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New operations director brings global experience to senior Newcastle building society team

ByCharley Williams

Jan 21, 2017
An experienced global business executive has joined the North East’s biggest building society to help drive the five-year growth plan for its award-winning Newcastle Strategic Solutions subsidiary.
 
Newcastle Building Society has chosen Helge Tonnesen as the new operations director for Newcastle Strategic Solutions, which delivers online savings management services,leading edge technology and customer service solutions for a range of banks and other financial institutions. 
 
Originally from Norway, Helge came to the UK 20 years ago to study, and has since worked for a range of high-profile multi-national companies, including Convergys, Capita and Bertelsmann, in senior global outsourcing roles.
 
He has also worked with many household name companies, such as Microsoft, Cisco Systems, PayPal, Starbucks and most recently Lloyds Banking Group.
 
Helge has lived in the North East for the last decade.  In his new role at Newcastle Strategic Solutions he reports to managing director, Phil Grand, and has responsibility for delivering and enhancing services.
 
He says: “The growth and investment plans that are in place for Newcastle Strategic Solutions, the strong track record on which we can build and the real commitment that the Society shows to fully playing its part in the communities in which it operates all combined to make taking this role a very attractive option for me.
 
“Many of the organisations for which I’ve worked keep their focus on the short-term, whereas the Society has a long-term growth strategy in place for the Solutions division and it’s an exciting opportunity for me to be able to use my experience and knowledge to help to deliver on it.
 
Newcastle Strategic Solutions has an extremely strong and dedicated team, not only in terms of its expertise, but with regard to our colleagues’ long-term commitment to the Society and the personal investment in the brand that goes with this length of service.
“My aim will be to use my knowledge and experience in whatever way I can to support their delivery of the promises we make to our customers across the UK, and to help create an environment in which Newcastle Strategic Solutions can continue to expand and succeed.”
Having recently invested around £10m in a range of business improvements, Newcastle Building Society delivered on its commitment to create 100 new jobs across its operations across the year, and plans are in place to add more new staff to its 1,000-strong team during the coming year as part of realising growth and development plans.
Andrew Haigh, chief executive at Newcastle Building Society, said: “Helge is a high calibre executive with an impressive track record across a range of household name businesses, and he will make an excellent addition to our senior team.”