Bath Building Society has announced the appointment of its new chair of the board, Joanne Evans.

She is the first female chair in the Society’s 118-year history.

Evans (pictured) joined the board in 2021 and was elected as chair on 1 January 2023. Her career in financial services started as a management trainee at a Building Society which led to a focus on risk management in financial services. This included senior positions at Barclays UK and Tesco Bank.

Her finance career also includes the UK life and pension sector and the UK financial services regulator. She is also a non-executive director at a UK life assurance company.

Kevin Gray, the Bath’s chief executive, said: “Joanne takes over the position of chair from Robert Derry-Evans upon his retirement. We are delighted that Joanne has moved from being a non-executive director to being the first female chair in our history. She has been with the Society just over two years and has brought a wealth of risk and regulatory knowledge with her already.

“I look forward to working with her as the Society aims to significantly ramp up its investment in people, process and technology over the next two years in order to deliver productivity benefits and to improve customer journeys.”