Grant Thornton US has promoted Lisa Walkush and Carlos Ferreira to national leadership roles. Walkush will serve as national managing principal of industry, while Ferreira will serve as national managing partner for private equity.
In the new role, Walkush will guide strategy and operations for the consulting firm’s industry program, which covers a broad range of industries, including banking, energy, manufacturing, and hospitality and restaurants. She will be based in the firm’s Philadelphia office.
Walkush has more than 20 years of consulting experience, with deep expertise in program management, customer relationship management, operational excellence, compliance, and technology consulting. She joined Grant Thornton as a partner in 2011, and most recently served as national leader for the firm’s life sciences sector.
Prior to Grant Thornton, Walkush spent nine years at legal, economics, and business consultancy LECG, where she was a managing director. Before that, she spent five years at Andersen Business Consulting, where she was an experienced manager.
Walkush holds a master of engineering degree in technology management from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor of science in optical engineering from the University of Rochester.
“Lisa is an exceptional leader who understands that every business is facing historic new challenges — not to mention longstanding industry trends that are equally significant,” said Brad Preber, CEO of Grant Thornton. “She is the ideal person to help build industry teams that will deliver Grant Thornton’s unique mix of quality, value and innovation to our clients.”
As national managing partner for private equity, Carlos Ferreira will oversee a range of services to private equity clients, including growth, transformation, operations, resilience, compliance, and diligence. He will also continue as global co-leader for transaction advisory services at Grant Thornton International.
Ferreira has nearly 25 years of experience in professional services, with a focus on transaction advisory. He has deep expertise in due diligence, and has advised on numerous integrations and exits for private equity investors. He has worked on cross-border transactions across the globe.
Ferreira joined Grant Thornton US’ New York office in 1999. He most recently served as leader of the advisory services practice for the New York and New England regions. Before joining Grant Thornton US, he was a senior audit associate at Grant Thornton in South Africa.
He holds a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Pretoria and an honors degree in accounting sciences from the University of South Africa. Ferreira has a CPA certification in New York and New Jersey.
“Carlos is an outstanding leader who will step into a critical role during a time of historic disruption and uncertainty,” Preber said. “He will ensure we are consistently providing quality, value and innovative solutions to help our private equity clients.”