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.
Rodger Hughes MA, FCA - Chairman
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. Rodger has previously been a member of the Board of Simmons & Simmons LLP, 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 Bogard MA - Chief Executive
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 he Building Societies Association, the body representing all 43 building societies, as well as 6 credit unions.
Andrew Barnard BA, ACMA, CGMA – Finance Director
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.
Simon Wainwright, BSc, MBA, FCIB & Chartered Director IoD
Simon was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in March 2015. Simon is currently Executive Vice President, Head of Europe, Middle East & Africa for Reinsurance Group of America.
He has 35 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.
Patrick Muir
John Granville Cole
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.
Susan Sharrock Yates BA, FCA, FCT
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.