Yorkshire Building Society has announced it is promoting Darren Smith to National Sales Manager of YBS Share Plans.
The new position will extend Darren’s current role to include helping the mutual identify, secure and nurture new relationships with employers to drive provision of YBS Share Plans, workplace savings, financial education and wellbeing solutions.
The move follows the announcement of the retirement of Louise Drake, National Sales Manager at Yorkshire Building Society. She is set to retire after 27 years at the Society. Louise has served in the role since 1999, leading YBS Share Plans, focusing on client-focused solutions, in the specialised field of Share Plan administration and providing options for workplace savings to clients’ employees.
Tina Hughes, Director of Savings at Yorkshire Building Society said: “2021 is shaping up to be an exciting and challenging year across our Society, so I am delighted that Darren will lead our share plans business as National Sales Manager. It represents a brilliant opportunity to deliver an even stronger offering to our clients and customers. I’m very confident that Darren’s leadership skills and extensive experience and expertise in creating and maintaining business to business partnerships will be vital in enabling us to build lasting relationships to help us grow.”
“We’d like to thank Louise for her huge contribution in growing our share plans business and wish her a very happy retirement after 27 years with the Society. She has had an immeasurable impact on our business, and contributed so much to colleagues, members, clients and customers alike. Louise has been a true champion of leading financial resilience and wellbeing, working tirelessly to improve our offering to the market and place clients and customers at the centre of what we do.
Tina added: “It is also great that Louise has been recognised by the industry by receiving the ProShare annual award for Services to Employee Share Ownership at their recent ceremony. These awards honour only the very best in our industry, so I’m extremely proud that Louise has been recognised in this way – it’s testament to her enthusiasm and dedication to her work and fitting for her retirement.”
Darren, who first joined the Society in 1999 will continue to lead the YBS Share Plans part of the Society, said: “I’m delighted to be appointed to this new role. It’s a really interesting time for financial services, with the landscape presenting a wealth of opportunity for employee share ownership, workplace savings and encouraging businesses to lead out financial resilience.
For more information on Yorkshire Building Society visit www.ybs.co.uk
