Specialist lender Together has appointed Lesley Gardner as its new commercial operations manager.

Gardner (pictured) joins from general insurance firm RSA, where she worked for 30 years; holding a series of customer-focused roles and leading multi-product teams, streamlining the company’s processes and improving customer service.

Before joining Together, she was continuous improvement manager at the insurer.

At Together, she will cover the company’s commercial operations, spanning auction finance, bridging finance, buy-to-let and commercial mortgages.

Gardner said: “I am delighted to join the team at Together, which is an ambitious and growing business that genuinely cares about its customers. This is an exciting new opportunity for me to apply my skills in a different area of financial services and to help ensure we deliver the best customer outcomes as the commercial business expands its operations.”

Irene Thomas, commercial operations director at Together, added: “Lesley brings extensive expertise in project management and will be a great asset to the commercial team as we move forward with our ambitious growth plans.

“We’re committed to continually improving and enhancing our processes, and Lesley will play a key part in this.”