Accenture Tabs AI Builder Matt Prebble to Run UK-IE-Africa Patch
25-year company veteran who grew Accenture’s EMEA Data & AI arm to 10,000 specialists takes the regional hot-seat as parent group posts US$69.7 bn full-year turnover—7 % up on the back of generative-AI deals.
Effective this month, Matt Prebble becomes Market Unit Lead for the United Kingdom, Ireland and Africa, replacing Shaheen Sayed who shifts to the newly-created global post of Chief Commercial Officer, Reinvention Services. The move is part of a wider June-2025 restructure that folds strategy, consulting, tech, operations and Song into one AI-first delivery engine headed by Manish Sharma.
From graduate to growth catalyst
Prebble joined Accenture in 1999 and has since rotated through retail, strategy, consulting and technology, most recently building the firm’s Data & AI portfolio across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. That division now houses 77,000 certified practitioners—up from 40,000 in 2023—and is the single biggest contributor to new bookings, according to September’s investor call.
Why the region matters
The UK alone is the world’s third-largest AI market, valued at £72.3 bn last year and spawning more start-ups than any city except San Francisco and Beijing. Prebble’s brief is to knit together 30,000 existing employees and close “reinvention” deals that wrap cloud, data, generative AI and managed services into one subscription-style contract.
Sweet on savings, spend on skills
CEO Julie Sweet told analysts the company’s US$1 bn cost-optimisation programme will be recycled into talent upskilling and industry-specific AI accelerators. Accenture’s own 2024 research claims clients with modern, AI-led processes enjoy 2.5× revenue growth and 3.3× faster scaling of use-cases versus peers—benchmarks Prebble is expected to turn into regional case studies.
Sayed stays in the tent
Although relinquishing day-to-day market duties, Shaheen Sayed remains London-based and will continue to advise Whitehall on technology and innovation while sitting on the Government’s Women’s Business Council. Her remit is to harmonise pricing, partnerships and delivery models for AI-enabled “reinvention” contracts worth more than US$100 m each.
First 100-day lens
Prebble’s inbox already includes steering a proposed £1.2 bn green-data-centre project in Northumberland, expanding the firm’s African cloud practice and embedding agentic-AI pilots for three of the UK’s biggest grocers. “Unprecedented disruption also means unprecedented opportunity,” he noted in an internal memo seen by Technology Magazine. “If we don’t help clients reinvent now, someone else will.”
Bottom line: After 25 years inside the tent, Matt Prebble inherits the fastest-growing region and the fastest-growing product line. All he has to do is keep both graphs pointing north.
