Cynthia, a British citizen and a senior Audit and Assurance leader has worked for over 30 years with Boards and senior leaders across listed and privately held businesses across key global markets including the UK and the Middle East; experienced and knowledgeable across numerous regions and sectors, she holds expertise in complex construction projects and aviation.

A trusted advisor to numerous multicultural clients, she is respected for her ability to get to the core of an issue quickly with her pragmatic, solution-focused approach. Cynthia continues to lead key relationships with and engage with a number of senior audit committee chairs and board members, who operate across the public and private sector with a global footprint. Her Middle East and International experience enables her to provide insights at both a local and international level, whilst ensuring key differences are drawn out to ensure these are well understood and addressed in strategic considerations. A quick strategic thinker, she communicates complex financial challenges with clarity, adding value beyond the numbers to drive strategic growth. Cynthia identifies opportunities and is valued for her unique capacity to ideate, develop and implement initiatives which drive growth and deliver tangible outcomes while mitigating risk.

She is a strong people leader and mentor who inspires confidence in individuals, teams and leaders, unlocking their potential. Passionate and tenacious, she has extensive experience at leading complex transformation and strategic leadership change programmes and has developed a strong business network. Recognised by Forbes Middle East in the 100 Most Influential Women in the ME in 2018 and 2020, she continues to be passionate about driving gender parity in the profession which is further endorsed by her voluntary role as Chair of the ACCA Women in Finance Chair.

Cynthia is currently a member of the EMEA Audit & Assurance executive where she is the Private Leader responsible for leading growth across the private portfolio which includes 23 countries. In this role she leads a senior group of partners covering the UK, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East and as a result of her strategic leadership they have achieved 17% YoY growth, with plans to become a $1bn business by 2027. She is also a Board member for the consulting practice and co-chair of the finance subcommittee where she leads strategic financial and commercial change programmes. Until recently she was the COO, Talent Leader and Transformation Leader for the Middle East Audit & Assurance practice leading significant strategic and operational change from 2017, achieving a centralized practice across 12 countries with harmonized systems and governance, operationally integrated with a 10% improved gross margin on 85% of the client portfolio, lead tech transformation and change and transformed the operating model across the Middle East practice.

Cynthia began her career with Deloitte & Touche, where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant (CA). She previously graduated with a Batchelor of Science and honours degree from University of South Africa.