MAKING a place for herself in the UK’s corporate history, Bina Mehta became the first woman to head KPMG UK, a first in the accounting firm’s 150-year existence.

She was appointed non-executive UK chair of KPMG in February, 2021 for one year, and by the end of the year, partners at the accounting major voted to extend her term for two more years.

Her appointment also marked the first time a member of the ethnic minority and a person of Indian origin assuming the role at the Big Four firm. While her elevation as has been sudden, following the resignation of former chairman and senior partner Bill Michael last year, Mehta is a veteran of 30 years at KPMG, with over 20 years of international M&A and restructuring experience in the UK, USA and Canada.

Mehta hopes that the move would pave the way for greater diversity and inclusion across the accountancy industry. “Today, the firm has the most diverse board in its history with 60 per cent being women and 30 per cent being from an ethnic minority background,” she said at the time of her appointment.

“I am just one of many women who have paved the way in KPMG’s 150-year history. Each of them having strived to bolster the representation of woman in business, while encouraging the next generation to follow.”

When she joined KMPG in her early 20s, after qualifying as a chartered accountant, she was one of a handful of professional women in her team, and the only member from a minority ethnic background.

“I climbed the ranks alongside my peers but as I progressed further there were fewer role models I could personally identify with and the journey felt notably different. That prompted me to question why I had become the anomaly,” she has