EY Manchester Partner takes on national leadership role

31 August 2018 Consultancy.uk

Big Four professional services firm EY has promoted a Partner from its Manchester office to a key role in its national TAS team. Sam Woodward has become National Markets Leader as the firm looks to expand its transactions and restructuring team in the North West.

EY’s Transactions Advisory Services (TAS) business has been growing across the UK in recent years, and in order to accommodate for the heightened demand, the audit and advisory giant has appointed a new National Markets Leader for the division. Sam Woodward succeeds EY veteran Adrian Bowne as National Markets Leader for TAS and has also joined the firm’s UK TAS leadership team. Bowne took on the role a year earlier, and exits the position following 26 years with EY.

Sam Woodward has extensive experience in advising corporate clients, debt providers and financial sponsors. His experience includes restructuring advisory, accelerated M&A and formal insolvency assignments, ranging from privately owned businesses to multinational public listed companies. Woodward has been with the firm for the last ten years, during which time, high profile assignments have included the Hewdens Plant Hire, Opal Property Group and HI Group, alongside working on the retail insolvencies of Zavvi, TJ Hughes and Focus. He was appointed to the rank of Partner in 2011.

Commenting on his promotion, Sam Woodward said, “EY sees a large part of its future growth coming from the regions and that’s why we are investing in our regional teams. In the North West we’ve benefited from senior hires and promotions across our TAS team in transactions, corporate finance, valuations and restructuring, which not only signal the volume of activity within this region but also underline our commitment to further growing our footprint in the North West market.”

Woodward’s new role will see him continue to work from EY’s Manchester office, servicing restructuring clients in the local market, as well as taking on this new responsibility. The promotion also coincides with continued investment in EY’s TAS team in the North West, as activity levels remain high for the team. In July, this saw Alex Williams and Richard Barnes – both members of the North West TAS team – promoted to Associate Partner.

Williams works in the restructuring team based in Manchester and has more than 20 years’ experience at EY, working with underperforming businesses and their stakeholders across a range of sectors including real estate, manufacturing, retail and healthcare, both in the UK and abroad. Barnes meanwhile leads EY’s corporate finance infrastructure team in the North and focuses on advising public and private clients on complex infrastructure programmes including structuring business cases, funding and financing, and advising on all stages of the procurement process.