Awards special
Leadership Award
December 2007
Leadership qualities are important in any enterprise but are especially so in the competitive and fast-changing mortgage lending industry.
The Leadership Award seeks to identify and recognise senior managers who have shown that they can stimulate and focus their organisation on its corporate goals and direct the management team and organisation effectively.
Past winners have been James Crosby, former chief executive of Halifax Group; Andrew Messenger, retired chief executive of West Bromwich Building Society; Jayne-Anne Gadhia, for leading The One Account from the front; Robert Hollinshead, retired chief executive of the Newcastle Building Society; Stephen Knight, former executive chairman of GMAC-RFC; and Peter Griffiths, chief executive of the Principality Building Society.
This winner this year of the Leadership Award goes to the chief executive of Leeds Building Society, Ian Ward. The dynamic leadership of Ian, since becoming chief executive 12 years ago, has been instrumental in turning the society around from a difficult period in the early 1990s.
Ian has built a passionate senior management team focussed on delivering excellent customer service through investing in the right technology and staff development. He has embedded a culture of rigorous cost control, ensuring that customers benefit from lower than average costs, without any compromise on service or products.
He has a hands on approach to driving the business forward and personally undertakes a series of annual ‘roadshows’ to explain the Society’s results and plans to all staff.
2005 was an historic year for the society, when its name was shortened from Leeds & Holbeck Building Society to Leeds Building Society. Although this was a potentially contentious move, Ian ensured that it was positioned correctly with members, who voted by 87 per cent in favour of the change.
In 2006 Leeds merged with Mercantile Building Society adding a further 13 branches to the network and no job losses. Other recent changes have been a successful move into lending in Euros in Spain and then Ireland helping to diversify the society’s income streams.
Ian also devotes his time to wider community issues. He is vice-president of Leeds Chamber of Commerce and chairs the Leeds Property Forum which aims to contribute positively and effectively to the future growth and development of Leeds Metropolitan District.
Bookmark with:
