Harpenden Building Society has appointed Tracie Pearce as CEO.

She replaces the outgoing Richard Doe who is retiring after two and a half years leading the Society.

Pearce joins from Santander where she was chief customer officer from 2021, having joined from HSBC where she was Director of Retail Banking. Previous to this she held senior roles at Nationwide BS.

Nigel Boothroyd, chair of Harpenden BS, said: “Tracie is a well-known and respected industry figure with retail financial services and has the skills and knowledge to lead the Society through our next stage of growth.

“The experience she has gained in leading teams and delivering customer propositions at Santander, HSBC, Nationwide will be invaluable to us as we seek to grow our specialist lending proposition in the intermediary market as well as providing value for our savings members. I would like to put on record our thanks to Richard for the last two and a half years and wish him a happy retirement.”

Pearce added: “I am excited to be returning to the mutual sector and to lead Harpenden Building Society as it continues to grow its’ lending and reputation for providing bespoke specialist mortgage solutions for intermediaries and their customers. When a broker has clients with a need for a specialist lender, I want Harpenden to be the first Society they consider.”