Society Welcomes New Non-Executive Director, James Greenwood
James joined the board on 22nd November 2023 and brings extensive experience in global banking and the fintech sector to this role.
James is the Chief Technology and Operations Officer at Bitstamp, the world’s longest standing crypto-exchange. He has also held numerous executive positions in regulated financial entities across product, customer experience, technology, and operations. Previously, he served as the Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Zand Bank (UAE), where he oversaw the launch offerings of the world's first combined corporate and retail digital bank.
Excited to get started in his role, James commented “The Society’s ambitious forward thinking approach, combined with its community focused fundamentals really appeal to me and I want to be able to help it continue to grow and reach its ambitions.
“In any business, it’s a balance to do the best for both stakeholders and customers – even in purpose-driven organisations. The unique model of a mutual building society, which is owned by and run in the best interests of its members, provides real clarity and combined with the right strategy, the right team, and the right culture to execute it provides a unique opportunity for us to make a real difference.”
Will Carroll, Chief Executive Officer at Monmouthshire Building Society commented on James’ appointment “We are delighted to welcome James to the Society. His breadth of experience across various sectors in financial services will significantly enhance the Board and its Committees. particularly now that technology solutions play an ever increasing role in how we serve our members. We are pleased to have secured his experience and I look forward to working with him in implementing our strategy and realising our vision of becoming an innovative, modern mutual.”
Meet our NED - A spotlight on James Greenwood:
What has been the most rewarding part of your career?
The one that really stands out is a personal one; running a programme for recruiting new colleagues from the community who hadn’t been able to succeed in their education for broader reasons in life. Giving them both career opportunities and the ability to then re-engage back into those communities, was very special.
What’s been the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
The best advice I’ve been given is to understand where everybody’s view and opinion comes from – what they hold to be true - or important – what facts they’re working from, and the outcome they’re wanting to achieve. If you can understand and see things from everyone else’s perspective, resolving any issues is so much easier.
If you had to choose another career path, what would it be and why?
I very nearly went down a path of Egyptology and anthropology – I have a great love of understanding human nature and society. In hindsight, it’s a lot closer to financial services than I ever expected; both have a lot of digging through many years of historic sediment, trying to make sense of things lost to the time, and putting it in context of the present.
