Robert Coles made Chief Culture and Transformation Officer at RSM

RSM International has appointed Robert Coles as the organisation’s first Chief Culture and Transformation Officer. He brings four decades of business transformation experience to the role.

In an increasingly complex world, businesses must embrace change to adapt and anticipate future challenges, while finding new opportunities. As a global network of professional services firms, RSM is looking to support its clients through their transformation campaigns, by accelerating its own transformation agenda.

Reporting to RSM International’s Chief Executive Officer, Jean Stephens, Robert Coles’ new role begins at the start of August 2022. The arrival of Coles brings significant depth of experience in delivering change projects for multi-national, complex organisations.

Stephens commented, “As a valuable addition to our global leadership team, his expertise will help us to move at greater pace to achieve our objectives, and his deep understanding of RSM positions him ideally for this important new role.”

Coles has been a prominent business leader and psychologist for 40 years, joining from executive education provider Roffey Park Institute, where he has held the role of Chief Executive Officer since 2018. During this time, he rapidly developed the organisation’s digital capabilities and led the successful expansion of its reach to new international markets via people-focused digital platforms and programmes. Prior to this, he also served as RSM’s European Regional Leader from 2010 to 2015 – and while he was with Roffey Park, he still continued to work closely with RSM’s leadership team as a consultant, supporting initiatives like the RSM Academy, which develops cross-border team collaboration and next generation leadership talent.

Upon his return to RSM, Coles will lead on a number of transformation initiatives, working closely with RSM’s Managing Partners and the global leadership team to foster even greater cross-border collaboration, further nurture RSM’s diverse, entrepreneurial and client-focused culture, and align local and global people activities.

Speaking on his new role, Coles said, “Working with RSM’s leadership team and Member Firms to help deepen those foundational values across such a diverse Network will be a remarkable and rewarding challenge. I relish the prospect of helping RSM to remain a market leader through transformative people-focused strategies and initiatives.”