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New leaders for lending operations, servicing operations, and commercial lending have been appointed at the non-bank as it prepares to accelerate broker distribution.
Non-bank lender Brighten has appointed three female leaders to the senior leadership team, as it prepares to grow its operations and distribution through the broker channel.
Julie Stanceski, who has been Brighten’s residential lending manager for the past three years, has been promoted to become head of lending operations.
As of July 2024, Stanceski has been overseeing the end-to-end credit process, ensuring compliance, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
She has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, including as a former head of residential credit at Thinktank and as a senior loans adviser at ubank.
Annorah Hannon, who joined Brighten in April 2023 as collections manager, has been promoted to the position of head of servicing operations.
She has been working on enhancing operational efficiency and relationship management at Brighten since June 2024, using her expertise in business process improvement, compliance management, contact centre operations, and residential mortgages gained from her 10 years of experience at lenders including Westpac, Pepper Financial Services, and AMAL.
Katarina Topalovic, previously the senior credit manager at Thinktank, has been brought in to act as the new commercial lending manager.
She has nearly a decade of experience in commercial lending and 16 years of experience in finance, having previously held roles at St.George and NAB.
Brighten CEO Jason Azzopardi welcomed the three female leaders to the leadership team, saying that 57.1 per cent of the leadership roles were now held by women at Brighten.
He emphasised the critical role of inclusivity and diversity in driving future innovation and success: “Early in my banking career, I was fortunate to work with outstanding leaders who taught me the importance of culture, customer, broker, and execution. Those experiences shaped my leadership style, where creating a safe and inclusive space for innovation and growth is my priority.”
Azzopardi said that the three new senior appointments would help drive Brighten’s growth, highlighting that the non-bank has seen a 105 per cent increase in applications year on year and had doubled in size over the past three years.
He said that the positions come as Brighten continues to scale and prepare for future growth in the broker channel.
The Brighten CEO said: “We are entering an exciting growth phase with significant opportunities ahead.
“As we expand further in the broker market, we will continue investing in our people and systems – not only to provide a positive experience for brokers and their customers, but also to position Brighten as the lender of choice.”
[Related: New CEO takes the reins at non-bank]
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