Ultimately, Mel wants to make sure KPMG – and the consulting sector – is a safe place for LGBT+ people, now and in the future.

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As an internal audit and risk assurance professional with KPMG’s Infrastructure, Government and Healthcare practice, Chloé is helping to lead two of the firm’s most sensitive and impactful risk assurance projects:

- Supporting the British Business Bank (BBB) to audit whether Lenders are complying with the Coronavirus Loans Scheme, which provided financial support to UK businesses struggling during COVID-19.

- Working with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (ESNZ) to verify compliance by Energy Suppliers with the Energy Price Guarantee Scheme, which protects customers from increasing energy costs during the cost-of-living crisis.

In both instances, Chloé’s leadership has ensured that taxpayers’ money is being used appropriately and is benefiting those in our society who need it most. Before taking on these roles, she was seconded as the Chief of Staff to KPMG’s Global Head of Clients and Markets.

Chloé stands out as an inclusive leader who builds strong and cohesive teams that are deeply client focused. She excels at leading dynamic, complex and sensitive projects – working with geographically dispersed teams to understand and deliver on client objectives. She communicates with her people at a team and on an individual level, rallying them around the value they are creating for wider society and a common sense of purpose.

Chloé’s reputation for leading and engaging teams is recognised not just in the UK but around the world. Her colleagues and clients know she is the team leader you want when strong and inclusive leadership is needed.

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Shane Richards helps lead KPMG in the UK’s Financial Services Cloud Transformation team. And that means he spends most of his time helping big financial services clients reimagine their cloud initiatives. Dig deeper, however, and you will quickly find that Shane is always leading at the centre of the most difficult challenges.

Shane is a natural leader. He seeks out tough assignments because he has the character, capabilities and communication skills to motivate and engage client teams and engagement teams towards solving pernicious problems. He’s inclusive, creative, approachable and collaborative. People want to work with him, KPMG Partners want him on their team, and clients want to hear his point of view.

Recognising he’s going to spend a least a third of his life working, he’s committed to enjoying what he does and the teams he works with. As he notes, there are good days and bad days at the office, but working with people who genuinely care and empathise makes a world of difference. Shane encourages his teams and his clients to be that difference in the world.

Shane’s global mindset (honed growing up in Thailand and Australia) and broad experience (he’s been a restaurateur, an auditor, an accountant and a management consultant) combine with deep leadership skills and capabilities to make Shane a prime candidate for the MCA’s Team Leader Consultant of the Year award.

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Moving from being the Commander of a UK military Taskforce in Afghanistan to become a Programme Director for Financial Crime transformation at KPMG wasn’t a difficult switch for Jennifer Page. Military intelligence is about supporting the front line. It involves building deep and trusted client relationships. It requires leaders to convince people of the value of their intelligence. Like consultants, military intelligence leads must be credible, forward-thinking and action oriented.

Jennifer Page displays client focus, leadership, teamwork, communication and critical thinking in everything she does. With deep expertise in data and technology and the role they play in transforming and optimising financial crime controls, Jennifer primarily works on large-scale, technology-driven transformation projects at large retail, corporate & commercial and global banks.

Jennifer works closely with her clients to achieve their objectives. She brings her teams into the decision-making process. She invests into helping her people succeed. And she creates an environment of trust in her team through honest communication combined with compassion.

These are the capabilities she used every day when advising our UK field forces in active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. And they are the capabilities she uses today to serve her clients, grow KPMG’s Financial Crime practice and make her firm more inclusive.

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Jon Hooker leads teams of Technology Strategy & Transformation consultants to deliver outstanding results for KPMG’s Infrastructure, Government and Health clients. Working primarily in the Ministry of Defence Jon has delivered complex strategy and transformation engagements that have contributed significantly to Defence’s Digital transformation journey over the past four years.

He draws upon extensive technical leadership experience from 16 years as a British Army officer in the Royal Corps of Signals, where he led squadrons of technical soldiers to provide communication and information systems to the Army, completed tours of Afghanistan and overseas exercises, and held training and command positions back in the UK.

Jon also built up considerable technical knowledge, working in technical staff posts for Defence’s Chief Technology Officer and in Defence’s Digital Operations HQ.

This has led to a highly successful second career as a Technology Strategy and Transformation consultant at KPMG. Jon has combined his detailed knowledge of the MOD with his understanding of digital and information technologies in the Defence environment, and overlaid consultancy skills and capabilities to achieve outstanding results.

Jon’s clients note his total customer focus, and commitment to exceed expectations, on recent work leading teams to define, articulate and write several iterations of MOD’s Digital Strategy, as well as to define the operating model for MOD’s newest Digital and AI delivery capabilities. His leadership has led to his teams’ work becoming the template for other underlying MOD strategy work and he also volunteers time helping other military professionals transition to second careers.

