Greater Building Society's new chief executive Don Magin has announced several new appointments as he takes the reigns at one of Australia's largest building societies.

Mr Magin took up the post on April 3, following the retirement of long serving CEO John Arnold. He has appointed IT infrastructure manager Geoff Sullivan as chief information officer. Long time consultant to the Greater, John Dwyer, has been confirmed as head of marketing. Another long serving employee, Phil Baker, was appointed by the Board to replace Magin as deputy chief executive officer. Baker retains his role of company secretary.

Magin said the Greater was a very sound, financially strong building society and this provided a solid platform for future growth.

“I am looking forward to working with my team to further develop the Greater's very successful service culture and product offerings to meet the needs of our members,” Magin said

“The Greater will continue to focus on being a big, very safe, regionally based, mutual,” he said.

Magin said one thing he would not be changing was the Greater's conservative approach to lending. He said Greater staff spend considerable time ensuring their customers are aware of and can afford their commitments.

“Unlike others in the industry, we have not and will not relax our strict lending criteria.”

“That's because, as a mutual, we are focussed on our members rather than increased profits for shareholders.”

Greater chairman Ian Nelmes said Magin had been groomed for the CEO role, as part of the Board's succession planning, to ensure continued stability in the Greater's operations.

Magin has worked for the Greater for more than 21 years. He started as IT manager following a successful career at BHP's Newcastle Steelworks where he managed the System Software Development Group. He was made assistant general manager in September 1989. Magin was instrumental in the establishment of the Greater's Call Centre in 1995, an innovative initiative from a building society at the time. He also established and managed the Marketing Department, which instituted the highly successful free holiday program that has now been running for seven years.

He has a degree in Mathematics and a Graduate Diploma in Management from The University of Newcastle. He has completed the General Manager Program at the Australian Graduate School of Management and is a member of the Australian Institute of Management (AIMM).

Magin firmly believes that business has a vital role to play in supporting the communities in which it operates. He is a director of Mayumarri Trust, a healing centre for survivors of child abuse. Until recently he was also secretary of Prostate Survival Alliance and chairman of the Newcastle Wesley Mission Advisory Committee.

The Greater Building Society is one of Australia's Top 500 private companies, with assets totalling $4 billion. It has 65 branches across NSW and the Gold Coast, the largest branch network of any Australian building society.