Half the world away

Derek Meates swapped sunshine for snow when he moved to Saskatoon in Canada to oversee BHP Billiton’s potash operations and, as our leading global specialist on Uranium, to support the Cameco global mining account.

Daniel Camilleri, a mining specialist and partner from our Sydney office relocated to South America with his family in 2011 and is approaching the end of his three-year secondment with the Chilean firm in Santiago.

What concerned you most about relocating?

Derek: The fear of failure and the thought of coming home with my tail between my legs. The safer option was to stay at home and on one level it made no sense to risk the lifestyle that my family and I had in Adelaide to move to Saskatoon. It would mean starting over again – with new clients, a new office and new friends. During the first six months I questioned whether I’d done the right thing. But as we’ve faced the challenge of settling into life in a new country (where it snows for six months of the year!), we’ve had a chance to try new things and become closer as a family.

Daniel: Adapting to KPMG life in a different office is actually very seamless and it can be your spouse and children who have the hardest time adapting. My family was very supportive of the move, but I was concerned about how they would adapt to a new lifestyle, culture and language. Fortunately, an excellent expatriate community exists in Chile and my wife and children were immediately able to connect with others going through similar experiences. They grasped the Spanish language and cultural differences a lot quicker than I did and it puts a big smile on my face to see my children becoming bilingual (and at a much faster rate than me!).

Did the firm smooth the waters and help you and your family settle?

Derek: On the relocation side, I feel we have some improvements to do to make the process as smooth as possible. The existing system is geared more towards a recently qualified accountant moving, rather than a partner. The global nature of the firm, the consistency of the quality of our teams and the support from the Canadian and Australian leadership teams helped me settle into work.

What other challenges resulted from your move abroad, and what surprised you?

Daniel: There were many aspects of the relocation and settling in period that were much easier than we thought and others that were a lot harder. But the great thing about an international assignment is the unexpected challenges that you face. In the first few months it was about developing a new network of friends, building client relationships and dealing with what at the time felt like endless bureaucracy – setting up ID numbers, bank accounts and so on. Three years on and one of the most challenging aspects will be leaving Chile in September 2014. The family oriented lifestyle here is a real upside that we had never expected – we had our third child in Chile and my wife often remarks about the quality of the hospital care she received. The close friendships that have been built, the business networks I have and the great exposure to a different culture my children are getting will be difficult to leave behind. 

Aerial view of Santiago

How have your global experiences enriched your life, work and client engagements?

Daniel: I am much more open-minded. I have also really enjoyed coaching people from the Chilean firm, particularly in my client service teams. I feel I’ve made a significant difference to the professional development of my teams and, in turn, have learned a lot from coaching people with different backgrounds to mine. My assignment to Chile and involvement with the Global Mining Executive has increased my knowledge of our skill base. It’s not necessarily that I have the answer myself, but my clients value that I know who to reach out to in the global KPMG network to provide world-class solutions.

Derek: The experience of working in Europe, Australia and now North America allows me to provide clients with broad insights and connections. It also enables me to give a different perspective to the C Suite and at audit committee discussions on economic, regulatory and political environments across the globe. Increasingly at our larger clients, the executive or board member sitting across the table has worked in a number of jurisdictions as well – so you have a connection straightaway.

Snow-covered Saskatoon in Saskatchewan

Has moving overseas given you opportunities that might have been difficult to gain in your home country or taken longer to achieve?

Derek: A secondment as a partner is not an easy choice as you are more established and settled at that stage of your career. But moving abroad has given me the chance to develop a global network, significantly increase my self-awareness and learn client service skills in a different culture. It has accelerated my personal development and improved my client awareness skills dramatically in a relatively short space of time. I also believe that, as a global firm, bringing the best talent to all levels of our global clients is an increasing reality of business today. It’s a critical part of building successful client relationships.

Daniel: Absolutely. I’m very appreciative of the opportunity to be involved with global mining initiatives and take a mining leadership role on behalf of the Chilean firm – things I know would have taken longer to achieve in my home office. My early exposure to these roles has allowed me to rapidly expand my global network and benefitted the Chilean firm and its clients during the course of my assignment, but will also benefit the Australian firm when I return home with this broadened skill set. Being the only expatriate partner in the Chile office has enabled me to be at the forefront of large, international-based client opportunities in Chile, again improving my global client network and heightening my credentials in the Chilean market. Dealing with media enquires has made my role even more interesting and highlights another area that I would not have had such exposure to at this stage of my career, had I not accepted my international assignment.

Contact Derek Meates or Daniel Camilleri.