Nationwide chairman Geoffrey Howe has decided to retire from his position after its AGM in the summer of 2015, the Swindon-based building society announced today.
Mr Howe, pictured, is well-known and respected in the City as the former chairman of Railtrack. He will have spent eight years as Nationwide's chairman and more than 10 years as a member of its board by July 2015.
During his time at Nationwide he has had to defend the pay packages of its executives against some members who claimed they were excessive.
At Nationwide’s 2011 AGM he defended a 27% pay rise for chief executive Graham Beale that took his basic annual salary to £825,000 by claiming the society would “cease to exist” if its bosses were paid “too little”.
Nationwide, which employs around 4,000 people in Swindon, today said it had begun the process of identifying a successor for 64-year-old Mr Howe. The process will consider existing Nationwide non-executive directors along with external candidates.
Mr Howe, who is also chairman of London-based insurance group Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, has wide experience, regulatory, management and legal experience in financial services, insurance and investment markets.
He is also a director of London-based specialist financial services and investment group Close Brothers. As well as being a former chairman of Railtrack, he was a director of international specialist banking and asset management group Investec, a director and general counsel of Robert Fleming Holdings, which was sold to Chase Manhattan Bank in 2000, and managing partner of international law firm Clifford Chance.
