Suffolk Building Society has announced the appointment of Rebecca Newman as the society’s new chief operating officer (COO).

Newman has been promoted from her previous position as chief of staff at the society, while former COO, Ian Brighton, has become head of credit management and mortgages.

The new role will combine Newman’s previous responsibilities with an additional operational remit, including change management and IT and information security. Suffolk also revealed she will take on responsibility for outsourcing and operational resilience which will sit within the newly defined CEO’s office team.

Newman said: “My role is to ensure there are mechanisms in place to support our members, brokers and to successfully grow our business. We need the right systems, people and premises to continue to make the society a success, and a key part of that will be through our digital transformation journey which will streamline the broker experience.”

Having already spent over 30 years working within the building society sector, the society has confirmed that Brighton will be stepping away from the board and executive team to a more “hands-on role”. This will see him responsible for the entire mortgage lifecycle, from DIP to redemption, while the lending function will continue to report into him.

He commented: “Developing the society’s lending strategy to further enhance our specialist offering will be an important priority. We’re always keen to focus on where we’re strongest – supporting brokers looking after niche borrowers, via our manual underwriting ethos.

“While we’ll always retain our individual approach to applications, we’re also keen to enhance the society’s service proposition, so I’m pleased to be leading the launch of a new mortgage origination platform later in the year.”

Commenting on the new appointments, the society’s CEO, Richard Norrington, added: “I would like to congratulate Rebecca on her appointment, which is testament to her hard work and commitment in her six years at the society, and am delighted with Ian’s transition into his new role. These changes further strengthen the society’s operational and management structure as we ready ourselves for the years ahead.”

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