Management

Appointment:
Chief Executive of Nationwide Building Society since April 2016.

Skills and experience (including directorships):
Joe Garner joined Nationwide as CEO in April 2016, inspired by the Society’s principle of mutuality and service ethos.

Consumer-focussed organisations have been at the heart of Joe’s working life. He spent his early career with consumer products companies, Procter & Gamble and Dixons Carphone. He was then invited to lead several large organisations, first as Head of HSBC’s UK retail and commercial businesses from 2010 to 2012, then in 2015 he became CEO at Openreach, the UK’s digital infrastructure provider.

Joe is a Director of UK Finance (NewTA Limited), and a member of the Financial Conduct Authority Practitioner Panel, having previously been its Chair from 2011 to 2013. He was also a non-executive director of the Financial Ombudsman Service from 2007 to 2010.

Since joining Nationwide, Joe’s mission has been to inspire colleagues to remain true to the Society’s social purpose; using the power of the collective to improve people’s lives. Joe is passionate about the purpose that we share of ‘building society, nationwide’.

Joe is Chairman of the British Triathlon Trust. He lives in South London with his wife and son.

Appointment:
Executive Director of Nationwide Building Society since April 2009. Chief Financial Officer since October 2019.

Skills and experience (including directorships):
Chris is Nationwide's Chief Financial Officer. Chris joined Nationwide in April 2009 from Abbey Santander, where he was Director of Retail Distribution for Alliance and Leicester (A&L). Chris has spent 29 years working in the financial services sector and his previous positions include Deputy Managing Director of Girobank and Retail Operations Director of A&L. In 2003 he was appointed as Managing Director Retail Banking for the entire A&L Group. In 2007 Chris moved to become Group Finance Director, a role he held until the merger with Santander in 2008. 

Appointment:
Non Executive Director of Nationwide Building Society since July 2012.

Independent: Yes

Skills and experience (including directorships):
Rita holds a number of non executive roles including at ASOS and Ascential plc and is a former non executive director of Dixons Retail plc (now Dixons Carphone plc) and Emap plc. She sits on the Assurance and Advisory Board for BP’s carbon off-setting programme and was previously a trustee of the Henley Festival. Rita has over 20 years’ senior management experience in a range of roles, with an expertise in demonstrating how brand is an integral part of long-term business strategy and in analysing and understanding consumer perceptions and behaviour. Her executive career has been in advertising, strategic marketing and market research; she was previously London CEO then Chairman at Interbrand, and Vice Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi. During her career Rita has advised, at the most senior level, some of the UK’s best known organisations, including British Airways, Barclays, BT, Citigroup, Visa and the British Army.

Appointment:
Non Executive Director and Chairman Elect of Nationwide Building Society since September 2014. Chairman since July 2015.

Independent: Yes

Skills and experience (including directorships):
David joined Nationwide on 1 September 2014 and took over as Chairman in July 2015. From 2010 to 2014 he was on the Board of Lloyds Banking Group, where he was Group Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Board Risk Committee. David has many years of experience at board and executive level in retail and commercial banking in the UK and internationally. He joined Barclays in 1983 and held various senior management positions culminating in Executive Director, member of the Group Executive Committee and Chief Executive, International Retail and Commercial Banking, a position he held until December 2006. He is a former non executive director of BAA plc and Absa Group SA, and was Chairman and Chief Executive of Bawag PSK AG, Austria’s second largest retail bank. David is Vice Chair of NHS England, Chairman of Beazley plc, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Financial Services and holds an MBA and Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from Henley Business School.

Appointment:
Non Executive Director of Nationwide Building Society since June 2015.

Independent: Yes

Skills and experience (including directorships):
Until October 2018 Mai was Sky's Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer responsible for leading strategy across the Sky Group. Prior to joining Sky in 1999, Mai spent eight years working as an economic advisor to blue-chip companies in a number of different industries, both in the UK and the USA. Mai is currently a non-executive director of Roku, a US listed entity. Mai is a non-executive director of BBC Commercial Holdings.

