Our Team - Harpenden Building Society

We are run day-to-day by a Leadership Team and overseen by an elected Board of Directors.

The Board are responsible for directing and supervising the Society’s affairs. Ensuring that it meets its statutory and regulatory obligations and protecting the interests of our members. It also has a duty to ensure that the Society maintains proper accounting records and effective business control systems.

The Board delegates certain powers and responsibilities to Board sub-committees, chaired by Non-Executive Directors and attended by a blend of Non-Executive Directors, Executives and Leadership Team.

The Board

Chairman
Nigel Boothroyd

Nigel joined the Society as a non-executive director in March 2019 and was appointed Chair in April 2024 having previously held the role of Vice Chair. He is Chair of the Society’s Nominations Committee and a member of the Remuneration Committee.

He has significant executive-level experience within financial services, having spent some 38 years at HSBC Group. He has carried out a number of senior roles, with experience of corporate and commercial banking; credit risk; operational risk; retail banking and wealth management.

Nigel has served on a number of Executive and Risk Committees within the UK, Europe and North America. He was also the National Head of Corporate Banking with HSBC Canada between 2012 and 2015.

Nigel is an experienced non-executive director and in addition to his role at the Society, is Chair of the Remuneration and Nominations Committees at British Arab Commercial Bank plc.

Non Executive Director
Lesley Beecher

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Lesley joined the Society as a non-executive director in July 2021. She is Chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and Nomination Committee.

Lesley has worked in financial services for the last 25 years. She is a technology specialist and was a retail banking CIO in her previous role. In parallel, for the last 7 years Lesley was a non-executive director for a company offering services to the credit union sector.

Lesley has 4 grown up children and enjoys walking; having planned and completed several long distance trails.

Non Executive Director
David Green

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David joined the Society as a non-executive director in October 2020. He is the Senior Independent Director and chairs the Society’s Audit Committee. He is also a member of the Board Risk & Compliance Committee

He is a chartered accountant with around 40 years’ experience in retail
financial services. He joins us having recently retired as CEO of a leading private bank. He also served as an independent non-executive director for 7 years at a challenger bank.

Non Executive Director
Mark Willis

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Mark joined the Society as a non-executive director in April 2019 and
is currently chair of the Board Risk & Compliance Committee and
member of the Audit Committee.

Mark has spent his career in financial services, most recently as Chief Risk Officer at National Counties Building Society which he joined in 2013. Previously, he served in a number of both operational and oversight roles in financial risk management at Nationwide Building Society (including Head of Market Risk) and with Nationwide Pension Fund as trustee.

Mark is currently a Reader in the Church of England and trustee of the National Counties Pension Fund.

He graduated in Philosophy Politics and Economics from Keble College, Oxford and is qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Corporate Treasurer. He also holds the PMI Award in Pension Trusteeship.

Non Executive Director
Tina Kokkinos

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Tina joined the Society as a non-executive director in May 2023.

Tina is a CIMA qualified accountant and an experienced Board Member and Chief Operating Officer (COO)/Senior Business Manager, starting her career in commerce before moving to financial services. Her experience includes various roles at JP Morgan, HSBC, and Coca-Cola and most recently COO of a FX FinTech start-up.

Tina is an experienced non-executive director and, in addition to her role at the Society, she is also Chair of the Finance Committee at British Rowing (National Governing Body), Vice Chair of Comic Relief’s Audit & Risk Committee, an independent member of the Audit and Risk Committee for Fair4All Finance and a non-executive director at Onward Homes (one of the largest housing associations in the North-West).

Finance Director
Mark Williams

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Mark joined the Society as Finance Director in November 2023.

Mark is a qualified chartered accountant, with nearly 30 years’ experience within Financial Services. After qualifying, he spent many years within Investment Banking working at Standard Bank, Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank. More recently Mark has worked at various retail and commercial banks including Lloyds Bank, the Co-operative Bank and Jordan International Bank where Mark was CFO and Acting CEO as well as a Board member. He has extensive experience across Finance, Treasury and Risk roles.

Mark is a member of the Board and Leadership Team and chairs the ALCO Committee.

Chief Executive Officer
Tracie Pearce

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Tracie joined the Society as Chief Executive Officer in May 2024.

