Gen H has appointed Sara Palmer as its new sales and distribution director.
Reporting to chief commercial officer Pete Dockar, Palmer (pictured) joins the lender’s management team and executive committee, where she will oversee Gen H’s distribution and business development strategy.
Her remit includes expanding broker engagement and representing the lender on the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) executive committee.
Palmer brings more than 30 years’ experience in the intermediary mortgage market. She joins from Shawbrook Retail Mortgages, where she served as sales and distribution director with responsibility for The Mortgage Lender and Bluestone Mortgages. In that role she led both firms’ sales strategies and managed their business development and corporate account teams, while also sitting on IMLA’s management committee.
Before joining Shawbrook, Palmer spent 14 years at Santander for Intermediaries managing strategic partnerships and gained fintech experience during a secondment at Mortgage Engine. Her earlier career includes roles at Morgan Stanley, Platform and Network Data.
She said: “I am extremely excited to begin this new chapter with Gen H and its fantastic team. I am joining a lender whose innovation is genuinely driven by its clear passion for unlocking homeownership for more borrowers.
“Intermediaries play such a key role in distributing forward-thinking products like Gen H’s, and I am very much looking forward to building strong relationships with our panel in the coming months and years.”
Gen H recently launched the second phase of its interest-only proposition, offering part-and-part mortgages up to 95% LTV. The products enable brokers to adjust the balance between capital repayment and interest-only to improve affordability and help clients buy sooner.
Dockar said: “Gen H is at an exciting stage in its growth. We’ve launched a number of genuinely innovative propositions this year, and our intermediaries play a critical role in ensuring our products reach those who we’re best positioned to help.
“With Sara’s appointment, we’ll be in a position to provide better service and reach more customers than ever before. Sara will be a game-changer for Gen H.”
Chief executive officer Graham McClelland added: “We wouldn’t be here helping people into homeownership without the support of our intermediary panel, and Sara’s appointment marks a step change in how we provide service to our partners.
“Her appointment reflects our commitment to brokers – we knew we needed someone who could drive change and set a new standard for service, because that’s what our partners deserve.”
