Liza Robbins succeeds Jon Lisby as global CEO of Kreston

21 May 2018 Consultancy.uk

Three months after announcing that CEO Jon Lisby was to step down for health reasons, international accounting and consulting firm Kreston has unveiled its new CEO. Liza Robbins, currently the CEO of Morison KSi, takes the helm from August 2018.

In February 2018, global consultancy Kreston announced that due to ill health which prevented international travel, incumbent Chief Executive Jon Lisby was to stand down from his role. The sudden turn of events saw Lisby detail retirement plans to switch roles to Chief Operating Officer, in order to ensure a smooth transition of powers to his successor, before retiring in May 2019.

Since his appointment in January 2006, Lisby presided over a period of international expansion as CEO, including sustained growth in the number of firms adopting Kreston branding, and a significantly raised global profile. Moving from a network of 70 countries to over 110, the firm also saw aggregate fee revenues rise from $1.1 billion to $2.4 billion due to this.

Commenting at the time, he said, “It is so disappointing that my final period with Kreston has been spoiled in this way. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the CEO role and am proud of the achievements made together with the Board, Members and International Office team.”

Jon Lisby and Liza Robbins - Kreston

Following the confirmation of Lisby’s retirement plans, Kreston began the search for the firm’s new leader – a search which led to the appointment of Liza Robbins. Her appointment as Kreston’s CEO is effective from August 1st 2018, following a nine year stint as CEO of top 10 global association Morison KSi. As a marketing and business development leader, Robbins was reportedly instrumental in the development of the association, expanding its coverage to over 80 countries, as well as leading on the successful merger of Morison International and KS International.

Outgoing CEO Jon Lisby said of his successor, “I am delighted that we have succeeded in securing Liza and considerable thanks are owed by the network to the Kreston International Chairman and Board for the thorough and extensive recruitment exercise that has been completed so successfully… With the technology revolution already disrupting the global accounting profession, I have no doubt that Liza will be an exceptional asset to our network and the further development of our growth strategy. Liza is accustomed to working at Board level and I really am looking forward to supporting her during the period leading up to my retirement.”

Bent Kofoed, Kreston Chairman, added, “I am proud that with Jon’s leadership, Kreston now spans 200 firms in over 125 countries. Liza is a perfect successor to Jon; her extensive corporate acumen and dynamism will build on the strategies already in place advancing our network’s brand and global business to the next level”.

Meanwhile, Liza Robbins herself remarked on her new challenge, “I have followed and admired Kreston International for many years so I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the network as CEO on 1st August 2018. Kreston is a world class organisation that thrives by skilfully and uniquely combining deep personal relationships with superior global expertise. Kreston is extremely well placed to deliver lucrative opportunities to member firms and their clients and I am excited to drive the network to its next stage of development and further strengthen our partnerships.”