Gunther will join the society tomorrow, 20 April, after former chief executive Matthew Bullock stepped down on 31 March.
Bullock held the helm while N&P’s in-branch advice arm mis-sold up to 3,200 customers investments in collapsed firm Keydata.
Former Standard Life Bank CEO Gunther is set to have her work cut out for her at the ailing mutual.
Yesterday the FSA fined N&P £1.4m for unsuitable advice related to Keydata products.
The building society must also make crippling compensation payments totalling £51m, but which could cost N&P up to £57m with fees and other costs.
N&P reported 2010 pre-tax profits of £5.1m, up from £1.3m in 2009. However once the cost of compensation is taken into account, this falls to an overal loss for the year £48.9m.
After the results announcement, Moody’s downgraded N&P’s bank financial strength to D- from D.
The building society transferred its network of 21 IFAs to Aviva in January, citing spiralling costs.
N&P is currently in exclusive takeover talks with larger rival Yorkshire, and a deal is expected soon.