Project Finalists

KPMG was engaged by City, University of London, to help it develop a fresh strategy that was innovative, collaborative and holistic. In particular, the strategy needed to: provide clarity of direction; build alignment; and enhance perceptions of the University among students, potential students, the community and other key stakeholders.

The university’s previous strategy had prioritised strengthening its research credentials.  The new President was keen to rebalance the strategy to focus more on the university’s people - enhancing the proposition for both students and staff; and building a distinct positioning between Russell Group and more vocationally-focused universities.

Against the background of Covid-19, lockdowns and industrial action in the sector, the KPMG team worked with the newly appointed President, Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, and his team, led by Professor Debra Salmon, to drive a process that resulted in a clear, coherent strategy which achieved these objectives and garnered widespread support both within the university and among the student body. It also delivered a strong social benefit for the university by enhancing student prospects and increasing its impact in its communities.

Our collaborative approach to deliver this was robust and multi-faceted, and, in our view, the breadth and depth of stakeholder engagement was unique in the sector. Despite the multi-faceted approach; vast number of stakeholders; and, the disruptions caused by Covid-19 restrictions, KPMG managed to maintain the project’s momentum by being agile and innovative to ensure milestones and deadlines were met.

While the full impact of this project is yet to be realised, as the strategy moves through implementation, the process of change has begun - focusing particularly on themes including student experience, welfare and mental health support, employability, and systems improvement - with positive early indications. The university has already risen in several national league tables for student satisfaction, including a rise of 44 places from 104 to 58 in The Guardian’s rankings.

Buses are the most used form of public transport in Britain. But when annual usage statistics for 2018/19 showed that passenger volumes had fallen by 11.9% over ten years, the Department for Transport (DfT) realised that the experience needed an upgrade.

The DfT decided that creating an open platform ‘source of truth’ collating bus timetable and fare information from all of England’s 400 bus operators would improve travel information and increase bus patronage. It ran a procurement process and appointed KPMG in 2018. Since then, KPMG has been leading on the project, designing the platform, putting it live and continuously enhancing it.

The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) is a world-first that means data from bus operators can be accessed with a just a few clicks by data consumers (passenger app developers, mapping providers, researchers etc) to find out timetable, fare and location information for any bus anywhere in the country.

The project has been a significant success. Through KPMG’s agile methodologies, technical expertise and joined-up multi-disciplinary approach, we helped reduce the BODS programme’s time-to-market by 30 percent. User data shows that BODS is being embraced and utilised as envisaged, with 100m API hits in the month of July 2022 alone and 275 unique consumer users.

KPMG is proud to have led the design, testing and deployment of BODS – and we’re committed to ensuring that its public value extends as far as possible, in turn supporting increased bus usage and a better passenger experience across the country.

BAE Systems’ finance function was being held back by a legacy of underinvestment.

Systems, tools, processes and data were fragmented and lacked consistency, leading to inefficiencies. Team members were having to work harder to do their jobs, with little time for meaningful forecasting, business partnering or delivering business value. 

The new CFO saw the potential to transform the function by:

  • modernising its structure, operations, and data and analytics capabilities
  • aligning senior stakeholders in a federated organisation around a common vision and purpose

He asked KPMG to help him achieve this. As lockdowns came and went, we worked with him, his senior team and BAE’ Systems’ top executives to change the function beyond recognition.

We spoke with 50 senior executives, to understand what was going well and gather suggestions for change. We delivered the roadmap for a new structure and operating model, underpinned by an open culture, standardised processes, centralised capabilities, and sophisticated data and analytics systems.

The result isn’t just better performance; the finance function is now a high-value, strategic partner to the business.

Reporting and accounting have been radically streamlined. Collaboration and innovation are enhanced, with the function operating as ‘One Finance’. Best practice is embedded, and job satisfaction has increased. 

Meanwhile, the team can provide recommendations to other parts of the organisation, while optimising resource allocation and skills acquisition.

Our programme was the first enterprise-wide, functional transformation BAE had undertaken. Its success has made it a reference point throughout the organisation, inspiring other functions to follow suit.

A number of UK banking organisations have transitioned to Agile operating models – but few have attempted to extend this transformation across their underpinning financial processes and systems.

Lloyds Banking Group had the ambition to be the first UK bank to achieve this feat – and invited KPMG to help it design and implement an Agile-led approach to investment finance. With 15,000+ colleagues in the bank’s Change function, the size, scale and sophistication required made this a high priority, high impact project.

