KPMG South Africa completes leadership transition as Joelene Pierce becomes CEO

KPMG in South Africa is closing a year-long succession process as Joelene Pierce prepares to assume the CEO role on 1 March 2026, following a partners' vote in August 2025 and a formal farewell for outgoing leader Ignatius Sehoole on 20 February 2026. The sequence of dates frames a deliberately paced handover that partners approved seven months ago.

Partners in the South Africa firm voted for Pierce during an August 2025 leadership ballot, a decision KPMG confirmed internally at the time and that set the office on a transition timetable through the end of fiscal year 2025-26. That August vote provided the mandate for an organized change of command rather than an abrupt departure, aligning partner governance with the handover schedule now coming to completion.

Ignatius Sehoole, described in firm communications as a long-time leader, marked his farewell to colleagues at an event on 20 February 2026 that closed his active leadership chapter ahead of the March handover. The February 20 occasion served as the final internal milestone in the transition plan that partners and the national executive have been executing since the summer ballot.

Joelene Pierce will take on the CEO responsibilities for KPMG South Africa starting 1 March 2026, inheriting oversight of the firm's national practice after the partner vote that first named her successor. The effective date establishes a clear break in leadership and gives Pierce responsibility for the firm's client delivery, partner alignment, and regulatory engagement in South Africa from the start of March.

With the handover now complete in practical terms - partners approved the successor in August, Sehoole concluded his internal farewells on 20 February, and Pierce is scheduled to begin on 1 March 2026 - KPMG South Africa moves into a new leadership phase. The timeline leaves partners and national leadership focused on continuity through the formal transfer of authority and the operating priorities Pierce will set once she is in office.