O’Neill Patient Group (ONP) has appointed Jessica Szczelkun as its first sales director.

She joins from SortRefer where she was sales and relationship director for four years.

Szczelkun (pictured) qualified and practiced as a solicitor for 10 years before running her own mortgage brokerage. Latterly she joined SortRefer as a relationship manager, soon becoming the sales and relationship director.

In her new role, she will look to expand ONP’s relationships both with panel managers and its mortgage broker clients, continuing to strive towards improved communication and levels of service.

Szczelkun said: “The opportunity to join ONP was a really exciting one as I knew the growth curve ONP was on from dealing with them as a panel manager. I could see how forward thinking they are as a business and felt I could be an asset to the team.

“Having worked as a solicitor, a mortgage broker and as a panel manager, I can see things from all sides. I recognise the huge amount of work that goes in from the conveyancing firm, the mortgage adviser and the panel managers and know too well the frustration when things don’t go right or take too long.

“The conveyancing process in general is still a long drawn out process and it is a shared ambition with the board to improve this. ONP’s state-of-the-art technology goes a long way there and I believe it is the most efficient in the UK, but the thing that is really going to make a difference is collaboration between all parties involved in the transaction. My aim is to keep building the relationships that make that possible.”

Andy Scaife, group CEO of ONP, added: “Jessica’s experience and depth of knowledge of both the mortgage market and of the conveyancing process is unrivalled and we are very excited to have her on board.

“We believe that she can play a key role in helping us to achieve our ambitious growth plans, which includes becoming the number one conveyancer in the UK both in terms of size and quality of service.”