Reward Finance Group announces new regional managing director in Leeds
Reward Finance Group has promoted Gemma Wright to regional managing director for Yorkshire and the North East.
Gemma joined the alternative finance provider as commercial director two years ago with the responsibility of building and running the operations team across the Leeds and Manchester offices. With 20 years’ experience working in the financial sector, Gemma has played a key role in overseeing the continued growth of the business and, in this time, doubling the headcount to a current team of 27 people across the two offices.
As regional managing director, Gemma will take on responsibility for both the operations and sales team within the Yorkshire and North East region whilst Nick Smith will continue to lead the Manchester and North West team.
These changes come at an exciting time for Reward having recently announced a record eighth year of consecutive growth. In the year to February 2019 income was up 39 to £12.1m and the loan book increasing by 21 to £65m. Demand for Reward’s funding solutions continues to grow within the SME market, with the Business Finance product becoming extremely popular as it can be used in exactly the same way as a traditional overdraft.
Commenting on the promotion, Tom Flannery, co-founder and joint group managing director of Reward Finance Group, said,
“Since joining us, Gemma has played a leading role in Reward’s expansion plan overseeing 50% increase in personnel as well as wholesale IT infrastructure changes. This has resulted in us establishing ourselves as a key player in the Manchester market, as well as continuing to build on the success of our long-established Leeds office. This is an exciting appointment as the new structure will also provide us with a platform to scale up for future expansion into other regions.”
Speaking about her new role, Gemma said,
“I am delighted to have been given this opportunity to lead the Yorkshire and North East region for Reward. Over the last two years, I have experienced first-hand the positive impact that we are having on the SME market place. We have a great team, with a huge amount of lending experience and a real desire to support our clients. Combine this with our “can do” attitude and it really is an exciting time to be at Reward.
“As part of my new role I am really keen to get back to business development and build on the phenomenal success enjoyed year-on-year by the group. Our flexibility, speed of response and willingness to lend is becoming even more crucial among SMEs in the region, continuing to drive our business growth.”