Tracie has over 29 years’ experience in retail banking across three major financial institutions, Nationwide Building Society, HSBC and most recently Santander, where she was the Chief Customer Officer, Homes at Santander UK. At HSBC she started as Head of Mortgages before becoming the Director of Retail Banking for HSBC UK. Tracie started her career at Portman Building Society before moving to Nationwide Building Society following the merger of the two societies; in her 19 years in the mutual sector, she ran the prime and specialist mortgage portfolios and savings book.

Leadership Team

Chief Executive Officer
Tracie Pearce

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Tracie joined the Society as Chief Executive Officer in May 2024.

Tracie has over 29 years’ experience in retail banking across three major financial institutions, Nationwide Building Society, HSBC and most recently Santander, where she was the Chief Customer Officer, Homes at Santander UK. At HSBC she started as Head of Mortgages before becoming the Director of Retail Banking for HSBC UK. Tracie started her career at Portman Building Society before moving to Nationwide Building Society following the merger of the two societies; in her 19 years in the mutual sector, she ran the prime and specialist mortgage portfolios and savings book.

Finance Director
Mark Williams

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Mark joined the Society as Finance Director in November 2023.

Mark is a qualified chartered accountant, with nearly 30 years’ experience within Financial Services. After qualifying, he spent many years within Investment Banking working at Standard Bank, Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank. More recently Mark has worked at various retail and commercial banks including Lloyds Bank, the Co-operative Bank and Jordan International Bank where Mark was CFO and Acting CEO as well as a Board member. He has extensive experience across Finance, Treasury and Risk roles.

Mark is a member of the Board and Leadership Team and chairs the ALCO Committee.

Director of Operations
Gemma Fient

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Gemma joined the society in March 2022 and is a member of the leadership team.

Gemma is an experienced Financial Services Operations Specialist, with a background spent managing Operational, Risk and Compliance functions for a variety of banks, building societies and mortgage lenders.

Gemma has been in the industry since 2003, during which she has held several senior positions, with experience of the end-to-end mortgage journey.

Gemma is responsible for the management and oversight of all our Operational functions within Mortgages and Savings (including the branch network).

Commercial Director
Mike Cutler

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Mike joined the Society in November 2021 as Commercial Director and as a member of the Leadership Team.

Mike has over 30 years experience in retail banking and mortgage lending. He has held various roles covering sales, underwriting, product strategy, marketing and intermediary distribution. Mike has spent his career working in mutuals, specialist lenders and mainstream banks, which has included launching new lenders to the UK intermediary market with ING Direct and Tesco Bank.

Mike is the owner of the customer journey and leads the sales, proposition and marketing teams for the Society.

Chief Risk Officer
Ian Jones

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Ian joined the Society as Chief Risk Officer in March 2023 and is currently chair of the Credit Risk Committee and Operational Risk and Compliance Committee. Ian has been working in financial services for almost 30 years, most recently as Chief Risk Officer for the launch a new banking subsidiary of an overseas mutual financial institution.

Previously, he served in a number of both commercial and senior risk management roles at Lloyds Banking Group and Volkswagen Financial Services, both in the UK and overseas. Ian qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and graduated from Cambridge University in Natural Sciences.

Director of IT & Transformation
Gary Richardson

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Gary joined the Society’s Senior Leadership Team in June 2021 as the Director of IT & Transformation. Gary has extensive experience in financial services having worked in the building society movement for all his 36-year career, in senior roles heading up IT and Operational Resilience.

Gary is a strong advocate of mutuality and the benefits this provides to our members. Gary plays a key role in ensuring IT services deliver the best possible service for business areas and supplying Transformation programs that provide safe and resilient future technology change for Harpenden Building Society.

He has an MSC in Leadership and Management.

Society Secretary
Gavin Mullen

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Gavin joined the Society’s Leadership Team in September 2021 as the Society Secretary. He is a solicitor and company secretary with over 20 years' experience working within financial services having previously worked at The Bank of New York Mellon and M&G Investments. He spent the first part of his career working at City law firms, Mayer Brown and Fieldfisher.

Gavin has extensive experience of advising boards and executive management on corporate governance matters, and implementing best practice and effective governance structures both in the UK and across the EMEA region.

In addition to his legal qualification, Gavin has a BA Hons in French.