Appointment:
Non Executive Director of Nationwide Building Society since June 2015.

Independent: Yes

Skills and experience (including directorships):
Tim is a Chartered Accountant with strong experience of major retail financial services organisations. He has significant Board experience and became Chairman of the Society’s Board Risk Committee in July 2015. Tim was Chief Financial Officer of Quilter Plc (Previously known as Old Mutual Wealth Management Limited). Tim is a former Chief Financial Officer at Friends Life Group Ltd, a position he held from 2012 until the sale of the business to Aviva in April 2015. Prior to joining Friends Life, he was Group Finance Director of Lloyds Banking Group between 2008 and 2012, having been appointed as Deputy Group Finance Director upon joining the bank in 2006. From 2002 to 2006, he was Finance Director of Prudential PLC’s UK business and from 1996 to 2002 he held the role of Group Finance Director at Heath Lambert Group.

Appointment:
Non Executive Director of Nationwide Building Society since May 2016 and Senior Independent Director since January 2020.

Independent: Yes

Skills and experience (including directorships):
Kevin has enjoyed a long and successful career in the financial sector and professional practice in both Executive and Non-Executive roles. He is Chairman of Royal London Group and is a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee of Daily Mail and General Trust plc. Kevin was previously Chairman of Intermediate Capital Group plc; Senior Independent Director of Standard Life Aberdeen PLC; and trustee and director of the Royal National Children's SpringBoard Foundation.

Appointment:
Non Executive Director of Nationwide Building Society since January 2017.

Independent: Yes

Skills and experience (including directorships):
Usha has a 45-year career spanning the public, not-for-profit and broadcasting sectors. One of the UK’s most experienced policy advisors, she has led a number of high profile public and voluntary organisations.

Usha is currently a Member of the Home Building Review Panel, Honorary President of UK Community Foundations. She was deputy chair of the British Counsel where she also chaired their remuneration committee.

Previously, she has also held Non-Executive Director positions at ITV, the Cabinet Office, Unite PLC, Channel 4, Energy Saving Trust and Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith Health Authority. She has also held senior positions at the Salzburg Seminar, National Literacy Trust, Royal Commonwealth Society and was the inaugural Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission.

Appointment:
Non Executive Director of Nationwide Building Society since June 2017.

Independent: Yes

Skills and experience (including directorships):
Gunn Waersted, is a senior financial services executive with a 35-year career spanning financial services, telecommunications and petrochemicals. Gunn is currently Chairman of Norwegian telecommunications firm Telenor, where she is Chair of the People and Governance Committee and a member of the Sustainability and Compliance Committee. She is also Chairman of Petoro, a firm owned by the Norwegian government and responsible for managing the state's oil and gas portfolio.

Throughout her career she has held senior positions within a range of large financial institutions, including DNB, SpareBank1 and most recently at Nordea, where she was a member of the Group Executive Management, CEO of the Wealth Management Division and Country Manager for Norway. She was born in Norway and has an MBA from Oslo Business School.

Appointment:
Non Executive Director of Nationwide Building Society since December 2018.

Independent: Yes

Skills and experience (including directorships):
Albert is a leader in information technology with a 33-year career in the technology industry. Albert is currently Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer of Pearson PLC and a member of the Pearson Group Executive Board. Until November 2018 he also held the position of Technology Advisor to the Royal Bank of Scotland Board plc.

Albert has previously held senior leadership positions with Vodafone plc, where he was Group Chief Information Officer, and Nortel Networks Inc.

Appointment:
Non executive Director of Nationwide Building Society since September 2019

Independent: Yes

Skills and experience (including directorships):
Phil is a Chartered Accountant with over forty years experience of professional accountancy and audit with a focus on banks and insurance companies. He retired from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2018 after more than 30 years as a partner specialising in financial services. Phil is an experienced advisor to major financial services providers in the UK and on a global basis. He served as the Global Chairman of PwC’s Global Financial Services Group and prior to that, as Leader of Financial Services Assurance. Phil has been a member of a number of financial services industry groups producing guidelines for best practice in governance, financial reporting and risk management.