Our Board

Background and career

A qualified lawyer, John worked in the legal profession for 40 years and joined the senior management team of corporate law firm Eversheds in 1999. He was appointed Chairman of Eversheds in 2010 for a four-year term and retired from the law firm in 2015.

Skills and experience

John has extensive commercial and legal experience in his leadership role in shaping Eversheds’ long-term strategy as it grew into a major international law firm. In the last few years he has contributed to the development and success of both the Society as well as the various financial bodies of which he had been a member.

Other roles

Member of the board of The CityUK and also of its Audit and Risk Committee. Member of the Audit and Constitutional and Governance Committee of the International Bar Association. Member of the Advisory Board of the International Business and Diplomatic Exchange.

Committee membership

Chair of the Board Governance and Nominations Committee.

Background and Career

Alison started her career at IBM, progressing to the role of Global Director of Online Financial Services. She joined Barclays Bank in 2000 holding a number of senior management positions. Alison moved to specialist mortgage provider Kensington Group plc in 2004 as Managing Director and then Group Chief Executive, leading the successful sale of the business to Investec in 2008. She left Investec in 2008 and launched The Pennies Foundation, a registered charity which supports digital donations to good causes. She has been the Chief Executive of the Foundation since 2009. Over the last 10 years Alison has also developed a portfolio of non-executive positions.

Skills and Experience

Alison has a strong background in technology, retail and charity sectors  as well as extensive experience in the retail financial services sector. She has more than 35 years of management and Board level experience. Alison was awarded a CBE in 2016 for services to the economy and charities.

Other Roles

Chief Executive of The Pennies Foundation, Senior Independent Director of DFS Furniture plc and Senior Independent Director of Foresight Group Holdings.

Committee membership

Member of Remuneration Committee, Group Risk Committee and Board Governance and Nominations Committee
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Background and career

Guy worked in the audit profession for 36 years with KPMG, including 24 as a partner. He was also a member of KPMG’s UK Board for seven years and its European Board for five years. He was the Lead Audit Partner for a number of banking clients including Barclays, ING and HSBC.

Skills and experience

Guy is a banking expert and brings recent and relevant experience of the UK banking sector. He has comprehensive knowledge of the regulatory environment in which we operate.

Other roles

Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee at ICE Clear Europe Ltd and a Non-Executive Director, Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Corporate Governance & Nominating Committee at Manulife Financial Corporation.

Committee membership

Chair of Audit Committee and member of Group Risk Committee and Board Governance and Nominations Committee

Background and career

Angela spent 20 years working for Aviva in a variety of senior roles – culminating in her serving as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UK Life following a period as Interim CEO of UK Insurance, where she was responsible for leading the UK Insurance business and a member of the Aviva Leadership Team. Prior to her CEO roles, Angela was the Group Chief Risk Officer for Aviva PLC for four years, responsible for leading the Risk Function at Group level.

Skills and experience

Angela has significant experience of the financial services sector with a deep technical expertise in relation to risk as well as the ability to contribute to a wider strategic agenda.

Other roles

Independent Non-Executive Director of Rothesay Life and Member of Council for the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Committee membership

Chair of the Group Risk Committee and Member of the Audit Committee

Background and career

Dina began her career in strategy and technology consulting prior to joining HSBC/Midland Bank in London. She subsequently worked with UBS, British Telecom and ING Bank in a transformation capacity across their retail, corporate and wholesale segments. More recently, Dina joined the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in October 2021 as the Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer overseeing the Bank’s digital transformation and its planned move to a new London Headquarters..

Skills and experience

Dina is an engineer and economist and has over 30 years’ experience in transformation, operations and technological innovation working across industries both in Europe and the US.

Other roles

Director of Cambridge Digital Health Ltd

Committee Membership

Member of Remuneration Committee

Background and Career

Mark was Chief Executive of Coventry Building Society from 2014 until his retirement in April 2020.  Mark has significant experience working within retail financial services including roles at Barclays and Abbey National, as well as time at PricewaterhouseCoopers. At Barclays he was the Chief Financial Officer for Retail and Business Banking and also served as the Deputy Chief Executive of Barclays UK Retail Bank.

