Jonathan Agar DL
- Experience
Jonathan Agar DL is Chief Executive of Birketts LLP. Chairing the firm’s Executive Committee and on the Partnership Board, Jonathan is responsible for determining the strategic direction of the firm and for ensuring that the firm operates in accordance with its vision, mission and values.
Jonathan has more than two decades of experience of leading strategic development and change management programmes in the professional services and financial services sectors. Since joining Birketts as Chief Executive in 2013, Jonathan has led a range of transformational growth strategies designed to expand the firm’s capabilities and client base, including expansion into London and the South East, upgrading the firm’s offices and fostering client service and operational excellence programmes.
In the course of his tenure, Jonathan has placed a particular emphasis on enhancing the culture of the firm, focusing on developing the notion of ‘one firm’, with colleagues united in their core values, each with clarity of direction and a sense of purpose. Jonathan has been instrumental in leading the firm’s recent re-brand to Next Level Law, a proposition which fully reflects the firm’s ambition to support both clients and colleagues in the achievement of their aspirations. Jonathan has also sponsored the firm’s volunteering charitable giving and pro bono programmes, which aim to make a real difference to the wider communities in which the firm operates. Jonathan’s commitment to enhancing the culture of the firm was recognised in 2023 when he won the Best People Leader Award at the People In Law Awards 2023.
Previously, Jonathan was Chief Operating Officer for the Corporate and Investment Banking Finance division at Deutsche Bank, where he was responsible for the implementation of complex change management programmes across Deutsche Bank’s operations. He has also held senior management roles at Fidelity International and Schroders Investment Management, having started his career serving in the British Army.
In 2021, Jonathan was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Suffolk. As a Deputy Lieutenant, Jonathan plays an active role in the Lieutenancy Business and Enterprise Group that promotes the King’s Award for Enterprise in recognising business excellence across Suffolk. He is also engaged in seeking to reduce social isolation and rural deprivation in the county.
Jonathan has been a trustee of the Suffolk Community Foundation – the largest grantmaker to the voluntary sector in Suffolk – since 2014.
