Tembo has announced the appointment of business leader Michele Golunska to its board.

Golunska (pictured) is managing director for wealth and advice at Aviva and was previously CEO at Sesame Bankhall Group. She has also held senior roles at Friends Life UK, JLT Employment Benefits and Prudential insurance.

Golunska brings decades of highly relevant experience including an extensive knowledge of the financial services sector, risk & stakeholder management and regulated advice.

She joins the digital mortgage broker following the appointment of Jenny Watts as board cair of the company and at a pivotal time in Tembo’s growth.

At Tembo, Golunska will work with key stakeholders to ensure Tembo continues to grow each month while delivering a compliant service to its customers.

Golunska, non-executive director at Tembo, said: “The talented team at Tembo are on a mission to help get more people onto the property ladder and I am thrilled to be helping them deliver on this. There is a huge need right now for aspiring first time buyers to get a helping hand to bridge the intergenerational wealth gap as well as for customers struggling to remortgage in the current climate. Tembo is well placed to provide this niche service and I feel lucky to be on this journey with them.”

Richard Dana, Tembo’s founder and CEO, added: “We are hugely excited that Michele has joined the Tembo board. She brings a wealth of experience in financial services, and a customer-centricity that we’ve already seen in action. We’re also glad to align further with Aviva: they were one of our earliest backers, and have continued to invest in Tembo as we’ve started to scale.”