Hinckley & Rugby Building Society has announced that after 25 years with the Society, Carolyn Thornley-Yates, its director of mortgage proposition and distribution, is to step down from her role.

Thornley-Yates (pictured) began her long career at Hinckley & Rugby in 1997 when she joined the Society straight from university. Since then, Carolyn has undertaken a variety of roles in both the savings and mortgages areas, and currently leads the product, marketing, mortgage sales and mortgage servicing teams.

Speaking of her achievements with the Society, she points to having started as a customer assistant in a branch and then working her way up to director level. She also led the Society’s Consumer Duty project during the implementation period earlier this year, a topic about which she is passionate for its major customer benefits.

Thornley-Yates said: “A quarter century is a long time, and the time is right to expand my horizons. I’ll always be grateful to the Society for the opportunity and freedom to have gained so much experience in different areas of the business, and for supporting me through my BSA Master’s degree and appointment to the Board of IMLA. The people here are like family and are the very essence of what mutuality is all about. Leaving them will truly be the hardest part.”

Colin Fyfe, CEO of Hinckley & Rugby, added: “Carolyn has played a major part in the Society’s remarkable success for more than 25 years. The last five years alone have seen significant change and modernisation, in the navigation of which Carolyn has played a crucial part. She will be sorely missed by all at the Society, and by me personally, but I respect her decision and wish her every success with the rest of her career.”