Accountancy 35 under 35 2021: 25

Showcasing the industry’s rising talent. The second instalment of our accountancy 35 under 35 rankings. Highlighting 10 young UK professionals who are making great contributions.

The Accountancy Age 35 under 35 rankings seek to highlight the rising stars of the accountancy profession, featuring those who have made great professional contributions to the field and their individual firms.

Each Monday in September, we will be releasing another batch of 35 under 35 winners, culminating in the top five being announced on 27 September, 2021. Today, we present the second round of noteworthy professionals who made the Accountancy Age 35 under 35 rankings. The full 35 under 35 rankings will be unveiled on 4 October, 2021.

25. MEERA SHAH, SENIOR MANAGER, BUZZACOTT

Shah trained at Smith & Williamson, joined their valuations team in 2015 and then moved to Buzzacott to join their corporate finance team in 2018, with a view to bring her skills and expertise to the M&A market. Meera has been highly successful in developing her expertise in the service, her reputation in the industry as well as assisting with the development of the firm’s corporate finance team.

Throughout her career, Shah has been focussed on more than just corporate finance however, promoting the firm and profession across the markets that she operates in. Most notably, she was invited to join the board of the ICAEW Corporate Finance faculty this year, bringing both youth and fresh ideas. Outside of work Shah is a mentor to The Girls Network.

24. STUART MILLAR, PARTNER, GREAVES WEST & AYRE

At just 30 years old, Millar is the youngest partner at Greaves West & Ayre (GWA). Throughout the pandemic, he remained a supportive colleague and demonstrated his leadership by expanding his client portfolio amid the disruption. He also played a pivotal role in the production of the firm’s many online updates that helped guide clients and the wider local business community through the Covid-19 crisis.

Millar is prides himself on trainees feeling comfortable approaching him for both technical and more general tax advice. Never one to be complacent, Millar is studying towards a CII L4 qualification, which once authorised as an FCA accredited independent financial advisor, will allow him to provide a broader, holistic service to his clients in the future.

23. CANDICE CZEREMUSZKIN, PARTNER, MHA MACINTYRE HUDSON

Promoted to partner at MHA Macintyre Hudson in 2018, after the launch of its first overseas office in the Cayman Islands, Czeremuszkin has had the opportunity to be at the forefront of the development of the firm’s financial services practice, specialising in a diverse portfolio of investment funds.

Having homed in on her passion to develop talent within the profession, she has not only had the pleasure of leading a growing team based in our London offices, but also advocating for opportunities for others both domestically and internationally. Her efforts saw her named ACCA’s Caribbean Member Advocate of the Year 2020 and being recognised as the first person in the Cayman Islands to be listed on Practice Ignition’s Top 50 Women in Accounting 2020.

Outside of her professional obligations, Czeremuszkin also serves as Chapter Chair for ACCA, treasurer for the Business and Professional Women’s Club and having recently passed her Trinity Grade 8 vocal exams, she is scheduled to take her ACTL Vocal Performance Diploma this summer.

22. BENJY TRENT, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, DELOITTE

After graduating from university with a first-class degree, Trent joined Deloitte where he specialised in providing tax advice to privately-owned businesses, whilst completing the joint ACA-CTA qualification as a member of the first Deloitte cohort to participate in the new programme.

He was then recruited to join Deloitte Ventures, taking on a new role focussed on helping the firm innovate by collaborating with disruptive, start-ups. In this role, Trent led experimentation alongside early-stage companies operating in sectors including artificial intelligence, fintech and extended reality.

Having been promoted to associate director two years ago, Trent is now building and leading a new ecosystems & alliances function for Deloitte’s tax & legal businesses in the UK. His growing team helps Deloitte access new technology, talent and markets through collaboration with organisations of all sizes.

Alongside his core role for Deloitte, Trent is passionate about providing mentoring support wherever he can. He currently mentors on University College London’s start-up incubator programme as well as within Deloitte diversity & inclusion initiatives. He will be returning as a judge at London Tech Week’s Elevating Founders start-up pitching competition for the second year in a row.

21. MEHUL THAKER, PARTNER, RAFFINGERS

Thaker was promoted to partner at Raffingers in December 2019 – three years after joining the firm. He has helped Raffingers corporate finance presence and lead on the development of the firm’s outsourcing department overseas. This involved setting up new internal workflows, reviewing processes, continuously monitoring work quality to ensure high standards are met and being hands on with recruiting and training the right managers and seniors with strong communication skills.

