Mutual building society Nationwide is restructuring its
communications department ahead of a change of CEO at the end of the
year.
The retirement of Brian Davis has sparked a raft of changes on the
building society's board, with the comms department among those
affected.
Director of communications Jeremy del Strother is to switch to director
of personnel for the company, taking the internal relations section of
the comms department with him to become part of personnel. Head of
internal communications Janice Banks will continue to report to del
Strother.
The remaining elements of the comms team - the Nationwide press office
and external affairs division, headed by Tom Harvey - will now report
directly to marketing and commercial executive director Stuart
Bernau.
It is understood the changes will take effect from April next year, four
months after Philip Williamson takes over as CEO.
A spokesperson for Nationwide said that no redundancies were anticipated
in the process.
Bernau joined Nationwide in 1990, and was divisional director for
mortgages and insurance, and retail before joining the board as retail
operations director in 1996.