New president of ICAS revealed

Mike, who is a non-executive director and chair of the Audit Committee at National Express, was confirmed as President for 2019 at the ICAS Annual General Meeting on Friday.

He takes over from Sandy Manson CA, CEO of Johnston Carmichael, and will serve a year in office.

Mr McKeon was senior independent director and chair of the Audit Committee of The Merchants Trust Plc between 2008 and 2017. He was previously chief financial oficer of FTSE 100 Severn Trent plc and retired in 2015, after almost 10 years in the role.

He has also held senior roles at Rolls-Royce, CarnaudMetalbox, Elf Atochem and Price Waterhouse.

Mr McKeon said: “It is a true honour and privilege to be appointed President of ICAS, and I look forward to building on our vision to make ICAS the leading global professional community.

“The business and accountancy world are facing unprecedented challenges, and an important focus for me during my term in office will be to work on rebuilding public trust in our profession.

“ICAS and its 21,000 members are playing a central role in this regard, and we must continue to lead the way.

“Another area I will be focusing on is the future education of our students, as we work on redesigning the CA qualification to have a greater emphasis on ethics, technology and business acumen.

“We are making important changes to build an Institute that is ready for the challenges of the future, whilst keeping our members at the heart of everything that we do.”

Bruce Cartwright CA, ICAS Chief Executive said: “Mike is an accomplished business leader and his talent and experience will be a tremendous asset to ICAS, our members and our students over the next year.”

Supporting Mr McKeon in his role as President are Catherine Burnet CA, senior partner for KPMG in Scotland, who has been appointed deputy president of ICAS, and Bill Drysdale CA MBE, who has been appointed Vice President of ICAS.

Ms Burnet’s career at KPMG spans more than 20 years. She joined the Big 4 firm in 1994 and became a partner in 2009, holding roles in Edinburgh, London and the United States as part of a two-year secondment.

Mr Drysdale has enjoyed a long and varied career having held roles in the UK, Poland, Bulgaria and Macedonia. He has served as an advisor to the Bulgarian Prime Minister and was awarded an MBE in 2014 for services to British Business in Bulgaria.