KPMG CIO Edel McGrath to join Chelsea Apps Factory as COO

Which means that KPMG will now be on the lookout for a new CIO

The CIO of professional services firm KPMG, Edel McGrath, is to leave the organisation to become chief operating officer (COO) of the enterprise mobile apps developer Chelsea Apps Factory.

McGrath has worked at KPMG for 28 years, and spent the last four as CIO.

In an interview with Computing back in 2014, McGrath had explained that the company was "very behind with its technology" when she joined. She immediately tried to tackle KPMG staff's biggest pain points - which even included a lack of storage space in mailboxes - upgrading from Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010 version.

Thereafter, she worked on developing an IT strategy with her team, but didn't publicise it to the wider IT community internally for fear of the business throwing it out before it could be implemented.

Despite this caution, her strategy was approved, and it involved a host of changes, including upgrades to the firm's laptop estate, and the implementation of IT service management software from ServiceNow. In addition, she has introduced cloud and mobility technologies to the organisation, improved the way services are delivered.

McGrath will be joining Chelsea Apps Factory, whose clients include KPMG, Standard Life and Ladbrokes. "I'm very excited to be joining Chelsea Apps Factory. I know and respect their work as enterprise mobility experts, having experienced the business first hand, as a client," she said.

She continued: "Market demand for mobile strategy and skills has never been stronger and with Chelsea Apps Factory's robust track record I believe they are ideally positioned. I'm looking forward to contributing to their continued success."

In a statement sent to Computing, a KPMG spokesperson said: "Edel has been an integral member of the KPMG family for nearly three decades and has contributed greatly to our business.

"During her time as Head of IT, technology has developed at an unprecedented rate and Edel has guided the firm through these changes. She will be much missed and we wish her every success in her new role.

"Edel will work closely with our leadership team to appoint her successor, who will be announced in due course."

KPMG has an interim CIO in place for now who is working on a transformation project.

McGrath will join Chelsea Apps Factory in September 2017.