GRANT THORNTON IRELAND APPOINTS SMARANDA G. AS CHIEF PEOPLE & CULTURE OFFICER

Grant Thornton Ireland has named Smaranda G. as Chief People & Culture Officer, bringing over two decades of global HR and talent leadership experience. Formerly with McKinsey and QuantumBlack, she will lead people, leadership, and culture strategy as the firm accelerates growth and transformation.  

Grant Thornton Ireland has named Smaranda G. as its new Chief People & Culture Officer, a leadership appointment that signals the firm’s intent to place people, leadership, and culture at the heart of its next phase of growth. As one of Ireland’s fastest-growing professional services firms navigates rapid expansion, digital transformation, and intensifying competition for talent, the arrival of a senior leader with deep global experience in human capital strategy reflects a broader shift underway in the industry: people leadership is no longer a support function, but a strategic driver of enterprise value.

With more than two decades of experience across global HR, talent transformation, and leadership development, Smaranda brings to Grant Thornton Ireland a rare blend of strategic depth and hands-on execution. Her career spans some of the world’s most influential advisory environments, most notably McKinsey & Company and QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, where she worked at the intersection of people strategy, advanced analytics, and organisational transformation. In those roles, she partnered closely with senior executives to reimagine how organisations attract, develop, and retain talent in an era defined by technological disruption and shifting workforce expectations.

At McKinsey, Smaranda was deeply involved in large-scale talent transformations across Europe and global markets. Her work focused not only on improving HR systems and processes, but on aligning people strategies with business ambition. As organisations grappled with new operating models, evolving skill requirements, and heightened scrutiny on leadership effectiveness, she helped design workforce strategies that were both future-ready and human-centred. Colleagues describe her approach as rigorous yet empathetic, grounded in data but attentive to culture, behaviour, and psychological safety.

Her subsequent role at QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, further sharpened her expertise in AI-enabled workforce strategies. There, she operated at the frontier of technology and talent, advising organisations on how to integrate advanced analytics and artificial intelligence into decision-making while ensuring that people remained central to transformation efforts. In a period when many companies were experimenting with AI without fully understanding its organisational implications, Smaranda’s work helped bridge the gap between technological potential and human capability. She focused on building leadership pipelines that could thrive in data-rich environments, equipping executives and managers with the skills to lead hybrid teams, interpret insights responsibly, and foster trust in increasingly digital workplaces.

Beyond her corporate roles, Smaranda has also established herself as a thought leader in organisational psychology and executive development. As a Fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School, she has contributed to research and teaching in areas that sit at the convergence of leadership, behaviour, and technology-driven change. Her academic engagement adds an additional dimension to her profile, reinforcing her reputation as a practitioner who not only implements solutions but also shapes thinking on the future of work. This combination of advisory experience and intellectual depth is particularly relevant at a time when professional services firms are re-examining long-held assumptions about careers, performance, and culture.

At Grant Thornton Ireland, Smaranda steps into a role that is both expansive and strategically critical. As Chief People & Culture Officer, she will be responsible for shaping the firm’s people agenda at a moment of sustained growth and transformation. Grant Thornton Ireland has been expanding its footprint, broadening its service offerings, and investing in technology to meet the evolving needs of clients. Such growth brings opportunity, but also complexity: scaling culture, maintaining engagement, and ensuring leadership capability across a larger and more diverse organisation are challenges that require deliberate, forward-looking people strategies.

Smaranda’s appointment reflects an understanding that culture does not scale automatically. In professional services, where knowledge, relationships, and trust are core assets, the quality of leadership and the employee experience can directly influence client outcomes and long-term performance. By elevating the people and culture function to the executive level, Grant Thornton Ireland is signalling that talent, inclusion, learning, and wellbeing are integral to its competitive strategy, not ancillary concerns.

Those who have worked with Smaranda note her ability to operate credibly with C-suite leaders while remaining closely attuned to the lived experience of employees. Her track record includes designing leadership development programmes that move beyond traditional training to focus on mindset, behaviour, and impact. She has been a strong advocate for evidence-based approaches to talent management, using data and analytics to inform decisions while recognising the limits of metrics in capturing human complexity. This balance is likely to be central to her work at Grant Thornton Ireland, as the firm seeks to harness digital tools without losing sight of its values and purpose.

Another defining aspect of Smaranda’s career has been her emphasis on building inclusive, high-performance cultures. Across her global roles, she has worked with organisations operating across borders, cultures, and regulatory environments. That exposure has informed a nuanced understanding of diversity and inclusion as drivers of innovation and resilience, rather than compliance exercises. In Ireland’s increasingly international professional services landscape, such perspective is especially valuable, as firms compete for talent globally while serving clients with diverse needs.

Her arrival also comes at a time when expectations of employers are evolving rapidly. Employees are seeking meaningful work, flexible career paths, and leaders who can navigate uncertainty with authenticity. At the same time, organisations face pressure to upskill their workforces for emerging technologies, including AI, while managing ethical considerations and change fatigue. Smaranda’s experience at the forefront of AI-enabled transformation positions her well to help Grant Thornton Ireland address these tensions, integrating technology into the workplace in ways that enhance, rather than erode, human potential.

Internally, her mandate will likely include strengthening leadership pipelines, modernising talent processes, and reinforcing a culture that supports continuous learning and adaptability. Externally, her role will contribute to how Grant Thornton Ireland positions itself as an employer of choice in a competitive market. In professional services, reputation as a place to grow and belong can be as influential as brand recognition among clients.

As she takes on the Chief People & Culture Officer role, expectations are high, but so is confidence in her ability to deliver. Her career reflects a consistent focus on helping organisations prepare for the future by investing in their people today. For Grant Thornton Ireland, the appointment of Smaranda G. represents more than a leadership change; it marks a strategic commitment to building a future-ready organisation where culture, leadership, and performance are tightly aligned.

In an era when the success of professional services firms increasingly depends on how well they mobilise talent and navigate change, Smaranda’s blend of global experience, technological insight, and human-centred leadership offers a compelling foundation. As she begins shaping the people, leadership, and culture agenda at Grant Thornton Ireland, her influence is likely to extend beyond internal transformation, contributing to broader conversations about the future of work across Ireland and global markets.