Nick Chadbourne, the former chief executive of LMS, has joined mortgage and homebuying consultancy Novus Strategy as non-executive chair.
Chadbourne (pictured), who announced his departure from conveyancing services provider LMS in June after leading the business since 2017, will help shape Novus’s strategy as the consultancy expands its work with mortgage lenders.
His appointment coincides with him becoming chair of the Conveyancing Association and follows a career of nearly 30 years across mortgage lending, conveyancing and insurance.
Novus has worked with Chadbourne previously and said his appointment comes as it looks to build its consultancy business around mortgage journey transformation.
PATHFINDER FOCUS
A central part of that strategy is Pathfinder, Novus’s mortgage journey simulator, which was launched in September and presented to lenders at the consultancy’s Digital Disruption Live event in Manchester.
The platform is designed to allow lenders to model proposed changes to their mortgage processes before committing investment. Novus said it can be used to assess issues including prioritisation and sequencing, as well as the potential use of Smart Data and upfront property information.
Chadbourne was previously a founding board member of the Open Property Data Association. Earlier in his career he worked at HBOS, including as director of private banking, and Birmingham Midshires.
He subsequently held managing director roles at Freedom Finance, now ClearScore, and insurance intermediary Amity Financial Solutions.
Chadbourne said: “Novus pairs deep industry and subject matter expertise with a unique way to test change before committing to it.
“That gives lenders and enterprise businesses the tools to prioritise and then deliver successful change with maximum impact.
“The end result is transformation where success is baked in, which is a departure from what I saw earlier in my career when many well-intentioned change programmes lost their way.
“With significant reform facing our industry over the coming years, Novus is the perfect partner to support it and I’m thrilled to be joining as chair.”
Chris Williams, founder of Novus Strategy, added: “Nick understands this industry exceptionally well but, just as importantly, he understands Novus.
“He knows what we’re trying to build, brings a huge amount of experience and isn’t afraid to challenge our thinking.
“We’re entering an important stage of growth. Pathfinder is now live with lenders, our work across the market is growing and the industry itself is moving quickly. But ultimately, all of this has to translate into a better experience for people buying and selling homes.
“Having Nick around the table gives us another experienced voice as we help lenders transform the mortgage journey and make the decisions that will shape the next stage of Novus.”
