It's been a gloomy summer, so spare a thought for Graham Beale. He and his colleagues in Nationwide's boardroom had hoped to escape the rain and take in a few matches at Euro 2008.

“We sponsor the England football team, Austria and Switzerland here we come!” Only England didn't qualify and there was not an Alp in sight.

At least Mr Beale, Nationwide's chief executive, has had other reasons to feel cheerful. As Northern Rock watched customers line up outside its branches to withdraw their cash, for example, Nationwide has had queues of new customers.

When Mr Beale took the job in April 2007, deals were always on the cards. A chartered accountant by training, he established Nationwide's corporate finance team and was involved in a number of transactions, including the sale of the society's estate agency, buying UCB Home Loans and setting up Nationwide Life.

He has not disappointed those who expected acquisitions - now that Nationwide has finished digesting the Portman Building Society, which it bought in September 2006, it is acquiring two more societies, absorbing the Derbyshire and the Cheshire.

Mr Beale, 47, is a Nationwide lifer, having joined the society in 1985. He has held a number of jobs, including divisional director of commercial lending for 18 months, handling a loan portfolio worth £10 billion.

He became finance director in April 2003. At the time, he expressed surprise at the speed of his elevation. “I think, ordinarily, one could expect to stay at that level of management for four or five years, probably longer, before you get a shot at the board,” he said.

“In a way it was brave of Philip [Williamson, then the chief executive] to have the confidence to give me the job.” Four years later, Mr Beale was chosen by Nationwide's board to replace Mr Williamson as chief executive when he retired.

Mr Beale is married with two teenage children. He likes photography, travel, walking, gardening and good food and wine. He may even support England.