Key to KPMG’s approach was a zero based design methodology in which business users were placed at the centre of the design by conducting extensive thinking and discussion with 50+ stakeholders to create a vision of the desired future state without the constraints of any existing processes.

KPMG produced a transition plan to drive benefits out sustainably over an 18 month period, aligning to the future state tooling roadmap. This was delivered through a number of KPMG enablers:

Powered Finance approach: Application of KPMG’s proprietary Powered Finance solution, a suite of proven assets and processes that can be directly applied to finance transformations and the implementation of new ERP systems, along with bespoke customisations to optimally fit the solution to an individual client’s environment. Having the Powered solution meant KPMG delivered a ‘business led’ solution to achieve faster time to value with lower risk.

Now, Lloyds is benefiting from a number of powerful outcomes that are driving sustainable improvements:

  • An improved employee experience across 15,000 FTE workforce – further enabled through a Cultural change adoption programme
  • Transparent and governed cost transfers between teams – enabling improved budget management and prioritisation across a £3bn investment portfolio
  • Automation of processes – by integrating project management and financial tools, processes are streamlined, reducing manual touchpoints including automated forecasting and algorithmic capitalisation
  • 1,250 hours saved per week – c.1,250 employee hours saved by removing timesheets for delivery of change
  • Better governance of investments – simplification, standardisation and automation of the processes and governance framework to ensure effective decision making

The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) spends around £14 billion on support activities each year. We helped them centralise the coordination of that activity. In doing so, we helped the MOD better support our fighting forces around the world.

Alongside a dedicated MOD transformation team, KPMG in the UK stepped up to help the MOD realise their ambition of standing up an entirely new support organisation that would centralise support services within UK Strategic Command. As the MOD’s partner on the project, we designed the overall support operating model, covering performance, processes, risk, governance, organisational structure, people and skills.

We helped establish a Functional Owner for Support, delivered by a new Chief of Defence Logistics and Support (CDLS). Then we helped them stand up the new organisation with around 600 full time employees, and deliver targeted improvements to their defence support programme. Our work essentially transformed all aspects of the way that support is delivered by 60,000 people across the MOD.

We successfully met all of our defined success criteria, delivering every stage on time, in full and within budget. And our work helped provide the MOD with sustainable transformation by delivering the structure, oversight and control it requires over its support activities to better serve our UK forces.Ultimately, we know that the MOD appreciated our dedication to the Defence Support Operating Model project, as our DSOM Team was awarded with a Certificate of Commendation from Strategic Command in recognition of our distinguished service to Defence Support.

Tackling youth reoffending is key to the fight against crime in the UK and is one of the government’s criminal justice priorities. Around 50% of people who leave prison reoffend within 12 months, and that climbs to over 60% of those who serve a sentence of less than 12 months.

KPMG in the UK wanted to bring its skills and resources to help tackle this problem and play a part in giving young offenders a second chance. The firm became a key partner with charity Key4Life, which was set up in the wake of the London riots of 2011 to help young men involved in crime get their lives back on track and find employment.

The firm has now been working with Key4Life for over six years, providing mentoring to young offenders, impact coaching workshops and meet the employer/work taster sessions. KPMG has also run a number of pro-bono projects for Key4Life to help ensure the charity as an organisation is sustainable, robust and has a solid business plan.

Mentoring is a key activity in the programme and is a long-term commitment. Volunteers commit to being a mentor to a young offender for at least six months to those on Key4Life’s ‘at risk’ programme (individuals who are in danger of entering the criminal justice system or who have been released from prison but are at risk of reoffending) and at least 12 months to those who are currently in prison. For these individuals, the mentoring is designed to start pre-release and stay with them as they cross ‘through the gate’ and reintegrate into the community on the other side. KPMG mentors activate their management consulting skills to make a real-life impact: understanding the mentee, building rapport and empathy, and advising on ways forward to help them build a new and better future.

Over 80 KPMG professionals have volunteered as mentors or in workshops, with over 1,000 hours of volunteering time. Key impacts include:

  • Key4Life 14% reoffending rate compared to the national rate of 65%
  • 71% of programme participants currently in employment
  • 58% of participants have reported an improvement in emotional resilience
  • 15 workshops delivered by KPMG, encompassing around 300 young men
  • Training to around 60 volunteers on how to run a workshop
  • Over 60 young men have graduated from our cohorts, and 23 have received mentoring
  • Programme scaled to include KPMG’s Manchester office this year alongside London and Bristol

The Key4Life relationship has given KPMG the insight and confidence needed to pilot its own ex-offender employment programme, New Futures. This places a small number of ex-offenders into permanent, high quality consulting roles, providing individuals with a fresh start in a promising career. This couldn’t have happened without KPMG’s experience with Key4Life, and we look forward to building on the success of our initial pilot. 

