Yorkshire Building Society has announced its succession plan: its next chair will be Annemarie Durbin. She will begin a handover period with John Heaps, who is leaving after nine years at the mutual.

Durbin is currently chair at Cater Allen private bank and a non-executive director and chair of the remuneration committee on the boards of Santander UK, Persimmon and Petershill Partners.

Durbin, a qualified lawyer, will stand down from her roles at Santander and Cater Allen—a subsidiary of Santander— to become chair designate at Yorkshire Building Society. Chelsea Building Society and Norwich & Peterborough Building Society are also part of the mutual.

Having spent over 30 years in retail, commercial, corporate and institutional banking, Durbin has experience across general management, operations, HR, legal and compliance, as well as being an executive coach and mentor.

Susan Allen, the society’s CEO, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Annemarie to lead our board. Her expertise in the financial services sector and beyond will be invaluable to ensuring we continue to build on our strong heritage with the future in mind. I and the rest of the board are very much looking forward to working with her.”