Joe Garner is an experienced and accomplished CEO who believes passionately indelivering lasting success with humanity and purpose – particularly through tough times. Joe is now working as an advisor to a small number of CEO’s across public and private sector and to the UK Government and the Royal Household through his role on the independent Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee.
Joe’s career started with Procter & Gamble in 1991 working predominantly in Romania to help lead P&G’s expansion in Central and Eastern Europe.
After a brief spell as founder of an internet start-up, in 2001 he joined Dixons/Currys. In 2004 Joe joined HSBC rising to lead HSBC’s UK retail division through the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 and was promoted to Head of HSBC in the UK. In 2014 he became Chief Executive Officer of Openreach – BT’s infrastructure division. During his tenure and in partnership with local and central Government, he led the deployment of superfast broadband to over 90% of UK homes.
In 2016, Joe joined Nationwide Building Society as CEO and led the organisation through Brexit and COVID. He successfully grew the mutual’s business to record profit, leading employee engagement and an unbroken seven-year spell as number one for customer service in the industry. Joe served as a non-executive director of the Financial Ombudsman Service from 2008-2010 and sat on the Board of the UK Finance – the industry association – for six years. He was also both Chair and a member of the Financial Regulator’s Practitioner Panel for over 10 years.
In July 2023 Joe was commissioned by the Chancellor to lead a review into the future of payments. The Review has been published here and the Government have committed to implement the key recommendations – most notably to create a National Payments Vision. Joe is continuing to contribute in an advisory role.
In February 2024 Joe was appointed by the Cabinet Office to the committee responsible for recommending proposals for a permanent memorial and legacy programme to remember Queen Elizabeth II.
Joe is passionate about the value of physical and mental wellbeing in leadership. He is a Patron of British Triathlon and a GB age group competitor, finishing 16th at the 2022 World Championships in Abu Dhabi. He was Chair of the British Triathlon charity from 2013 to 2021. Joe is also a keen tennis player and since 2023 has served as Chair of the charity Tennis First.
Joe is passionate about the value of physical and mental wellbeing in leadership.He is a Patron of British Triathlon and a GB age group competitor, as well as a keen and ranked tennis player. He was Chair of the British Triathlon charity from 2013 to 2021 and has recently joined Tennis First as Chair.
Joe was educated at King’s College School, Wimbledon and studied geography at Magdalene College, Cambridge University. He is married with one son and lives in Wimbledon.