She will be responsible for strengthening its executive team and supporting its growth plans.
Thorpe has 22 years of experience in financial services, starting her career in-branch at Darlington Building Society before progressing to senior roles. She was most recently chief customer officer at Darlington Building Society, holding the role for a year and a half.
In that role, she led the mutual’s mortgage and savings channels, while managing member experience and marketing functions. Thorpe has overseen transformation programmes, driven cultural change, improved customer journeys, and strengthened relationships with intermediaries.
At Vernon Building Society, Thorpe will lead the mutual’s customer-facing functions, including its mortgage and savings distribution, product, proposition, marketing and customer services. She will supervise the end-to-end customer and broker experience, focusing on product design, service and digital innovation.
Vernon Building Society said it created the role to support its ambition to modernise and transform the business, while boosting its presence across Greater Manchester and Cheshire.
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It also has a target to expand its mortgage lending and retail services and grow its assets to £1bn. Over the next 12 months, the mutual will invest in the digital transformation of its mortgage journey to streamline the process.
While at Darlington Building Society, Thorpe helped the mutual achieve £1bn in assets and led its growth and digital capabilities.
Darren Ditchburn, chief executive of Vernon Building Society, said: “The creation of chief customer officer role enables us to sharpen our focus on delivering brilliant outcomes for members and brokers at a pivotal time of transformation and growth.
“Louise is an authentic, high-energy leader with a proven record of building customer-centric cultures, transforming journeys and growing business in a way that still feels personal and human. She knows how to listen to members and intermediaries, turn that insight into better products and services, and keep teams focused on doing the right thing for them every day.”
Thorpe (pictured) said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Vernon Building Society at such a pivotal moment. What drew me here is its clear, ambitious growth plan to modernise the business, expand physical presence in Greater Manchester and Cheshire and target £1bn in assets – delivered the right way, with members and brokers at the heart of every decision.
“Over the next few years, I look forward to working with colleagues to make the Vernon even easier to do business with across branches, broker partnerships and digital channels, so more people in our communities can access the products, services and support only a modern mutual can deliver.”
