the board of directors

Christopher J Fleetwood
A non-executive director of the Society since 1995, and Chairman from May 2009, Chris Fleetwood also Chairs the Nominations Committee and is a member or the Remuneration Committee. A Chartered Accountant by profession, he was Chief Executive of a multinational Plc until 2000. He now runs his own technology consultancy advising clients in the public and private sectors. He is currently the non-executive Chairman of the Onyx Group, Adit North LIp, The Centre for eBusiness and Digital City Business. Chris, in addition, is a non-executive director of Northern 3 VCT Plc, a venture capital trust, NCFE, a national awarding organisation and a Governor of Teesside University.

Andrew Gosling
Andrew was appointed non-executive director of the Society in 2011. He is a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years’ experience, most of it in the financial services sector as a Director, auditor or regulator. Andrew has previously served as Finance Director of Yorkshire Building Society and was a partner in Ernst & Young (E & Y) where he was responsible for the E & Y relationships with both the Building Societies Commission (now part of the Financial Services Authority) and the Friendly Societies Commission. He also spent two years seconded to the Building Societies Commission as Assistant Commissioner with a responsibility for supervision of 25 building societies.

Kevin McGuinness
Kevin McGuinness became a non-executive director of the Society in 2002. He has considerable experience of the financial services industry acquired over 37 years with Bradford & Bingley Building Society and its plc successor prior to his retirement in 2002. During a period of secondment to the Building Societies Commission, he was responsible for the supervision of a number of societies and for a variety of technical issues. He has also been involved in further and higher education, learning and training as a former governing body member and Chair of Bradford College. Kevin is a member of the Remuneration Committee and Chairman of the Audit Committee. 

James D A Ramsbotham
James Ramsbotham joined the board in 2006.  Currently chief executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce, he provides extensive knowledge of financial services, construction and housing development following senior roles with Barclays plc and the Esh Group, preceded by a distinguished military career. He is passionate about all things good in the north east of England and is heavily involved in the commercial, charitable, learning and training affairs of the region. He is a member of the Remuneration Committee, and Chairman of Darlington Homes Limited and Sentinel Homes Limited. 

K Lucy H Winskell
Lucy Winskell became a non-executive director at the end of 2007. A solicitor for 25 years, Lucy changed her career in 2010, and is now Pro-Vice Chancellor at Northumbria University leading the University's development of relationships with government, public bodies, schools, businesses and other professions. She combines that role with an active interest in the regional economy and regeneration initiatives through a breadth of external appointments that include Deputy Chairman of Business Enterprise North East Limited, a director of the North East Regional Investment Fund Limited, Vice President of North East Chamber of Commerce and several other advisory roles. She is Chairman of the Board of the Pension Trustees, Chairman of the newly formed Board Risk Committee and a member of Audit and Remuneration Committees.

David A Dodd
David Dodd joined the Society in 1998 and has over 37 years experience of working in the building society sector. He is a Fellow of ifs School of Finance, a Chartered Member of Personnel and Development and has an MBA from the Open University. He is also a member of the British Psychological Society. David is a Business Adviser with Young Enterprise.

Janice Lincoln
Having spent all of her working life with the Society Janice Lincoln became General Manager - Finance & Risk in 2001 and was appointed Finance Director in November 2010. A Chartered Certified Accountant she Chairs the Assets and Liabilities Committee and is a director of Darlington Homes Limited. She is a Pension Trustee and also acts as Secretary to the Trustees.

Paul Richardson
Paul, aged 50 was born and educated in the North East and after leaving school took a job with the Co-op Bank based in Middlesbrough. After a few years he joined the North of England Building Society with roles at both branch level and head office before taking up the position of Internal Auditor at the Universal Building Society. In 1987 he moved south to the Saffron Walden Herts and Essex Building Society, first as an Internal Auditor then General Manager and Secretary before promotion to the Board as Operations Director. More recently he moved back north to complete an MBA at Leeds University Business School prior to joining the Penrith Building Society in 2006 as Secretary and Deputy Chief Executive. He was appointed Operations Director at Darlington Building Society in January 2011.