Yorkshire Building Society welcomes new chair at Annual General Meeting and donates £25,000 to FareShare

Yorkshire Building Society welcomed new chair Annemarie Durbin at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Met Hotel in Leeds last week.

Members voted overwhelmingly in favour of all resolutions, including the appointment of board members, and in so doing raised £25,000 for FareShare, the mutual’s charity partner. The Society donated 20p for every vote by post and 35p for every vote online.

It was the last AGM led by John Heaps, who has been chair of the mutual for the past nine years and has overseen balance sheet growth from £38.2 billion in 2015 to £61 billion.

Annemarie joined the board as Chair Designate in December 2023. She has 35 years’ international business and banking experience, and most recently held positions on the boards of Cater Allen Private Bank, Santander UK, Persimmon and Petershill Partners.

She said: “I am delighted to be Yorkshire Building Society’s new Chair. It was a joy to attend my first Annual General Meeting and speak to members who care so much about their Society and speak so highly of it and the commitment of our colleagues.

“I am proud to join a Society that is making a difference in helping people find a place to call home and improving financial wellbeing.

“The Society has a rich and long heritage and over the last few months I have seen it is an organisation with a special spirit, operating across the country but with strong Yorkshire roots and values.  

“I will use all my experience to ensure the Society goes from strength to strength, serving in members’ long-term best interests and developing to stay relevant to the next generation of members and customers.”

Outgoing Chair John Heaps said: “It has been a great pleasure and privilege to serve the Society over the last nine years and to see what we have collectively achieved for the benefit of our members. I will look forward to seeing the Society continue to grow and prosper under the stewardship of Annemarie and Susan.”

Susan Allen, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Building Society, said: “John has been an outstanding leader and ensured the Society remained successful, delivered its purpose and paid higher than the market average savings rates for our members in every year of his tenure – despite that being a period of significant volatility in the financial services sector.

“I’m delighted to be working with Annemarie to build on these strong foundations, and ensure we deliver even more for our members and customers in the years ahead.”