The Building Societies Association (BSA) has appointed Debbie Enever as head of external affairs, succeeding Hilary McVitty.
Enever will take on the role from 1 September and in the role she will “champion the BSA’s members and wider financial mutuals as a key part of the UK’s current and future financial services sector”.
She joins from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) where she worked for nearly 13 years, most recently as head of external relations.
Enever has spent the last nine months on secondment to the Financial Conduct Authority.
Other roles she has held during her tenure at the FOS includes head of public policy, senior manager for regulatory affairs and policy manager.
Prior to the FOS she worked as a policy officer for the Liberal Democrats for around two years.
Robin Fieth, chief executive of the BSA, said: “We are delighted to welcome Debbie to the Building Societies Association and our senior leadership team. Her skills and expertise will be of great value in leading our external relations strategy, and I’m very much looking forward to working with her.”
Enever said: “I’m really excited to be joining the BSA. I’ve always been a supporter and advocate of the mutual model and am particularly looking forward to enthusiastically promoting it through the media, to political audiences and with other key opinion formers.”
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
