Bank makes two senior executive appointments

Heritage Bank CEO Peter Lock revealed yesterday that the group has appointed Darren Stephens as chief people officer (CPO) and confirmed the permanent appointment of Wayne Marchant to the chief information officer (CIO) role.

Mr Stephens comes to Heritage after a 20-year career in HR roles, most recently in his own management consultancy in Sydney, and prior to that in senior HR roles at Westpac and St.George Bank. He has also worked for Sydney Water and in various roles in the NSW public sector.

Mr Stephens takes over the CPO role from Bob Hogarth, who earlier this year announced his intention to retire after almost 20 years as head of the HR function at Heritage.

Mr Lock also announced that interim-CIO Mr Wayne Marchant had been appointed to the role on a permanent basis.

Heritage appointed Mr Marchant to the newly created role of CIO on an interim basis in August, to help develop and implement a transformational blueprint for its IT department.

That appointment has now been made permanent.

Mr Marchant previously held senior IT roles at Billabong, Flight Centre and Woolworths, as well as leading a major revamp of the Queensland Main Roads IT department in a consultancy role.

“I’m delighted to secure two such high-calibre appointments to our senior executive team and look forward to working with them to continue building a great future for Heritage Bank,” Mr Lock said.

[Related: Mutual lender takes out top spot for customer satisfaction]