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How Lisa Daniels’ New Role Aligns with KPMG’s One-Firm Strategy

As more and more people search for jobs that meet their needs, staying with one company for years or decades has become a rarity. But for Lisa Daniels, she found her place at KPMG and has worked at the firm for 29 years. 

Daniels was just appointed as Vice Chair of Growth and Strategy at KPMG (No. 11 on Fair360, formerly DiversityInc’s 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity list) in October, where she joined the firm’s “management committee to focus on ensuring the firm continues to serve its clients with excellence, implementing the firm’s strategy and enhancing its brand in the marketplace.” 

Throughout her time with KPMG, Daniels has worked across the firm’s three functions, audit, tax and advisory, which has given her a firm-wide perspective. Daniels has also been managing partner for KPMG’s Phoenix, Silicon Valley and San Francisco offices. 

“When you’re the managing partner of an office, you get a broad perspective of the value the firm can bring to our clients, you have a very client-centric mindset when putting groups of people together,” she said. 

Having the experience to put high-performing teams together from across the business is crucial to her role as Vice Chair of Growth and Strategy. 

“I’ve had the opportunity to work in six different geographies and serve some of our global clients as well,” she said. “So putting very diverse, high-performing teams together to solve problems is another skill [I have].”

KPMG’s Culture

Amid the Great Resignation, the Great Reshuffle, the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and other events, you might be asking what’s kept Daniels at one company for nearly three decades. 

“The ultimate reason is the culture and the inclusive nature of the organization,” she said. “I’ve had two kids while working here, and they both have grown and have jobs of their own and lives of their own. I really appreciate the experiences and the flexibility the firm has provided me in my time to balance both my personal and professional [life] throughout my career.”

Other team members at the firm are also looking for that flexibility and culture Daniels loves. They’re looking for “a firm that respects them for who they are, that respects diverse perspectives and skill sets, where they can show up and feel included and that they are adding value and learning new skills.”

“That is absolutely the culture at KPMG. And absolutely the culture within the growth and strategy of the organization,” she said.

In her first month on the job, Daniels has embraced “getting the teams together and hearing their diverse perspectives about our strategy and how we maximize our one-firm model and the different things where they can try and learn and continue to grow.”

“I can’t imagine working anywhere else that doesn’t value diversity, equity and inclusion as part of the goal.”

2023 Top 50 Companies For Diversity

KPMG

Rank 6

KPMG moved up five spots on the Top 50 list this year. The company has expanded its network of HBCUs and HSIs to progress toward increasing its Black and Latinx workforce by 50%.

Paul Knopp
Paul Knopp
Chairman and CEO

Our entire business is based on our people—their passion, skills and commitment to excellence and integrity. We bring our Values to bear through Accelerate 2025, our strategy rooted in growing and supporting a diverse workforce and inclusive work environment.”

Elena Richards
Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer

We support our peoples’ journeys through their personal and professional lives. Together, we’re fostering a workplace where all our people have access to meaningful benefits, communities and career development opportunities that help them reach their full potential. When we truly see and understand one another, we can better advocate for and meet our people’s needs with a tailored experience.

From The Company

KPMG U.S. is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive work environment that prioritizes people, enabling everyone to grow, thrive and reach their highest potential.

As we approach the midpoint of our Accelerate 2025 strategy, we are continuing to make progress toward our DEI goals. Our combined partner/MD representation from underrepresented groups is 42.6% as of fiscal year-end (FYE) 2022—a nearly 3% increase since FYE 2020. To reach our goal of 50% by 2025, we continue to prepare future partners and MDs, establish diverse interview panels and candidate slates and support our people as they self-identify. Today, more than 50% of new U.S. partners from 2023 promotions are from underrepresented groups and our class of newly promoted MDs reflects the largest representation at our firm of people of color—particularly women of color and Asian professionals.

To enable progress toward our goal of a 50% increase in our Black and Latinx workforce, we’ve expanded our network of HBCUs and HSIs to assist in recruitment. Targeting at least 9.3% Black and 10.7% Latinx workforce representation by 2025, we know our efforts must go further than our pipeline. Our retention efforts include credentialing work experiences, an ecosystem of support from people managers and mentors, inclusive and culture-focused learning and development and Business Resource Group engagement.

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