EY names Amber Mace leader of consumer products & retail practice

Amber Mace has been promoted to UK & Ireland Market Segment Leader for EY’s Consumer Products & Retail sector. Mace takes on the role after 16 years with the Big Four firm.

Commenting on the news, Mace said, “I am very proud to be taking over the leadership of this sector, building on the momentum we have already created. We have a growing, multi-disciplinary team that is helping businesses in the sector address a myriad of challenges, while supporting them to achieve their purpose for all their stakeholders.”

The consumer products and retail sector is facing numerous disruptive forces, including inflationary cost pressures, supply chain disruptions, a more demanding customer, and trade and transport challenges. As companies look to adapt there is increasing demand for consulting firms to support their efforts.

Taking on her new role with immediate effect, Mace will lead a multi-disciplinary team of over 1,000 EY professionals, which is expanding at pace.

Having joined EY in 2006, Mace was previously the Tax Market Segment Leader for consumer products and retail. In that capacity, she advised some of the UK’s most well-known consumer brands for over 25 years on post deal integration, group financing. She also oversaw UK inward investment transactions and international tax advisory – including M&A and internal global restructuring transactions.

Alison Kay, Managing Partner for Client Service at EY, UK & Ireland, said of her promotion, “Many organisations are finding it difficult to drive their growth agenda whilst expanding their margins and, at the same time, contending with competition from non-traditional players. That is why it is so important that we have a sector team, led by Amber, dedicated to solving our clients’ most pressing challenges, with deep insight and tailored capability.”

The appointment comes as retailers face the drastic impacts of the cost-of-living crisis. As stagnant wages are eating away at the spendable income of most consumers, retailers may be about to witness an alarming slump, having briefly rebounded from the impacts of lockdowns. As such, the sector could see pre-tax profits sink to their lowest non-pandemic rate for more than a decade.