News release
Grant Thornton joins Stronger Together Leeds City Region Network
10 Jun 2024
Grant Thornton is the latest professional services firm to join Stronger Together Leeds City Region.
The network was set up in 2022 to champion racial diversity, inclusion and equity in the region’s professional services sector driven by leaders from accountancy and law firms in Leeds.
The Stronger Together network aims to promote and encourage best practice across the sector and show that diverse and inclusive leadership is a true driver for change.
Putting the need for the Stronger Together network into perspective, a recent study by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy found that the potential benefit to the UK economy from full representation of race across the labour market, is estimated to be £24bn a year, representing 1.3% of GDP. The professional services sector in the Leeds City Region is one of the largest outside London.
Since it was established, the award-winning network has:
- Established a partnership with Leeds City Academy to provide insight days to pupils
- Developed a mentoring programme which, to date, has seen over 100 mentoring pairings established between the accountancy and law firms in the network
- Created an inspiring career development series on topics such as wellbeing, resilience, mental health open to member firms
- Won several awards including DEI Team at The Northern Powerhouse Legal 500 Awards and Mentor of the Year at The Northern Leadership Awards.
Dan Dickinson, Practice Leader at Grant Thornton, will join Stronger Together’s Executive Committee to focus on the strategic direction of the network and its key objectives of retention and attraction of minority ethnic talent in the Leeds professional services sector.
Several of Dan’s colleagues will also join the Stronger Together Junior Committee, working with a peer group from member firms to organise inspiring events, reverse mentor more senior colleagues, deliver training, run insight days for Leeds City Academy and represent Stronger Together at networking events.
Arif Ahmad, Co-Founder of Stronger Together and Partner at PwC said:
“We’re delighted to welcome Grant Thornton to Stronger Together. By working together on this agenda and expanding the reach of the network, I’m excited by what we can collectively achieve by sharing our stories, expertise and networks.
“The focus on improving racial diversity, representation, progression and retention requires a different approach and for us all to work together. Having a succinct strategy around how to make racial diversity more effective has huge benefits for individuals, businesses and our collective success as a society.
“Grant Thornton will play a key role in driving forward our objective of encouraging more people from ethnic minority communities to be attracted to, and retained in, the professions in our region.
“We also plan to open up our career development series to other professional services firms in the region to enable them to benefit from the learnings we’re sharing in the network, keeping inclusivity at the heart of everything we do.”
Dan Dickinson, Practice Leader at Grant Thornton in Leeds, said:
“We’re thrilled to join Stronger Together. What they’ve achieved from a standing start in just over two years is very impressive and marks a real step change in collaboration amongst the region’s professional services sector. in Leeds not just now but in years to come. By collaborating, we can create what I hope will be a pivotal moment in time for racial diversity, inclusion and equality within professional services.
“By sharing our stories, expertise and network and engaging in these important conversations, we will become more inclusive together. They will also complement Grant Thornton’s diversity and inclusion efforts already established in Leeds.”
