Welcome to our new colleagues – January and February 2025
25th March 2025
In January and February 2025, we welcomed 26 new colleagues to our global team.
This included strengthening our team in Australia with the hiring of Sally Davitt, Ahn Nguyen, Andrew Ross, John Temple-Cole, Victor Ageev, Jacqueline Woods, Adam Smith, and Elizabeth Buchanan.
We’re always looking to expand our team; please take a look at our current vacancies to see our latest opportunities.
Victor Ageev
Principal | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Perth, Australia
Victor Ageev brings a wealth of expertise and experience to HKA, having built a distinguished career as a project expert across the construction, mining, power generation, and oil and gas industries. He specialises in formal dispute resolution, with expertise in delay and quantum analysis, and has worked on high-profile projects throughout Australia, the Philippines, and South Korea. His extensive experience includes providing independent expert opinion for use in dispute resolution, claims preparation and defence, commercial management, and project controls management.
Victor holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Mining and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Western Australia, and a Bachelor of Information Technology from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He also completed a Graduate Certificate in International Arbitration Practice from the College of Laws and holds a Certificate in Quantity Surveying from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Victor is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Maha Alotaibi
Associate Consultant | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Maha joins the CCE Team in Riyadh as an Associate Consultant. Her expertise lies in drafting and reviewing construction claims, particularly in quantum aspects and contractual disputes. Over the course of her career, Maha has contributed to a diverse array of projects spanning multiple sectors, consistently demonstrating strong skills in claims analysis and problem-solving.
Outside of work, Maha is passionate about sports, enjoys exploring business and financial markets, and is always on the lookout for new opportunities to grow and excel – both personally and professionally.
Andy Antunez
Partner | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Dallas, Texas, United States
Andy Antunez has joined HKA as a Partner in our Digital Forensics and Data Solutions practice. Andy has over 20 years of professional experience in digital forensics, information technology, and security.
His expertise includes leading investigations related to digital forensic collections, data destruction and manipulation, employment issues, fraud, and insider risk. He specializes in matters involving data exfiltration, unauthorized data access, intellectual property theft, and misappropriation of trade secrets.
Andy has practical, hands-on training and expertise providing forensic technology services, including data preservation, digital forensics, electronic discovery, and data analysis. Over the last two decades, Andy has personally imaged over 10,000 computer devices and over 5,000 mobile devices, serving as a computer forensics examiner, expert, neutral, or litigation consultant on more than 500 matters.
Adam Blick
Director, Senior Legal Counsel
London, United Kingdom
Adam graduated from UCL and Oxford University with a master’s in Ancient Greek and Latin Languages. He has held roles in supporting key stakeholders by executing high-value projects in both the public and private sectors. He also managed litigation and claims matters and provided strategic and tactical advice to ensure future success.
Outside of work, Adam has varied hobbies. He enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing sports such as tennis and martial arts, practicing music, and generally enjoying the activities that London has to offer, such as the various parks and seasonal activities such as ice skating at Somerset House which is down the road from the office!
Elizabeth Buchanan
Director | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Sydney, Australia
Elizabeth Buchanan joins as a Director. She has extensive experience in forensic accounting and high-net-worth individual tax in Australia and the United States. She has assisted with the preparation of expert reports submitted in courts in both countries. Elizabeth is a Business Valuation Specialist, and she specialises in the preparation of business valuations, quantification of loss and damages, and conducting financial investigations.
Erin Buck
Associate Director | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Dallas, Texas, United States
Erin Buck is a certified public accountant with over 12 years of experience in litigation consulting and financial analysis. She has provided litigation services for cases involving economic damages, valuation disputes, marital dissolution, professional malpractice, and investigations. Given her solid understanding of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and tax basis reporting, Erin has helped clients understand complicated and potentially fraudulent financial transactions. She has also assisted with numerous Internal Revenue Service (IRS) exams and in federal, state, bankruptcy, and U.S. tax courts. Additionally, Erin has performed several due diligence projects for both sellers and buyers in merger and acquisition matters.
