New leader locked in for big 4’s Victorian arm

Deloitte Australia has announced that current corporate finance partner and financial advisory leader, Jeremy Cooper, will take over the reins from incoming national chair Tom Imbesi as Victoria’s managing partner, effective immediately.

A primary focus of Mr Cooper’s leadership will be facilitating what he calls “connectivity” between clients and Deloitte, and also between Deloitte’s various departments.

“That means increasingly [for example] you’ll find our accounting consulting people and our risk people working with our tax people. When you combine those various offerings, working with clients and helping with complex business issues becomes quite powerful,” Mr Cooper told Accountants Daily.

Continuing to broaden its services beyond traditional core accounting offerings - which remain the “heart” of Deloitte’s services - will also be a key component of Mr Cooper’s strategy.

“Increasingly our clients want us to take our capability expertise in those client relationships and offer a much broader, innovative solution,” Mr Cooper said.

Mr Cooper began his career with John Swire & Sons, working in a variety of roles with Cathay Pacific Airways in Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Middle East. He joined the Deloitte Melbourne office in 2009 from Investec Bank.

“With many years of corporate advisory experience across a broad range of industries, Jeremy brings a unique blend of extensive industry, investment banking and Deloitte experience that will enable him to be a very effective leader of our Melbourne office,” said Peter Forrester, managing partner, markets at Deloitte.