Grant Thornton adds director duo to public sector team

Grant Thornton has appointed two directors to deepen the offering provided by the firm’s public sector assurance team. Ed Hammond and Camilla de Bernhardt Lane both join the firm from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny, bringing with them unrivalled public sector stewardship and advisory experience.

Joanne Brown, public sector assurance partner for Grant Thornton in the UK, commented, “I am pleased to welcome Ed and Camilla into our team. They bring with them exceptional, unrivalled experience and deep public sector knowledge and they will play a key part in supporting our growth in wider assurance services to the public sector and building on our extensive audit and consulting experience.”

The appointments come at a key time, as local governments across the country grapple with rising statutory services costs and increasing inflationary and operational costs. For local authorities in England, the once-in-a-generation Local Government Reorganisation programme is presenting councils with unique challenges as they seek to deliver on their ongoing services obligations whilst planning for unprecedented change in their structures.

Both Ed Hammond and Camilla de Bernhardt are specialists in local authority scrutiny, policy, leadership and governance. They are highly experienced in working with organisations to ensure governance supports achievement of value for money and in identifying risk and opportunity within local government in respect of governance structures.

Hammond spent more than 17 years at the Centre of Governance and Scrutiny and was appointed deputy chief executive in 2021. De Bernhardt meanwhile held the position of director of practice and was previously a governance consultant at the centre.

“There are currently unprecedented challenges and opportunities facing the public sector, particularly within local government,” Brown added. “Ed and Camilla’s understanding of local government policy, strategy and scrutiny is second to none and they will play key roles supporting our clients on all aspects of their reform and devolution agendas.”

Grant Thornton continues to invest in senior talent and appointed 26 new equity partners in the first quarter of 2026, marking a major milestone in the firm’s plan to welcome 160 new partners over the next two years. This rapid expansion signals the firm’s growing market strength and its commitment to investing in the leadership needed to deliver its long term growth strategy, backed by private equity firm Cinven.