Matt Davis
Manager | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Houston, Texas, United States
Matt Davis is a litigation consultant and forensic accountant with nine years of experience. Matt has overseen engagements related to fraud examination, mass torts, business valuation, theft of trade secrets, patent infringement, trademark infringement, false advertising, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and other forms of complex commercial litigation. In connection with such engagements, he has performed analyses to quantify economic damages such as lost profits, unjust enrichment, reasonable royalties, and diminution of business value. In addition, he has been engaged on several consulting matters regarding client product commercialization and viability.
Sally Davitt
Partner | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Sydney, Australia
Sally Davitt is a Forensic Accounting and Business Valuation Specialist with over 20 years of experience in forensic accounting. Sally specialises in financial investigations and quantifying economic loss, as well as dispute analysis, business valuation and damages calculations. She works with a wide range of clients – from lawyers and corporates to government regulators and not-for-profits – across various industries. Sally has worked on a number of high-profile investigations and court cases within Australia and in the UK, preparing expert reports and giving evidence. Sally is recognised as a leading Forensic Accountant and has been selected by Lexology Index in Investigations, Consulting – Forensic Accountants and in Australia & New Zealand – Investigations – Forensic Accountants.
Jessica Demirel
Billing Analyst EMEA | Finance
Warrington, United Kingdom
Jessica has worked in finance-related roles for over 10 years, with 8 of them in the aviation industry.
More recently, she has taken a six-month sabbatical to pursue voluntary work abroad and traveling. Outside of work, Jessica enjoys walking, nature, and cooking. She is a keen photographer and artist.
Tate Dixon
Senior Associate Consultant | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Dallas, Texas, United States
Tate Dixon has more than two years of experience supporting intellectual property (IP) litigation related to patent, copyright, and trademark infringement and theft of trade secrets. In addition to calculating economic damages, Tate has performed damages analyses for matters concerning lost profits, reasonable royalties, business valuation, disgorgement/unjust enrichment, and pre- and post-judgment interest. She has also been involved in litigation dealing with corruption, fraud, false advertising, employee misconduct, and breach of contract.
Lesley Hume
Payroll Manager EMEA | Finance
Warrington, United Kingdom
Lesley Hume is a payroll professional with over 30 years of experience. She has been responsible for managing payroll, benefits, year- end compliance, administering company pension schemes and the implementation of new payroll systems.
Lesley has worked as a consultant in various businesses and performed end to end process evaluation to identify opportunities for process improvement and mitigating risks. She produced regular compliance reports for stakeholders.
Lesley lives in Southport and has two grown up sons and recently became granny to her first grandchild Phoebe.
Edward Millinger
Managing Consultant | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
London, United Kingdom
Ed is an economist with three years of experience in economic consulting. He has a bachelor’s degree in industrial Economics from the University of Nottingham and a master’s degree in Economics from Durham University.
His experience includes competition damages matters, disputes, and securities litigation in a range of sectors, including consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, and financial services.
Outside of work, Ed enjoys travelling, filming, and keeping fit at the gym, through triathlon, or on the bouldering wall.
Elliot Newsholme
Senior Finance Business Partner
Warrington, United Kingdom
Elliot is an ICAWE Chartered Accountant who gained professional experience in corporate tax at a Big 4 professional service firm and accounting at a wealth management practice.
He has experience in Business partnering across key stakeholders, providing financial outlooks and perspectives on operational and strategic decision-making, financial modelling and forecasting, and data analysis.
Elliot is an avid golfer and plays football, badminton, and padel tennis outside of work. He enjoys music, attending festivals (Glastonbury), and spending time with his family, friends, and new dog!