Aviva is one of the UK’s leading plcs and a recognised market leader on climate strategy and decarbonisation.

When a new CEO came in during the summer of 2020, there was a renewed and increased focus on its sustainability reporting. To maintain its leadership, Aviva wanted to become one of the first companies to obtain reasonable assurance over some of its climate metrics. It needed an internal transformation to ensure the business was able to deliver on its commitments – and bolster its leading position.

Aviva asked KPMG to support in effecting a transformation across three main aspects. Firstly, its TCFD (Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures) reporting. Secondly, to assess Aviva’s control environment for its climate and wider ESG metrics. And thirdly, to drive the creation of a new operating model for non-financial reporting (NFR) – a centre of excellence approach that would lay the foundation for its NFR for years to come.

A multi-skilled team of climate, ESG, assurance & reporting, and insurance industry experts from KPMG has helped Aviva achieve all this.

The KPMG team helped Aviva reassess its whole approach to TCFD reporting. Prior to then, most organisations took a “risk and compliance” approach that conformed with minimum standards. KPMG integrally informed the thinking and the scope of the project, advising that the report be turned into a strategic opportunity to drive organisational-wide transformation and create a strong and compelling narrative that shone a light on the positive and progressive work being done to address climate-related issues.

KPMG also performed an end-to-end assessment of Aviva’s seven climate metrics and 100+ wider ESG metrics, to support the group’s non-financial reporting and sustainability strategy. The team drafted a first-of-its-kind ‘climate reporting manual’ to ensure greater scrutiny on the input data for non-financial reporting. Aviva’s core metrics received reasonable public assurance in their 2021 climate report (the highest possible level of assurance).

The team from KPMG then supported Aviva on work to establish a non-financial reporting (NFR) Centre of Excellence in Group Finance. This has enabled there to be one source of truth for NFR across Aviva, improving accuracy, controls and efficiency of NFR metrics reported internally and externally from the Group Finance function, and greater integration of the climate functions performed by Group Finance, Risk and Sustainability. These metrics inform decision-making across all layers of governance on the organisation’s progress against publicly stated ESG commitments in real time.

Through an unwavering focus on the needs and priorities of the client, and deep technical knowledge, KPMG has helped achieve a number of key outcomes: 

  • TCFD 2021 report won multiple industry awards, including from PwC (Climate Change Reporting in the FTSE 350) and TCFD Report of the Year in the Sustainable Investment Awards
  • Climate reporting manual developed, along with multiple detailed process maps, controls assessment matrices, policy documents and other internal assets
  • NFR Centre of Excellence nearing completion – a lasting legacy for years to come
  • Highly positive feedback from key stakeholders at multiple levels in Aviva

We’re living in a world with major disruptive events happening regularly. Leadership development programmes must mirror the agility required to navigate this disruption. A particularly compelling example is that of the NHS Leadership Academy’s Nye Bevan programme. A vital development course for senior healthcare leaders that was redesigned for virtual delivery during Covid within six weeks and continues to evolve in content and delivery methods to reflect the challenges facing NHS Leaders. Launched in 2013, the programme supports senior healthcare leaders who aspire to become Executive Directors. It sits at the heart of NHS talent management in England, building leadership skills through expert-facilitated inputs, practical exercises, and peer-assessment.

When Covid hit, the programme paused. KPMG and PwC, alongside the Academy, needed to innovatively adapt the programme. The subsequent redesign accommodated the new reality, using the latest learning technology methodologies, and harnessing insights of experts from across the health sector and beyond.  

Drawing on KPMG’s deep technical expertise – as well the firm’s long- term relationship with the NHS and from working on similar programmes within the Civil Service - we moved the programme online via the Microsoft Teams platform. It was redesigned to offer an experience fully equal to what had gone before, while at the same time reimagined for a virtual universe. 

The firm worked closely with the client, replicating the functionality of the Leadership Academy as a virtual campus - an online building with a main room, breakout rooms supporting smaller groups, and a participant support area. KPMG drilled into how each session could be facilitated to ensure sufficient breaks, easy chat, hand raising functions and so on. 

Some 96% of participants were able to continue with the programme during the pandemic and there was a 94% success rate of sessions across the programme.  The increased flexibility meant that around 500 senior leaders in healthcare in England were supported in their leadership since 2020. Those people can now make an appreciable impact in their organisation – with a powerful peer network to support and challenge them in the coming years.  

Feedback has been excellent and the programme, now in hybrid form reflects the new working world. The programme’s flexibility allows it to move to virtual delivery whenever required, including during heatwaves, transport strikes or in response to a pandemic which hasn't fully disappeared.