South West accountancy and finance group Old Mill has appointed its first chief operating officer as it looks to speed up its already rapid growth while also developing its operational infrastructure.
Adil Taha, pictured, joins as the firm, which has offices in Chippenham, Wells, Yeovil and Exeter, as it nears the halfway point of its ambitious five-year plan to double in size.
To achieve this, it is targeting 15% growth every year to 2026 while also doubling of its overall staffing to 600.
He will work alongside CEO Kevin Whitmarsh and Old Mill’s board to lead the business through the next three years of expansion and beyond.
Adil has extensive experience in leading operations and executing strategy to achieve strong growth across a range of sectors, including private equity, legal and investment banking.
He played an instrumental role in turning around London law firm Child & Child as its COO through a private equity strategy, before going on to launch a boutique corporate law firm for Top 50 UK legal outfit Taylor Rose.
He then assisted the UK’s largest consultancy law firm Gunnercooke with its launch in New York and, most recently. was commercial director at start-up law firm Mezzle, where he led the strategic international expansion of its unique consultancy model.
Adil’s initial brief at Old Mill will be to complete a strategic review of its current operations. Over the following 12 months he will use his extensive knowledge and experience to help restructure the business to enable faster growth in line with the current strategy set by Kevin Whitmarsh and the rest of the senior team.
Adil described Old Mill as having the drive and growth ambitions of a corporate but with the ethos and culture of a people-centric local business.
“That combination is something that doesn’t come along very often,” he said.
“From the moment I met the board, and certainly Kevin, I could feel their passion for the business, and knew that, after a number of consultancy roles in an extensive portfolio career across three industries, I had found something I wanted to be a part of for the long term.”
He said that, unlike many of the professional firms he had worked with, Old Mill was not scared of trying new things, and this meant the business had the potential to grow far beyond its current goal.
“Old Mill is now almost halfway through a strategic plan which commenced in 2021, and the growth so far has been hugely impressive,” he added.
“But if it is going to reach its true potential, and become one of the biggest – if not, the biggest – firm in the region, it needs a world-class operational structure to support high levels of growth.
“For many professional service firms, after a few years of strong growth, this is the point where things start to plateau due to closed mindsets and a reluctance to step out of the comfort zone.
“But Old Mill is full of ambitious people who are willing to embrace change, to be brave and bold, meaning the scope for success here is huge, and I am really excited to get started.”
Kevin Whitmarsh said while the recruitment process for the COO role was vigorous, and there were several hugely talented and experienced candidates in the running, Adil impressed with his ambition, drive and alignment to Old Mill’s values.
“I, as well as the board and leadership team, are looking forward to welcoming him to Old Mill to support us to achieve our growth potential,” he added.
Chair of the Old Mill board Marina Griffin said: “Having spent my career working in senior operations roles across a range of businesses I know how effective a COO role can be in an organisation.
“Old Mill has huge ambition, and we are excited to kick start the next stage of our growth, but it is important that we stay true to our values and culture.
“We are therefore really fortunate to have found in Adil, a candidate with the drive and ambition we need – and the shared values we want – to take the business forward.”
