Fleet Mortgages has announced the appointment of Andy Valvona an a national account manager.

Valvona has 25 years’ experience working in intermediary sales within a variety of financial services’ businesses including lenders, networks and technology firms.

He began his career 25 years ago as a branch manager of a small bank before becoming a business development manager. His most recent role was in an international intermediary sales development role within technology provider.

He has also held business development and relationship management roles with UCB, Pink Home Loans, Mortgage Next and Verso.

Valvona will report to sales director, Ross Turrell, and will look to develop and maintain Fleet Mortgages’ relationships with key networks, mortgage clubs and major introducers across the UK.

Turrell said: “We are very pleased to be bringing Andy into the Fleet Mortgages’ Sales team as our new National Account Manager. Andy comes with a vast amount of experience developed over the past 25 years with a career that has been steeped in the intermediary sector.

“We have been looking for an individual who understands the needs of our biggest intermediary partners and has strong relationships already in place, in order to be able to help distribute the Fleet Mortgages’ product offering and to help firms develop their own propositions and business activity within the buy-to-let space.

“Andy’s enthusiasm is infectious and we fully believe we have an individual who has all the skills and experience to make a real success of this role.”

Valvona added: “To come back to the mortgage market with Fleet Mortgages is incredibly satisfying as I have been looking for a return to lending for some time. My background has always been working within the intermediary market with specialist lenders and to join an operation like Fleet Mortgages, where I can work very closely with the larger intermediary firms, networks, and distributors in order to increase both business volumes and the quality of submissions, was a very attractive draw.

“I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running, developing new and existing client relationships and returning to a part of the mortgage market where I feel I can help develop the business activities of many firms.”