Anh Nguyen
Partner | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Sydney, Australia
Anh Nguyen has 15 years of experience in forensic accounting and valuation services. Anh is a seasoned professional who excels in quantifying damages, class actions, valuation and taxation engagements. He has appeared as an expert in numerous legal matters, including cases in the Supreme Court of NSW and the Federal Court of Australia and has also been appointed as a Court Referee by the Supreme Court of NSW. Anh is also a co-author of the Forensic Accounting chapter in the leading Australian textbook on Expert Evidence.
Richard Peters
Partner | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Dallas, Texas, United States
Richard Peters is a cybersecurity and crypto asset forensic expert with over 25 years of experience. He has been appointed as an expert on six occasions.
Richard has experience in cybersecurity breaches, security posture assessments, ransomware incidents, and crypto asset investigations. He has managed, performed, and delivered information technology security solutions, including technology risk management, auditing, security assessments, compliance assessments, attack-and-penetration testing services, and security analysis for domestic and international entities in the energy, technology, medical, financial, and manufacturing industries. Richard is knowledgeable in client and server environments, mainframes, databases, applications, and hardware, where he has provided PCI-related services, including PCI DSS assessments and Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV) services.
Richard specialises in penetration testing, cybersecurity breach analysis, crypto tracing, and smart contract security assessments. He has designed, assessed, and tested against multiple security standards and frameworks, including the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001/27002, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST CSF and 800 series). Richard has used his considerable penetration testing experience in both the applications, networks, and hardware space and the crypto asset, currency, and decentralized finance (DeFi) space for forensics and security assessments.
Henri Prevost
Associate Consultant | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Los Angeles, California, United States
Henri Prevost rejoins the Los Angeles office as an Associate Consultant after earning his BA in Economics from Pomona College. Henri brings experience in finance and accounting from his internship in FACD, coupled with his leadership experience from managing several small teams in other engagements. He is thrilled to be starting his professional journey with HKA and looks forward to building strong connections with his colleagues in the years to come.
Andrew Ross
Partner | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Sydney, Australia
Andrew Ross has over 35 years of experience in chartered accounting firms, assisting Australian and international clients in complex commercial disputes. Andrew works behind the scenes with legal teams to prepare claims or determine case strategy. Alternatively, he acts as an independent expert, preparing expert reports and giving evidence in courts and tribunals. Andrew is recognised as a leading Forensic Accountant and has been selected by Lexology Index in Consulting – Forensic Accountants and in Australia & New Zealand – Investigations – Forensic Accountants.
Daniel Schofield
Managing Consultant | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Glasgow, United Kingdom
Daniel holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental & civil engineering from Glasgow Caledonian University and is currently undertaking a master’s in construction law at the University of Strathclyde. He has worked on projects in numerous sectors, most recently in Data Centres, Pharmaceutical cleanrooms, and renewables. He has extensive experience preparing and advising on extension of time claims.
He has recently restored a 19th-century cottage using traditional building techniques and materials. He enjoys hillwalking and running when he isn’t covered in lime mortar. He is also a keen reader and likes to sketch and paint.
Adam Smith
Principal | Advisory
Brisbane, Australia
Adam joins our Brisbane office and brings with him over 20 years of experience across multiple industries, including transport infrastructure, defence, and renewable energy.
Adam is a dynamic and results-driven professional, with extensive experience leading strategic initiatives, shaping commercial and financial strategies, and delivering complex infrastructure projects. He has a proven track record of transforming vision into action by driving operational excellence and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
Adam holds a Bachelor of Commerce, is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA), and holds a Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment. He is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and an Accredited Speaker with the National Speakers Association (Australia).
Francois Spies
Technical Director | Forensic Technical Services
Glasgow, United Kingdom
Specialising in multi-discipline engineering project management, Francois is a professionally registered construction project manager, construction contract specialist, and dispute resolution practitioner with over 25 years of experience in the heavy engineering project and construction sector, the majority of which has been in the mining and renewable energy sectors.
Outside of work, Francois tries to attend as many motor racing events as possible. He also enjoys travelling with his family, walking, hiking, and general adventure.
