Our Board & Senior Management Team
Senior Management
Des Moore - Chief Executive
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director since April 2018. Des is an accomplished senior leader in Financial Services in both the UK and Ireland, having over 30 years’ experience in both retail and commercial banking. Prior to joining the Society, Des spent five years as Managing Director of AIB (NI), the trading division of AIB (UK) plc’s Northern Ireland operation. He was responsible for leading the restructure and turnaround of the bank. Des is a Chartered Director with the Institute of Directors, and has been leading the transformation of the Society and the implementation of a new vision since joining in April 2018.
Richard Ellison - Chief Financial Officer
Chief Financial Officer since April 2019 and Executive Director since May 2019. Richard has significant experience in the UK financial services sector. As Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Chief Data Officer at CYBG PLC, he helped lead the successful demerger and IPO of Clydesdale Bank PLC from National Australia Bank, and led the restructure and cultural transformation of the finance function. Since joining the Society, Richard has led changes to the treasury function to allow greater sophistication in risk management, as well as improving operational design of the finance function to position them to support the delivery of the Cumberland 2025 strategy. He also oversees the Governance, Legal and Secretariat functions.
John Hunt - Chief Risk Officer (CRO)
Chief Risk Officer since December 2020. The CRO is responsible for overseeing risk management across the Group on behalf of the Board. He is accountable for enabling the efficient and effective governance of significant risks and related opportunities for the business and its subsidiaries. John oversees the management of standard risk categories: strategic, credit, operational, financial, conduct and regulatory, and supports the CEO and SLT to manage the risks in their respective business areas. John is a qualified accountant, with experience across risk, including credit risk, compliance and as a CRO covering retail and commercial lending and other banking products. He was previously CRO at Together Personal Finance and held senior risk roles at Nationwide Building Society, GMAC and Capital One.
Susanne Parry - Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Chief Operating Officer since March 2019. The COO has responsibility for direction and control of all organisation operations in accordance with strategy and business planning as agreed by the CEO and the Board. Susanne leads the Operations and Customer Service functions and supports the Society by ensuring entire enterprise operational resilience. Susanne has over 25 years’ experience in Financial Services with a degree in Banking & Finance (LIBF) and a MSc in Leadership & Management. Having spent her career with The Cumberland, she has extensive experience working across the business in both branches and head office, leading teams of all sizes, from our smaller branches to one of our largest teams in Operations.
Ian Stacey - Chief Information Officer (Designate) (CIO)
Chief Information Officer since January 2022. The CIO is responsible for leading on technology strategy and operations. Ian is a technology expert with over 25 years’ experience in financial services. Previously Head of International Operations at Barclays, and with experience working as a consultant at major international consultancy firms, recently Ian has held Chief Operating Officer positions at start-up challenger banks in London.
Kath Myers - Chief Customer Officer (Interim) (CCO)
Chief Customer Officer (interim) since August 2021. The CCO is responsible for ensuring the business provides a differentiated and exceptional customer experience to deliver the business’ income objectives. Kath is accountable for overall customer acquisition and retention, overseeing all distribution and customer management, including the branch network, customer care, national lending, brokers, Cumberland Business, Borderway Finance and Marketing. Kath is an MBA graduate and Chartered Banker, with many years’ experience in retail and commercial banking. She was previously a Managing director at Barclays as head of Branch Banking and Community Banking, and a divisional director at National Australia Bank in the UK.
Alex Windle - Chief Transformation Officer (CTO)
Chief Transformation Officer since August 2021. The CTO is responsible for delivering the Society’s transformation programme. Alex also has responsibility for creating and managing the corporate strategy. Alex joined The Cumberland in May 2016, bringing a wealth of strategy, marketing and commercial experience from senior level roles at BP, LG Electronics and Vodafone both in the UK and internationally.
Jill Johnston - Chief People Officer (CPO)
Chief People Officer since March 2019. The CPO is responsible for leading on people strategy. Jill oversees the development of people and culture across the business, providing support across the People function including recruitment, retention, talent development and performance objectives. In addition to this, she provides organisational development functions including leadership development, reward, wellbeing and safety, team maturity, inclusion and diversity. Jill has a Marketing degree, is CIPD qualified and has 25 years’ experience leading HR teams for organisations including the Guardian Media Group and Border Television plc. She also has experience of successfully running her own HR consultancy business.
Non-Executive Directors
John Hooper - Chairman
Non-Executive Director since November 2015, Board Chair since July 2019(independent on appointment). John has been involved in banking and financial services for over 35 years, and still holds active positions as non-executive director on the boards of several financial services companies. During his career, John was an executive director at both Clydesdale Bank PLC and National Australia Bank Europe Limited. Whilst at National Australia Bank, he held a number of senior positions and was a member of its executive committee.
Kelli Fairbrother - Non - Executive Director
Non-Executive Director and PARC Member since September 2020 (independent). Kelli’s background is in consumer and technology businesses. She is currently CEO of technology start-up xigxag after co-founding the company, and was previously Chief Operating Officer of Gelato. Formerly a US Army Captain and an MBA graduate of Harvard Business School, Kelli previously led the entry to market of Premier Inn in Germany whilst working at Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants.
Vicky Bruce - Non - Executive Director
Non-Executive Director and BRC Member since September 2020 (independent). Vicky has worked in international financial services for over 25 years, latterly as a Managing Director of Deutsche Bank Wealth Management. Her experience spans change, risk and regulations, and she has UK board experience in the not-for-profit as well as the financial services sector.
Eric Gunn - Board Risk Chair and Senior Independent Director
Non-Executive Director since November 2016, BRC Chair since August 2019, SID since April 2022 (independent). Eric spent his entire career at Clydesdale Bank PLC, most recently as Chief Risk Officer and a member of its Executive Management Team. Eric was responsible for managing the UK risk profile of National Australia Bank Group as part of a career of almost 40 years in the UK banking sector.
Jackie Arnold MBE - People, Remuneration and Culture Chair
Non-Executive Director and member of NGC since March 2018, PARC Chair since May 2019, Audit Committee Member since September 2020 (independent). Jackie has over 35 years’ experience in business and financial management roles, and was most recently Head of Strategy at BAE Systems. Prior to this, she held a number of other senior positions with BAE Systems and was Managing Director of Lakeland Power Limited.
Mark Stanger - Audit Chair
Non-Executive Director since June 2018 (independent), Audit Committee Chair since July 2020. Mark has over 30 years’ experience in the accountancy sector, and is a Senior Partner and Managing Partner with a West Cumbria-based chartered accountancy practice.