Ernst & Young (EY) has named Chris Smyth as the new head of its Americas private equity practice.
Mr. Smyth will be responsible for leading EY’s private equity professionals in thirty-one countries in the Americas (including the Caribbean) that support private equity funds and their portfolio companies in deploying capital, exiting investments, and creating stakeholder value. Mr. Smyth succeeds Bill Stoffel, who served as the Americas leader since 2016 and was named the head of EY’s global private equity practice in August 2021.
Mr. Smyth has been active as a strategy and transactions partner at EY with experience on more than three hundred transactions across the retail, consumer products, distribution, manufacturing, technology and business service sectors.
“Implementing the digital agenda is now a core focus of private equity firms, a transformation that COVID-19 accelerated, and dealmaking and fundraising have soared to historic levels,” said Mr. Stoffel. “Chris’ broad private equity and transactions experience across geographies and in varying economic conditions has prepared him well to lead the EY Americas PE practice.”
Mr. Smyth has been with EY for 27 years and is based in the firm’s Chicago office. Most recently, since 2013, he was EY’s US-Central Region Strategy and Transactions Managing Partner where he led a team of more than 1,100 professionals in 42 offices.
“The private equity rebound continues to accelerate. This is expected to be a landmark year, with record levels of fundraising, deal activity, M&A and IPOs,” said Mr. Smyth. “In this environment, artificial intelligence, supply chain diversification and pricing improvements are critical value drivers. I’m excited to support our EY teams across the Americas as they continue to enable their clients to deliver on their investment cases while expanding the diversity of their talent, focusing on sustainable investments and deploying new technologies.”
Ernst & Young (DBA EY), is a provider of financial audit, tax, consulting and advisory services. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers, EY is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | October 19, 2021
