Past Speakers

Kathy Hopinkah Hannan is a senior partner with KPMG LLP. She has held numerous leadership roles throughout her career. She began her career at KPMG in 1985 and was admitted to the partnership in 1994 in the International Tax practice. Hannan was promoted to Midwest partner-in-charge of international services in 1996. Two years later, she was named partner-in-charge of KPMG’s Chicago metro-tax practice. Hannan was subsequently appointed to Vice Chair, Human Resources in December of 2000, where she was responsible for retention, recruitment and workplace initiatives, in addition to continuing Human Resources’ significant contribution to the achievement of firmwide goals. Hannan also served as a member of the firm’s Management Committee and Global HR Steering Group. Then in February of 2004, Hannan was named the Midwest Area Managing Partner for KPMG’s Tax Services, the first female to be named to such a position at KPMG. In 2009 she was appointed as the National Managing Partner of Diversity and Corporate Responsibility in December, 2009. In this role she provided strategic direction to leverage diversity and inclusion and corporate philanthropy for commercial sustainability. She is currently working with the Board Leadership Center to clarify governance issues, and on the Advisory Board for the Women Corporate Directors Foundation that promotes and strengthens women who are on corporate boards. Hannan’s tenure in the accounting profession reflects over 30 years of industry expertise. Currently, Hannan continues to provide tax services to a select pool of global clients. Her passion for speaking out for women in the workplace has had a trailblazer effect. The firm recognized Hannan’s ability to lead and selected her for KPMG’s 2002 Leadership Summit, a program that develops the future leaders of the firm’s Americas practice. The next year, she founded the KPMG Women’s Advisory Board with the objective to improve the retention and advancement of women in the firm. With Hannan’s leadership, the Women’s Advisory Board established the KPMG Network of Women, the firm’s first diversity network and the model for all other networks. The KPMG Network of Women is represented across the firm with close to 60 local chapters and engages approximately 2300 men and women. Hannan served as the Chair of KPMG’s Diversity Advisory Board, advancing the Chairman’s vision on diversity. She also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of The KPMG Foundation which provides ideas, actions and financial support to diverse academic and business communities.