- Janet Truncale is uncomfortable being known as the first woman to lead a Big Four firm.
- But the EY global chair and CEO is learning to embrace it, she said in a recent interview.
- Truncale said colleagues told her to lean into the moniker to help inspire future female leaders.
In 2024, Janet Truncale became the first woman to lead a Big Four consulting firm.
As global chair and CEO of EY, she is now responsible for leading 400,000 employees and overseeing a global network that brought in over $50 billion last year.
But Truncale is not that comfortable being known as a female trailblazer, she told Kristin Peck, CEO of animal pharma firm Zoetis, in an interview published on Zoetis’ YouTube channel.
“When the news came out about a year ago about my election, I remember the headlines really talked about ‘first woman to lead a Big Four.’ And my first reaction was, ‘Oh, why does it say that?'” Truncale said.
Truncale said she felt the same when she became the first woman to lead EY’s Americas Financial Services organization, her role before CEO, and tried to downplay the achievement in a meeting with partners.
But “a lot of very strong women” in Truncale’s practice at the time told her that she needed to embrace the ‘first woman’ title.
“It’s not about you; it’s about us and the next generation, about seeing that it’s possible,” the women told her, Truncale recounted.
When she became CEO and global chair, those women’s voices were in her ear again, she told Peck. “Now I’m learning to embrace it although it’s a little uncomfortable for sure.”
Truncale, who joined EY as an intern in the 1990s, shared her advice for women who find themselves outnumbered as they move up in their careers.
“That’s been the story of my entire career,” Truncale said. “I grew up in the audit business, and I would be one of 15. I was always usually the only woman in a boardroom, back in the early nineties.”
She told Peck it’s important to remind yourself that your background and expertise give you a seat at the table and to mentor and bring others along.
“Whether it’s thirty years ago or today, you have something to say,” Truncale said. “That’s not just for women. That’s for men as well.”
According to the firm’s 2024 DEI report, 48% of EY’s US workforce and 36% of US partners are women.
In September 2024, 29% of EY’s partners in the UK, where the firm is headquartered, were women. EY UK’s target is to double that proportion to 40% female by July 2025.
Unlike Deloitte, KPMG, and Accenture EY is not reported to have pulled back on DEI programs or transparency reporting since the Trump administration entered office.
Consulting giant Accenture is the only other top professional services firm with a female CEO. Julie Sweet was the first woman appointed to the role in 2019.
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