DARLINGTON Building Society has appointed Andrew Craddock as its new chief executive.

He has a wealth of experience and will take up the post on December 1, subject to regulatory approval.

Mr Craddock has more than 30 years experience in the industry and joins directly from Buckinghamshire Building Society, where he has been the chief executive for the past four years. Prior to that he spent time with both Allied Irish Bank and Barclays Bank.

Jack Cullen, Darlington Building Society chairman, said: “We are extremely pleased to have appointed someone with this level of experience and calibre who shares the values of the Society. We firmly believe that in Andrew we have someone who can lead the Society to the next stage of our clearly-defined strategy.”

Mr Craddock succeeds Colin Fyfe who left at the end of September after four years in post.

Alison Thain, vice-chair and long time member of the Board has also left to take a role outside the sector. The former group chief executive of Thirteen Housing Group joined as non-executive in October 2011.

She will be succeeded as vice-chair by Bob Cuffe, subject to regulatory approval. The former regional managing director of Trinity Mirror Group North East, he joined the board in April 2013. He has a wealth of experience with the Society and is well known throughout the region.