Warm welcome for Karen

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve further strengthened our Board with the appointment of Karen Wint as our newest non-executive director.

This January, we welcomed Karen Wint, former Chief Operating Officer of Leeds Building Society, to our Board team.

Stuart Purdy, Society Chairman, said: “I, along with everyone at the Beverley, am delighted that Karen has joined our team. She brings with her decades of experience in this industry, along with a forward-thinking and innovative approach to the challenges of the future.

“Most importantly, for us, she places customer care at the very centre of the way she works, which is crucial to everything we do here at the Beverley.”

Society Chief Executive, Karl Elliott, said: “Karen’s appointment is another sign of how the Beverley truly lives its values. I’m confident that her vast experience, knowledge and values will all prove invaluable to all aspects of the Society’s operations.”

A natural move

Karen, who lives in North Yorkshire, said: “I’ve spent my whole career working in finance and, now that I’ve retired as an executive, it feels like an entirely natural move to take up a non-executive role with the Beverley.

“It is a very distinctive organisation, it’s clearly focused on understanding the customer as an individual, and it genuinely cares about looking after its community. I think the Beverley is as relevant today as a mutual as it was when it was first founded.

“I believe it’s important to modernise and keep transforming to stay relevant, and keep the Society and its customers safe. I hope that in working closely with Board colleagues, I can help to achieve those aims.

“What struck me through my recruitment process is that the Board has a clear passion for moving forward and making sure the organisation is on a sustainable footing. It feels like the team possess an innovative, bold mindset, and that really appealed to me.”

Focus on sustainable transformation

Karen has extensive Board and leadership and business transformation experience. She is a Trustee of a Leeds-based community support charity and has a strong personal interest in sustainability, technology innovation and cultural change within organisations. 

Karen is excited about adding value in any way she can to help the Beverley team grow the business and help build better futures for our customers.

Outside of work, Karen keeps herself busy with a number of pastimes – including learning to build dry-stone walls, tutoring herself in boogie-woogie piano, and enjoying long walks in her local Yorkshire countryside. She is also continuing to hone her professional development by training up in blockchain technology.

You can read more about Karen’s background and experience here.