Ashurst bolsters risk advisory team with new partners
Short joins Ashurst from Blackhall and Pearl, while Baker currently leads Ashurst’s risk advisory managed services and regulatory capabilities. Their appointments bring the number of Ashurst Consulting partners to eight.
Ashurst has appointed Niki Short and Chris Baker as partners in a bid to grow the firm’s risk advisory team.
The firm said Short’s appointment will “further scale” the firm’s capacity to assist clients with regulatory change, risk and compliance management and regulatory disputes.
With experience in the risk consulting space, she has spent 14 years with Deloitte, followed by a global role as GM of operational risk and compliance at NAB.
Meanwhile, Baker currently leads Ashurst’s risk advisory managed services and regulatory capabilities. He has over 25 years’ experience across financial services, telecommunications, transport and defence, with experience in resolving “complex” regulatory, conduct, compliance and risk related matters.
Prior to joining Ashurst, Baker was the GM for regulatory change, investigations and remediation for NAB’s wealth management division.
Since commencing operations in mid-2020, Ashurst Consulting has provided risk advisory offerings across financial crime, transformation, health and safety, cyber and data, regulatory compliance, conduct and enterprise risk management.
Philip Hardy, head of Ashurst’s Risk Advisory practice, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Short to Ashurst, and extend a welcome to the partnership to both her and Chris. Their appointments bring the number of Ashurst Consulting partners to eight, capping off an amazing year of growth for the team.”
Short added: “I am excited to be joining Ashurst risk advisory and I look forward to playing a key role in a dynamic, fast growing team. Our clients value holistic solutions, including the way we can uniquely combine risk and legal capabilities, and I look forward to collaborating with them to deliver the quality advice the team is known for.”
Baker said: “I am delighted to be extending my leadership role at the firm and join the partnership. The Ashurst risk advisory team have set the standard for what an innovative, expertise led, collaborative and client focused advisory practice should be, and I look forward to being a bigger part of it.”