Board Directors

Rodger was appointed Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Group Audit Committee on 1 July 2013 and is a longstanding member of the Society. Rodger was elected Chairman of the Society’s Board in April 2015. Rodger is a Chartered Accountant who was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers for 25 years. From 2002 to 2006 he was Managing Partner and from 1995 to 2002 Head of the Assurance Practice. Rodger has years of experience providing professional services to building societies including 15 years as both the PW Industry Leader for Building Societies and as auditor and adviser to the Building Societies Association. In addition to being the Society’s Chairman, he has membership of the Board of Simmons & Simmons LLP, the international law firm. Rodger has previously chaired the Audit Committee at Companies House and Chime Communications plc, and was a member of the Friends Provident Group plc Board prior to its takeover by Resolution.

Mark joined the Board in 2012 as Chief Executive. He has over 20 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.

Andrew joined the Board in April 2018 as Finance Director. He is a Chartered accountant with 25 years commercial experience, the last 10 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.

Chris joined the board in 2014 as Secretary and Director. He is a solicitor who has more than 30 years experience in the financial services sector both as a practising solicitor and in executive roles. Amongst his previous roles he was corporate affairs director and group secretary of a FTSE listed financial services group, a director in an investment bank and a partner in several well known city law firms. As the Society’s Secretary, Chris acts as general counsel to the Board. He is also responsible for the Society’s legal and compliance functions and for all support and administration services.

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Fiona joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director in March 2015. Fiona is an independent consultant providing treasury, corporate finance and risk management consultancy to corporate and financial institutions. Fiona has worked with companies across a range of sections, including: The Pensions Regulator - to head the 40-strong Corporate Risk Management practice; France Telecom, who merged all their international mobile businesses into Orange - reviewing the FX risks of the combined mobile business; and Henderson Global Investors - establishing a treasury function for the newly floated business. Fiona was until recently the Director of International Treasury Risk Management for Huawei, a major Chinese private company in the ICT sector. She is a past President and Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and a member of the Association of MBAs.

Simon was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in March 2015. Simon is currently Managing Director of the Reinsurance Group of America (RGA – UK & Ireland) and is responsible for leading the management and growth of RGA’s business and operations in the U.K. and Irish markets. He has 30 years experience with 4 premium financial services organisations covering a broad range of businesses segments and markets. Simon has worked for HSBC Bank plc from 1997 – 2012; roles including Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Insurance UK; Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Ireland and COO, Commercial, Corporate & Structured Banking, HSBC Bank Plc. Simon holds a B.Sc. 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 an M.B.A. from Henley Business School, University of Reading. Simon is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (FCIB). 

Patrick was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in March 2015. Patrick has over 20 years marketing and brand experience having held leadership roles for Egg, Citi, Goldfish, Morgan Stanley and Lombard Direct. As a strategic marketing specialist he now offers clients access to this experience across a range of sectors including the development of digital and mobile strategies. Through his consulting firm, he works with various organisations in developing marketing strategy and proposition development as well as general business development. From small entrepreneurial businesses seeking to expand their customer acquisition and customer marketing through to large organisations re-defining their strategy or brand. Patrick was voted by Marketing Week as one of three most influential marketers in financial services.  Patrick is a Director of Swan Marketing Group, Director Marketing of EVENcard, Board Director of Agency Mobile London, Chief Marketing Officer for Global Ethics Financial Services and also served as a Board Director of Mastercard member services for 3 years.

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 and Age UK London.


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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. More recently, she has been a Trustee of the Friends Life Pension scheme and a Non-Executive Director of Friends Life Holdings.

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