John Temple-Cole
Partner | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Sydney, Australia
John Temple-Cole is a Forensic Accounting Specialist who has close to 30 years of experience in the forensic field. His expertise includes leading large-scale and complex financial and accounting investigations and disputes, and loss and damages assessments.
John has given evidence in various Australian Courts and tribunals, the High Court of Singapore, and domestic and international arbitration proceedings. John has a working proficiency in both spoken and written Chinese (Mandarin) and is also a Director of the Justice and Equity Centre (formerly the Public Interest Advocacy Centre).
John is recognised as a leading Forensic Accountant and has been selected by Lexology Index as a thought leader in GIR – Investigations Forensic Accountants, and is also selected in Consulting – Forensic Accountants, Australia & New Zealand – Arbitration and Investigations – Forensic Accountants.
Matt Unsworth
Managing Consultant | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Warrington, United Kingdom
Matt has over 10 years of experience in the civil engineering industry, working on various projects and disciplines. He has a BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering Degree and is an Incorporated Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers (IEng MICE).
Outside of work, he plays semi-professional rugby league, which takes up most of his spare time. He also likes to keep himself fit and play golf.
Geraint Williams
Associate Technical Director | Forensic Technical Services
Warrington, United Kingdom
Specialising in contaminated land, Geraint has a background in environmental science and was a guest lecturer at Portsmouth University. One of Geraint’s areas of expertise is per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of contaminants that are subject to increasing litigation.
Geraint previously worked as a consultant for the United Nations Environment Programme in the post-conflict and disaster management branch. He also worked as European Technical Director and Global PFAS Practice Lead for a laboratory.
Geraint’s interests outside of work include football, running, hiking, and playing squash.
Jacqueline Woods
Principal | Forensic Accounting & Commercial Damages
Sydney, Australia
Jacqueline Woods has joined its rapidly expanding Forensic Accounting and Commercial Damages (FACD) team in Sydney, Australia. Jacqueline brings over 25 years of expertise in forensic accounting, particularly in valuations and loss quantification, bolstering HKA’s capability to address client needs in complex disputes.
Jacqueline’s career spans various sectors, where she has successfully resolved financial disputes in both commercial and personal injury contexts. Her forthright and honest working style aims to assist disputing parties in resolving conflicts without protracted litigation, aligning perfectly with HKA’s commitment to practical and effective solutions.
Jacqueline’s educational credentials include a Master of Accounting and Economics from the University of Dundee, Scotland, and she is a Chartered Accountant. She has been involved in many significant engagements, such as expert determinations for shareholder agreement disputes and financial investigations for transactions fraught with fraud risks. Her pragmatic approach and energetic demeanour will be instrumental in enhancing HKA’s service offerings.
Yuqi Zhang
Associate Consultant | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Calgary, Canada
Yuqi Zhang is a construction engineering professional with expertise in structural analysis, project scheduling, and risk management. Yuqi joins HKA’s Calgary office as an Associate Consultant, supporting construction claims analysis and forensic delay investigations. Before joining HKA, Yuqi completed a Master of Engineering in Construction Engineering and Management at the University of Alberta, focusing on automated sequencing in construction scheduling. Yuqi also holds a Master of Science in Structural Engineering from the University of Sheffield, where research included computational modeling, seismic risk assessment, and structural resilience.
Yuqi has previously worked as a Structural Engineer and Civil Engineer, contributing to high-rise structural analysis and municipal infrastructure projects.
Summer Zhao
Senior Consultant | Construction, Claims and Expert Services
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Summer joins the CCE quantum team as Senior Consultant. With her versatile background as both a quantity surveyor and a qualified lawyer in China, she has amassed a wealth of experience in the construction industry, excelling in areas such as construction dispute resolution, procurement and contract strategy, and has provided invaluable assistance to quantum experts in arbitration proceedings. Summer has lived and worked in Hong Kong, the UAE, and mainland China where she has contributed significantly to projects throughout the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East.
Summer is an avid traveler and enjoys hiking, as well as exploring new cultures and cuisines.
