Morris won out after an extensive seven-month search and selection process, having joined Cirencester as its finance director in April 2019.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants with more than 25 years’ experience across financial services, holding senior positions within Nationwide, RBS and Leek United Building Society.
Morris will replace Paul Hudson, who is retiring after 25 years as chief executive officer having taken the lead at the mutual in 1997.
Hudson has overseen Cirencester grow its membership from around 13,000 in 1997 to more than 44,000 today. During his tenure, total assets increased from £23m to over £165m and premium income grew from £2m to over £21m.
Morris (pictured) said it was an “honour and a privilege” to be given the opportunity to lead Cirencester Friendly.
He said: “I believe in mutuality and all that the society can offer to our members, with a really exciting and rewarding time ahead as we look to further develop and grow the business. We have a dedicated team who work well together and we look to build on all that has been achieved in the recent past.”
Morris added: “My thanks to the board, our exceptional people and especially Paul for all his hard work and commitment, setting up a robust foundation from which we can look forward to the society’s long-term future with optimism and confidence”.
The society is now looking for a new finance director to replace Morris.
Time to ‘pass the baton to new leadership’
Speaking about his retirement, Hudson said that the “time has now arrived for me to pass the baton to new leadership”, and that he was proud of what he had achieved since he took on leadership role in 1997.
He said: “What an incredible journey it has been growing the business significantly in that time. I have been lucky enough to have worked alongside very many fantastic people who have shared my vision. It has been a real team effort and we are a very different business to the one I joined all those years ago but continue to embrace the customer centric mutual ideals on which we were founded back in 1890.
“I leave a wonderfully capable group of people and I am confident the society will continue to prosper in the years to come.”.
