EY’s new boss smashes through the ‘big four’ glass ceiling

Anna Anthony is to become the first female boss of a big four professional services firm in the UK after she was selected to take over as the new managing partner of EY.
Anthony will start in her new role, leading EY’s business in the UK and Ireland, on January 1. She will succeed Hywel Ball, who is stepping down after being managing partner since 2020.
“I am incredibly proud to be taking on this role and to have the opportunity to lead the firm that I joined more than 20 years ago,” Anthony, 47, said.
Ball described her as an “exceptional leader”, adding: “The investment decisions that we’ve taken over the last five years have created a strong platform for long-term sustainable growth and a wealth of leadership talent. I’m confident that, under Anna’s leadership, EY will continue to lead the market and deliver in the public interest.”
Anthony’s ascension to the top job means she will be the first-ever female leader of a UK big four firm. PwC had the chance to pip its rival earlier this year, but partners opted for Marco Amitrano, the only man on the shortlist, instead.
After graduating from Cambridge University in 1999, Anthony trained at PwC before leaving for EY in 2004. She was promoted to partner in 2008.
Ever since Ball, 62, announced in June that he would be retiring, Anthony was widely seen as the favourite. In her current role running the UK financial services division, she is responsible for more than £1 billion of revenue, 250 partners and 5,000 employees.
EY’s UK business, which employs 20,000 staff across the country, generated record revenues of £3.76 billion last year, although average partner pay dropped to £761,000 from £803,000 in 2022 after heavy investment in areas such as artificial intelligence and hiring new partners.
Anthony joins at an interesting time for EY globally, after its plan to split itself into separate audit and consulting businesses, dubbed “Project Everest”, failed last year.
In line with the Financial Reporting Council’s governance code, EY is splitting the roles of managing partner and chairman, both of which have been held by Ball for the past five years. He will continue as chairman until a separate selection process has been completed “early in the new year”.