Grant Thornton joins the Stronger Together Leeds network

Grant Thornton has joined Stronger Together Leeds City Region. The network was established in 2022 to support racial diversity, inclusion and equity in the region’s professional services sector, led by leaders from accountancy and law firms in Leeds.

A recent study by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy found that the potential benefit to the UK economy from full racial representation in the workforce is estimated to be £24 billion a year, representing 1.3% of GDP. But progress on boardroom diversity alone remains slow — meaning the country is missing out on a major economic boost.

The professional services sector in the Leeds City Region is one of the largest outside London. Seeking to make the most of Yorkshire’s diverse population, the Stronger Together network aims to promote and encourage best practice in the sector and show that diverse and inclusive leadership is an engine for positive change.

Now, Grant Thornton has become the latest accounting and consulting firm to join. Dan Dickinson, Leeds Cabinet Leader, will now join Stronger Together’s executive committee and help develop the strategic direction as well as key targets for retaining and attracting ethnic minority talent in Leeds’ professional services sector.

Dickinson commented: “We are delighted to be joining Stronger Together. What they have achieved from the ground up in just two years is very impressive and marks a real game changer in the collaboration between the professional services sector in the region. in Leeds not just now, but for years to come. By working together, we can create what I hope will be a pivotal moment in time for racial diversity, inclusion and equality in professional services. By sharing our stories, experience and network and engaging in these important conversations, we will become more inclusive together. They will also complement Grant Thornton’s diversity and inclusion efforts already established in Leeds.”

Several of Dickinson’s colleagues will also join the Stronger Together junior committee, working with a group of peers from member firms to organize inspirational events, reverse-mentor more senior colleagues, organize courses, organize insight days for Leeds City Academy and to represent Stronger Together at networking events.

Since it was established, the network has partnered with Leeds City Academy to provide students with insight days and has developed a mentoring program which has so far seen over 100 mentoring pairs established between accountancy and accounting firms. network lawyer. The network has also won several awards including DEI Team at The Northern Powerhouse Legal 500 Awards and Mentor of the Year at The Northern Leadership Awards.

Previous members of the network include the Big Four firms EY, Deloitte, KPMG and PwC. The network also includes law firms such as Addleshaw Goddard, DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland, Pinsent Masons, Squire Patton Boggs and Walker Morris.

Arif Ahmad, co-founder of Stronger Together and partner at PwC, commented on Grant Thornton’s potential impact: “Grant Thornton will play a key role in furthering our aim to encourage more people from ethnic minority communities to be attracted to and retained in, the professions in our region. We also plan to open up our career development series to other professional services firms in the region to enable them to benefit from the learnings we share in the network, keeping inclusion at the heart of everything we do.”