Nationwide’s chief executive has said she is “hugely proud” of her Glasgow background as she becomes a dame, joining the Scottish boss of Greggs and a raft of businesswomen to be recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours.
Debbie Crosbie, the only woman to lead a “big six” bank in the UK, has been given a damehood for her services to financial services.
Greggs chief executive Roisin Currie and Sky’s boss Dana Strong have also been honoured in this year’s list.
Dame Debbie told the PA news agency: “I try to encourage people to think beyond ‘I’m a female’, but when it comes to this (honour) I am actually hugely proud.
“I grew up in Glasgow, I wasn’t different to any of my peer group, so to be given the opportunity to lead… I’ve had a massively rewarding career.
“As a woman, I hope that sends a message of opportunity and hope, not just to young people.”
Dame Debbie said she was particularly honoured to be recognised as not just the only woman to lead a major high street bank in the UK, but also as a Scot.
“Lots of people talk about me being a female but I think most of my peer group have come from a much higher social demographic and they tended to be educated in either Oxford or Cambridge,” she told PA.
“I think having that diverse social mobility as well as gender is really important – we do a lot of work at Nationwide to try and encourage people from backgrounds who wouldn’t traditionally think of themselves as able to go into these types of jobs.”
Dame Debbie has had a more than 30-year career in banking, climbing the ranks of Clydesdale Bank before becoming chief executive of TSB bank in 2019.
Since taking the top job at Nationwide in 2022, she led the building society’s £2.9 billion acquisition of Virgin Money, which has seen it become the UK’s second largest mortgages and savings provider.
But Dame Debbie also said some of the work she was most proud of involved Nationwide’s free dementia clinics, with some 30,000 appointments in 200 of its branches over the past year.
She said the clinics “really touch people” and she had received numerous messages of thanks from families who had used the service.
Meanwhile, Roisin Currie, a fellow Glaswegian and alumni of Strathclyde University, has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her services to hospitality.
Ms Currie became the chief executive of Greggs in 2022 having joined the Newcastle-based bakery chain, popular for its sausage rolls, 12 years prior.
Greggs has been growing rapidly across the UK and has set its sights on exceeding 3,000 shops, with Ms Currie overseeing the chain topping £2 billion in annual revenue for the first time last year.
She spent nearly 20 years at Asda before joining Greggs as its people director in 2010.
This year’s King’s Birthday Honours also recognises the group chief executive of Sky, Dana Strong, who has been made a CBE for her services to business and media.
Ms Strong succeeded Jeremy Darroch, who led the broadcaster for more than a decade, when she took the top job in 2021 from her previous role as the president of one of Sky’s owner Comcast’s US businesses.
The American businesswoman developed her telecoms career at Austar, which was a satellite subscription TV provider in regional Australia, before going on to hold executive positions at Virgin Media and Liberty Global.
She has since overseen the launch of Sky Glass, the streaming TV that requires no satellite dish or box, and Sky Stream.
Ms Strong said in a statement to PA that she was “deeply humbled” by the honour, adding: “It is a great privilege to serve in the UK’s creative sector, and I am immensely proud of Sky’s role in inspiring, enriching, and connecting lives across the country.”
Other businesswoman to be honoured include the former chief executive of Microsoft UK, Clare Barclay, who has been made a dame for her services to business, technology and leadership.
Dame Clare has been at Microsoft for more than 26 years, having joined as a sales and marketing manager, and now also chairs the Government’s Industrial Strategy Advisory Council.
Lyssa McGowan, the chief executive of Pets At Home, has been made Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to retail.
