Newman (pictured) moves from chief of staff at the mutual, with her new role covering the overseeing change management, IT and information security. She will also take on responsibility for outsourcing and operational resilience.

Newman said she was determined to ensure the mechanisms were in place to best support members and brokers, as well as grow the mutual.

She continued: “We need the right systems, people and premises to continue to make the society a success, and a key part of that will be through our digital transformation journey which will streamline the broker experience.”

Ian Brighton, Newman’s predecessor as COO, moves to the role of head of credit management and mortgages, where he will be responsible for the entire mortgage lifecycle, from decisions in principle to redemptions.

Brighton emphasised that the society would be looking to enhance its specialist offering as a priority, noting that Suffolk is at its strongest “supporting brokers looking after niche borrowers, via our manual underwriting ethos”.

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He continued: “While we’ll always retain our individual approach to applications, we’re also keen to enhance the society’s service proposition, so I’m pleased to be leading the launch of a new mortgage origination platform later in the year.”

Suffolk saw its mortgage completions rise to £175m last year, growth which it put down to its plan of targeting niche areas and building better relationships with intermediaries.