Former Andersen tax partner joins FTI Consulting
FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE: FCN) the $2 billion global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organisations protect and enhance their enterprise value, has announced the appointment of[private] Dr Chris Wales as a Senior Managing Director in its London-based Economic Consulting practice where he will play a leading role in developing FTI’s combined economic and public policy division which advises multinational corporations and governments. Chris will also work closely with FTI’s litigation division, principally on tax-related issues
Chris Osborne, Senior Managing Director, FTI Economic Consulting, said: “I am delighted that Chris is joining us. His extensive expertise in the field of international taxation, within government and industry, will be invaluable at a time when taxation issues are at the top of the agendas of governments and corporations. And his experience of the insurance sector and of broader public policy issues will add depth and diversity to our practice.”
Chris Wales said: “This is an exciting time to join FTI’s fast growing UK economic practice. FTI’s global nexus enables us to offer solutions to problems that are no longer limited to national boundaries.”
Notes to editors
In 1997, Chris Wales was appointed by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown MP to the newly-formed Council of Economic Advisers at HM Treasury. His role there included managing the development and implementation of much of the Government’s taxation strategy and reform agenda, leading the development of policy proposals with the revenue departments and managing the presentation of the government’s tax reforms to the business community. In this role, he worked extensively with EU and Commonwealth governments on the UK’s international tax agenda.
In November 2003, he left HM Treasury and joined the Financing Group of Goldman Sachs International in London as a Managing Director, where he was responsible for governmental clients, thought leadership and advice on structuring issues, including financing and taxation. In 2006 he co-founded Lucida plc, an insurance market pioneer where he was Managing Director before joining FTI.
Chris has been a Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Law at Cambridge University. In 2005, he led the initiative to create a new research centre at the Saïd Business School, the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, focusing on taxation policy issues, and he remains an active member of its Advisory Board. He is a member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and contributed to the IFS Mirrlees Review on the Political Economy of Tax Policy. Since leaving HM Treasury, Chris has worked with a number of governments on their domestic tax strategy.
Chris has been active in the debate on public policy issues. He has spoken at and chaired seminars on taxation issues for a wide range of organisations, including the Smith Institute and the Fabian Society, the Financial Markets Group at the LSE and the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation. He has contributed articles on taxation issues to many publications including the Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, the British Tax Review and the Tax Journal. He was an editorial adviser and columnist at the International Tax Review. He has also published articles on the public-private partnership and on local government finance.
Chris holds a Ph.D. in Medieval History from Cambridge University, and is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAEW). He was a partner at Arthur Andersen in London and Stockholm before joining HM Treasury in 1997.[/private]
About FTI Consulting
FTI Consulting, Inc. is a global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organisations protect and enhance enterprise value in an increasingly complex legal, regulatory and economic environment. With more than 3,500 employees located in most major business centres in the world, we work closely with clients every day to anticipate, illuminate, and overcome complex business challenges in areas such as investigations, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory issues, reputation management and restructuring. More information can be found at www.fticonsulting.com.