Pivotal has appointed Nneka Orji as group chief operating officer and Charlie Crossfield as group chief technology officer.
The mortgage and protection advice platform said the appointments would support its next phase of growth, following 25 completed acquisitions and the expansion of its workforce to more than 1,000 colleagues.
The group is organised into specialist teams covering residential mortgages, adverse credit, later life lending, secondary lending, business finance, protection and general insurance.
Orji joins with 16 years of experience, including financial services consulting at Alvarez & Marsal, a role as chief operating officer of a principal partner practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, and previous management consulting roles at Deloitte and Accenture.
She holds a MEng in engineering, economics and management from the University of Oxford, and is a charity trustee and mentor focused on philanthropy, young people and social mobility.
At Pivotal, Orji will oversee operational strategy across the group.
Crossfield joins from Evelyn Partners and has more than 15 years’ experience delivering client digital platforms. He has also held senior consulting roles at Accenture and Capgemini Consulting, where he led financial services technology transformations.
He holds a BSc in management, accounting and finance from the University of Nottingham. At Pivotal, Crossfield will lead the group’s AI, technology and data strategy.
The appointments follow the retirement of Jane Cross and Allan Dornan. Cross, a chartered accountant with more than 25 years in financial services, was one of Pivotal’s founding leaders. Dornan, whose technology career spans more than 35 years, developed the group’s technology foundations.
Mayank Prakash CBE, group chief executive officer of Pivotal, said: “Nneka brings a rare combination of consulting rigour and real operating experience in UK financial services advice businesses. Charlie brings the next-generation AI product and engineering mindset to reimagine the client experience. This is exactly what we need to scale our group organically and through acquisitions.
“I also want to pay tribute to Jane and Allan, who have been instrumental in scaling Pivotal. On behalf of everyone at Pivotal, I thank them both for their leadership and wish them long, happy and very well-earned retirements.”
Orji added: “Pivotal has built something genuinely differentiated in UK financial advice — an entrepreneurial, specialist-led group with real scale, strong client focus and a clear technology advantage. I am delighted to be joining the team, and I look forward to working with our entrepreneurial partners and colleagues.”
Crossfield added: “Pivotal is one of the most exciting technology driven growth stories in UK financial services. The combination of a network of specialist adviser teams and AI client journeys is an opportunity to reshape the experience of everyone who needs mortgage, protection or general insurance. I look forward to partnering with colleagues across Pivotal to achieve more together.”
Pictured (L-R): Nneka Orji and Charlie Crossfield
