Openwork has announced the appointment of John Cupis as mortgage director.

He joins Openwork from Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG), where he had been managing director of mortgages for eight years. Over that period he oversaw growth to the point where Sesame was responsible for one in four intermediated mortgages.

Prior to joining SBG, John worked at Legal & General for eight years where he fulfilled various senior roles within the business including mortgage propositions director.

Openwork said the appointment completes its move to divide its distribution business into three specialist business units – wealth, mortgage and protection – each with a director responsible for the delivery and control over all elements of the proposition and its distribution. Openwork had already appointed Mike Morrow, formerly of IFA wrap platform Ascentric, as wealth director, and Pat McKenna, head of Openwork’s protection business Owl Financial.

Mark Duckworth, CEO of Openwork, said: “We are thrilled that John has agreed to join Openwork during this extremely exciting period for the business. John’s experience, expertise and commercial acumen are second to none and his arrival is a major signal of Openwork’s intentions in the UK mortgage market.

“I have asked Paul Shearman to continue to be our principal liaison with key lenders and to support our biggest firms grow their businesses, Together, John and Paul make up the strongest possible team in the mortgage market to develop this critical strand of Openwork’s offering to advisers.

“With directors now appointed to run all three business units, we are well positioned to develop our distribution proposition and increase our overall profitability from its very solid base.”