Board Directors
National Counties Building Society is managed by a team of Senior Executives, led by a Chief Executive, with oversight by an elected Board.
Simon was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in March 2015 and was elected Chairman of the Society's Board in April 2024. Simon is currently Executive Vice President, Head of Europe, Middle East & Africa for Reinsurance Group of America.
He has 40 years’ experience with Nationwide Building Society, Lloyds Banking Group and latterly HSBC, where he held roles including: CEO HSBC Insurance; CEO HSBC Bank Ireland; and COO Commercial and Corporate Banking.Simon holds a BSc degree in banking practice and management from the Institute of Financial Services, School of Finance (formerly the Chartered Institute of Banking), a Diploma in Management Studies from Oxford Business School, and MBA from Henley Business School, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (FCIB) and is a Chartered Director, Institute of Directors.
Mark joined the Board in 2012 as Chief Executive. He has over 30 years' experience in financial services focused on helping people make the most of their money. He ran Barclays' retail funds business and then built up Moneyextra, an aggregator website focused on mortgages and savings that was sold to Bristol & West Plc. Upon its acquisition the business was merged with Chase de Vere and Willis National, two leading IFAs, and Mark was appointed as Managing Director. From 2004 until 2012, Mark was UK Chief Executive of IFG Group plc, responsible for James Hay, the leading SIPP provider, and Saunderson House, an hourly rate financial advisory business.
He has an MA from Cambridge University and completed his articles with Slaughter and May before joining Schroders to work in corporate finance. In January 2013 he was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of Alexander Hall, the leading mortgage broker, whose Board meetings he now chairs, which helps him to understand the perspective of the Society’s principal channel for distributing mortgages. In May 2021 he was elected Chairman of the Building Societies Association, the body representing 43 building societies, as well as 6 credit unions a position that he held until May 2023.
Andrew joined the Board in April 2018 as Finance Director. He is a Chartered accountant with over 30 years commercial experience, the last 17 years having been spent in senior finance roles in Financial Services.In his previous role Andrew was Group Financial Planning & Analysis Director for Lloyds Banking Group. From 2008 to 2015 he undertook a number of roles for RBS including Finance Director of Lombard PLC, Finance Director of RBS Invoice Finance, Non-Executive Director of Motability PLC and Head of FP&A for RBS’s Commercial & Private Banking Division. Prior to 2008 he spent 11 years working for Unilever PLC, the maker of Persil & Dove, in the UK & Europe, and four years based in Reigate with Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company.
Andrew is Chairman of the Asset & Liability Committee and a Director of the Society’s subsidiary company, Counties Home Loan Management Limited.
Patrick was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in March 2015. He has over 25 years marketing and brand experience having held leadership positions at Egg, Citi, Morgan Stanley and Lombard Direct. Patrick was previously voted as one of the three most influential marketers in financial services by Marketing Week. Through his consulting firm, he now works with a variety of organisations in developing marketing and business growth strategy.
Patrick is a Director of Swan Marketing Services and Chairman of Smart Money People and has served on boards and committees of a number of other organisations.
John joined the board in October 2019 as Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee. John is a qualified accountant and was a partner of Ernst and Young for 30 years. A large part of his career was spend focused on the financial services sector. Among other things, he was previously a member its governance committees at both a global and European level, was a member of the audit committee, had responsibility for the partnership's controls surrounding financial crime and data protection, and managed aspects of quality and risk. Other directorships include being Non-Executive Director of London South Bank University.
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Peter was appointed to the board as a Non-Executive Director in November 2022.
Early in his career he was an international economist with ICI, before moving into banking where he acquired 30 years’ experience. This included senior leadership positions in Operations, Product Marketing, Corporate and Retail banking. Peter led large customer-facing teams under the Lloyds, Cheltenham and Gloucester and Bank of Scotland brands and was Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland plc for four years from 2010 before becoming Distribution director for TSB when it separated from Lloyds Banking Group. Peter is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers and also works as an executive coach, having qualified at Henley Business School.
Susan joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director in August 2020. Susan is a Chartered Accountant and a Member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. She qualified with Ernst & Young before working in investment banking, gaining valuable markets and trading experience. She then moved into corporate treasury, where her first position was as treasurer for CIBC Mortgages. Susan subsequently held senior corporate treasury positions in a range of companies, including Diageo and Rentokil, and until the end of 2019 was Group Treasurer for Aviva.
Recent Non-Executive roles include Ariel Re Managing Agency Ltd where, until October 2024 Susan was as an Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee, and the Friends Life Pension scheme where she was a Trustee and member of the Investment Committee.
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Louise was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in February 2025.
Louise is currently the Director of Retail Protection for Zurich and oversees the entire business. She has also been a Board member of Zurich Intermediary Group Ltd since 2021.
With over 37 years of professional experience, she has held executive positions at both Aviva (including Commercial Union, CGU and Norwich Union) and Zurich, across various disciplines. She has been recognised with numerous industry awards, including being named one of the top 25 most influential business leaders in 25 years of Protection.
Louise holds a master’s degree in marketing and is an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation.
Robin joined the Society in November 2024. He is a financial services professional with over 35 years’ experience as a regulator, strategic and corporate finance advisor, senior executive with roles in finance, risk and operations, and non-executive director. After studying law at Cambridge, he qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse. After a spell as a regulator at the Building Societies Commission, Robin was a strategy consultant at KPMG before over a decade at Yorkshire Building Society, in a variety of senior roles, including CFO, CRO and COO. Since then he has been non-executive director at companies including a start-up SME lender, a specialist mortgage lender and plc car dealership, variously as Senior Independent Director and Chair of risk, audit and remuneration committees.