Skills and Experience

Mark has over 35 years’ experience in financial services and has a range of executive experience across finance, human resources, product, retail management, risk management and investor relations.

Other Roles

Non-Executive Director of Fairstone Capital Group Ltd.

Committee membership

Member of Group Risk Committee and Audit Committee

Background and career

Jennelle spent over 17 years working for Yum! Restaurants International in a variety of senior marketing roles – culminating in her serving as the Global Chief Marketing Officer for KFC, responsible for the company’s marketing, communications, innovation, digital presence and reputation in over 125 countries. Jennelle is the Founder and Chief Brand Strategist at London-based brand consultancy Marketing with Insight.

Skills and experience

Jennelle has over 25 years’ consumer marketing, digital and innovation experience with leading global FMCG and food retail brands.

Other roles

Non-Executive Director of Shaftesbury Capital Plc and Camelot and Trustee for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

Committee membership

Member of the Remuneration Committee

Background and career

Debra has over 25 years of experience in Financial services.  After an early start in Market Research, she spent the remainder of her executive career with American Express, culminating in a variety of senior roles including leading the UK Consumer Business, leading Product Marketing globally and rolling out the American Express business across 55 Countries in EMEA through licensing and joint venture agreements with Banks and other institutions.  She represented the Company’s interests in major Joint Ventures in the Middle East, Belgium and Switzerland where she was the Chair of Swisscard, a major Swiss Payments Company.   She has held a range of non-executive and committee Chair roles with AXA UK plc and Credit Suisse international. 
 

Skills and experience 

Debra has a strong background in P and L leadership, Customer Service, Marketing, technology transformation and digital innovation, as well as Partnership development and management.  Her experience spans business to consumer and business to business across many countries and cultures. 
 

Other roles

Non-Executive Director at AXA UK plc, Chair of the Remuneration Committee and member of the Audit and Risk Committees.  Non-Executive Director of Intrum AB, member of the Transformation Committee.
 

Committee membership

Chair of Remuneration Committee and member of the Group Risk Committee.

Background and career

Susan was most recently Head of Customer Transformation at Barclays where she was responsible for leading and supporting all colleagues in frontline teams to deliver a differentiated customer experience.

Prior to that Susan was responsible for all of Santander's UK Retail and Business banking businesses, supporting 15 million customers and with a nationwide network of branches and customer contact centres, following her role as Chief Transformation Officer.

Susan is a former Board member of UK Finance and has been a proud champion of diversity and inclusivity throughout her career.

Skills and experience

Susan has more than 25 years of experience in financial services having held senior executive positions at a number of large retail banks in the UK.

Other roles

Member of the Board of Trustees for the Alzheimer’s Society.

Background and career

Alasdair began his career on the management training programme at Mars Inc. where he spent a number of years working in sales, before deciding to move into finance. Since then, he’s gained significant experience in the financial services sector, including as Finance Director of Retail Products for Lloyds Banking Group and Group Chief Finance Officer for BGL Group (owners of comparethemarket).

Skills and experience

Over 20 years of experience in Finance working in a variety of Board level roles, both non-executive and executive.  These include CFO and Interim CEO of YBS, Audit Committee Chair for both Sainsbury’s Bank and Coventry Building Society and a number of roles at Lloyds Banking Group.

Background and career

David began his career at Citigroup and has subsequently worked at various Financial Services institutions across the UK and abroad. Prior to joining YBS David was the Head of Products at Coventry Building Society. He is responsible for the innovation, development and on-going management of the Society’s mortgages and savings products, YBS’s marketing and its digital channels, mortgage distribution and the Society’s branch network. David is also responsible for our Commercial Lending and is Chair of Accord Mortgages Ltd.

Skills and experience

David has over 15 years of experience in retail banking and has a strong track record of driving commercial performance in financial services organisations, including the mutual sector.