He has hosted several webinars during the Brexit process and post-Brexit period to ensure clients navigated the UK’s departure from the EU, whether with VAT or import/export issues. Thaker has since become the ‘go to’ for all clients across the practice for Brexit related matters. He has also helped drive change at the firm towards delivering advisory services, including using Futrli to help clients better manage accounts and forecasting.

20. NIKITA COOPER, TAX DIRECTOR, PRICE BAILEY

Cooper is part of the tax team based in London. However, she works across all Price Bailey offices in relation to advising high-net worth individuals, trustees and family offices on UK personal tax affairs, estate and succession planning.

She focuses on advising UK-resident non-domiciled individuals and clients with multi-jurisdictional personal interests and remittance planning. She has experience in HMRC enquiries including disclosing prior non-compliance to HM Revenue & Customs. Cooper also leads the firm’s personal tax team in relation to coaching new staff members and helps children in schools in mentoring for women in business.

19. CARL LUNDBERG, PARTNER, GERALD EDELMAN

Lundberg actively contributes to Gerald Edelman’s growth, including the strategic development of many clients’ businesses and even established the firm’s forensic and expert witness services department.

He regularly advises on valuations, fundraising and M&A transactions and, as a member of the Academy of Experts, is frequently engaged as an expert witness in civil, criminal, and family matters. In the past 12 months, Lundberg has advised on over 20 valuations, including high-profile expert witness matters; M&A transactions with aggregate consideration over £400m on the buy-side alone; and has also raised millions of pounds in funding for his clients.

Lundberg is a young leader in the profession who challenges the status quo and takes advantage of his entrepreneurial experience, together with that of his network, to push the boundaries of what accountants can do.

Richard Kleiner, CEO of Gerald Edelman: “The culture of the firm is exemplified by Carl in that we are passionate about leveraging technology and providing added value services to become the business adviser of choice that delivers growth that helps clients become more profitable and successful to realise their lifetime aspirations.”

18. MICHELLE CORAZZO, TAX DIRECTOR, HAYSMACINTYRE

Corazzo is haysmacintyre‘s youngest tax director. Joining the firm as a manager in 2015, she was identified early on as a key business driver for the business. Her talent for spotting tax planning opportunities and thinking outside of the box has led to generous tax savings for her clients, one of which has saved more than £1m.

Her approachable style means she has not only successfully nurtured many existing client relationships, but also deepened haysmacintyre’s connection to them, resulting in engagement in a broader range of advisory projects; this skill has been particularly critical during these challenging times when clients look to their advisors for support.

Corazzo leads the firm’s work in the PropTech space, managing its relationship with the UK PropTech Association, leading webinars and participating in roundtables to support their members and feels privileged to act as business mentor for the REACH UK technology scale-up programme.

Within a short space of time, Corazzo has become a prominent figure in the PropTech space, with her counting her inclusion in ‘Powerful Women in PropTech’ blog series among her accolades. She was interviewed about her success as a female leader and her advice for women who may be considering a career in a senior position.

17. RUTH BRUNSKILL, BUSINESS CONSULTING, GRANT THORNTON UK

Brunskill qualified in restructuring & insolvency before transitioning to the business consulting team at Grant Thornton. She has the breadth and depth of finance consulting and operational consulting experience – making her a valued advisor to board members on a whole range of topics. As a result, she has led numerous projects which have helped to generate millions in revenue improvements for organisations across a whole range of industries.

Development of others is a clear passion for Brunskill. Despite her heavy client workload, she has continued to be an outstanding people manager and coach. She also leads the rotation program within business consulting by which associates across the firm rotate on secondment through different service lines within Grant Thornton over a two-year period. There has been significant challenge and disruption to the program over the past year due to the pandemic. However, Brunskill has provided the leadership required to co-ordinate decision making across multiple stakeholders (including the most senior partners in our firm together with our HR team), put associates’ minds at rest, and ensured that the program continues to provide a seamless breadth of experience.

16. JAMIE FREED, DIRECTOR, INDIRECT TAX & UK HEAD OF SPORT, KPMG

Freed leads KPMG‘s leisure and hospitality sector within indirect tax. His client base includes a variety of some of the most high-profile businesses within the hotel, restaurant, entertainment, fitness and sports sub-sectors, where he assists in managing their VAT position and liabilities.

He has been supporting these businesses in respect of the rules regarding the temporary reduced VAT rate for the hospitality and leisure sector that was announced in June 2020. This has included working directly with HMRC policy in obtaining clarification over the application of the temporary reduced VAT rate for impacted businesses within the sector.

In addition, Freed is also the UK head of sport at KPMG for all service lines. He is responsible for making sure the firm is bringing together its sector experts in respect of any relevant opportunities across all service lines as they arise for clients across some of the largest businesses within the sports sector.