Adam Applegarth, the chief executive of Northern Rock, steered the mortgage bank to its 22nd straight year of record earnings yesterday.
The 43-year-old said that the bank had withstood a tough UK housing market by keeping costs down and taking remortgage business from its rivals, and predicted that its growth would continue to accelerate.
Mr Applegarth took the top job at the Newcastle-based bank in 2001, making him at the time the second youngest FTSE 100 chief executive at the tender age of 39.
He opted for Northern Rock after graduating from Durham University because the bank allowed him the summer off to play cricket.
Mr Applegarth, the fourth of five children, was born in Sunderland. His father, a physics teacher, sent him as a boarder to Sedbergh School on the edge of the Lake District.
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He says that he enjoyed his time at the school, which his two brothers also attended, in part because of the emphasis that it placed on sports.
Mr Applegarth, who is also non-executive at Persimmon, the housebuilder, met his wife, Pat, at university. He studied mathematics and economics and she read classics. They have two sons. He still plays cricket for Sunderland in the North East premier league and has a season ticket at Newcastle United.
He claims he has no regrets about not becoming a professional cricketer.