This week’s London appointments

David Lavin, Investec Asset Finance plc

Investec Asset Finance plc (IAF) has welcomed David Lavin as a broker manager in its broker-introduced sales team.

In his new role, David will be responsible for supporting and building broker relationships across the North.

Most recently he worked in a similar role with leasing specialist 1pm plc, where he managed a team of 80 brokers covering Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

IAF’s head of broker sales, Stuart Hughes, said: “In order to ensure that we consistently provide our brokers with excellent service – responding not only to their specific needs but also pressures – it is vital that we employ people with in-depth experience of the market.

“David has worked in the asset finance business for over four years and, in that time, has accrued a wealth of experience dealing with large broker portfolios and the set-up of new operational divisions within a company.”

Stuart continued: “I am confident that he will be a great addition to our team in the North. More importantly, his appointment demonstrates our commitment to both the broker community and those clients looking to access specialist finance solutions.”

Ian McDermott, Catalyst Housing

Housing association Catalyst Housing has confirmed plans to make Ian McDermott its new chief executive.

Ian will take over the helm when outbound boss Rod Cahill retires at the end of 2018.

He has been the chief executive of Aldwyck Housing Group since October 2016, before which he spent five years as chief operating officer at Sanctuary Group.

Richard Brown, chair of Catalyst’s board, said: “Catalyst Housing is delighted to appoint Ian McDermott as the organisation’s CEO.

“Ian has a wealth of experience at CEO level in the housing sector, creating and growing customer centric, high performing organisations.”

He continued: “Ian is ideally placed to continue the excellent work of our departing CEO, Rod Cahill, in using our strong financial base to build more affordable homes, further improve customer experience and grow the organisation in partnership with others.”

Ian commented: “I am delighted to be joining Catalyst. It is a great organisation and I feel privileged to take over from Rod Cahill, one of the most respected figures in the housing sector.

“I very much look forward to working with the Catalyst team, and their stakeholders, to build on very firm foundations and deliver an ambitious agenda for the future.”

Christopher Gamble, Adzuna

Job search engine company Adzuna has taken on Christopher Gamble as its new vice president of sales for North America.

Christopher, formerly a senior sales leader at Indeed, will spearhead the firm’s US and Canadian operation.

The role will see him building relationships with employers, agencies and staffing firms, and growing Adzuna’s US-based sales teams.

Adzuna co-founder Doug Monro said: “[Christopher’s] expertise scaling a successful job search brand in the US market, coupled with his in-depth knowledge of the needs of North American employers, make him the perfect candidate to lead Adzuna into the next stage of development.

“Our ambitions for the US market are big, so we needed a sales heavyweight to lead the charge. With Christopher to spearhead the next stage of our journey we have great confidence we will achieve amazing things.”

He added: “The possibilities for North American recruiters are exciting. Adzuna will give direct employers, staffing companies, job boards and with their agencies alike a fresh, independent path to reach engaged, expertly-matched candidates.”

Amir Nooriala, OakNorth

Challenger bank OakNorth has appointed Amir Nooriala as its chief operating officer.

Amir is the former managing director of financial services firm BGC Partners.

His background includes positions with Cisco Systems, where he worked as a system engineer; Accenture, in its UK-based global technology consulting division; and Barclays Investment Bank, where he rose to the role of director running its regulatory technology divisions.

OakNorth’s CEO and co-founder, Rishi Khosla, said: “It has been another good quarter for OakNorth – our loan book is now £1.6bn and we have a further £1bn of loans in docs and being transacted.

“In addition to this, we continue to attract tens of millions of pounds in deposits each month from thousands of savers, and we’ll be launching easy-access and notice accounts for businesses later this year.”

Rishi added: “Amir will play a central role in ensuring we continue developing our operational and technological resilience in line with our expanding activity.”

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