Stephen Almond has been elected the chairman of the board of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the company said. He will be based in London and his term begins immediately.
Almond, 54, will succeed John Connolly, who served as chairman since June 2007 and whose term ended at the end of May. Almond most recently served as deputy global chief executive officer of clients, a role in which he worked with clients across different industry sectors. Prior to that, he served as global managing director of audit for four years.
In Almond's new role, he will oversee governance of the network of member firms and also interact with regulators. In Europe, regulators have been pushing for the end of the Big Four dominance.
"Through a career spanning more than thirty years with the Deloitte network, Steve has proven himself a world-class leader in financial services, and particularly audit, the cornerstone of our business," said Deloitte CEO Barry Salzberg.
Almond was responsible for overseeing the accounts of troubled British bank RBS during the financial crisis.
He graduated from the University of London and is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Write to Julie Steinberg