Lendi Group revamps leadership structure, appointing new CFO and GM’s to support five-year strategy

Lendi Group have revamped its leadership structure, announcing that Leo Bautista joins as Chief Financial Officer, Emily Lonsdale has been appointed as General Manager of Growth, Devesh Maheshwari appointed as General Manager of Technology and new General Managers have been appointed statewide to support broker growth.

Lendi Group CEO and Co-Founder David Hyman welcomed the newly announced appointments, saying the quality of appointments showcases the growth of Lendi Group and its growing position in the market.

“The new appointments follow key milestones achieved over the past 12 months, including the migration of over 1000 Aussie Brokers onto Lendi Group platform, loan book growth to nearly $100 billion, a 6.8% market share as of January 2024 and Aussie and Lendi taking out the #1 and #4 top broker spots respectively for 2024.”

Hyman said, “We have had a pivotal 12 months, and our new leadership appointments combined with focused investment in key capabilities and support structures reflect the need to continue this pace, ensuring our customers and brokers continue to receive an innovative experience and the best products.”

“The appointment of Leo Bautisa, an incredibly experienced leader and strategic thinker, will see Corporate Development, Strategy and M&A sit with the new CFO, evolving the Group’s five-year growth agenda.”

The new leadership follows Lendi Group’s announcement earlier in the year where former Founder and Head of Westpac DataX, Jade Clarke was appointed to the newly created role of General Manager of Data, at the helm of the Group’s AI and Data initiatives.

Chief Distribution Officer, Brad Cramb added, “Our new leadership appointments and structure will grow our world class customer, broker & lender experience, simplified to hyper-focus on brokers, customers and product-led technology.

“Over the past year, we have progressively rolled out our best-in-breed broker support models “PLUS” and GROW”, seeing 70% of Aussie mobile brokers and 50% of Aussie retail stores who have opted into this model deliver; higher appointments; increased conversion; and better customer outcomes. Our focus remains on evolving these programs to support the growth of our broker business.”

“At the same time, newly appointed General Managers will support further growth strategies, with a product and tech-led agenda that disrupts local market challenges to drive state-based market share.”

This announcement follows the Group’s half year highlights; launching innovative product experiences including free credit score visibility and contract reviews for customers; industry first AI initiatives for brokers; outperformance of industry settlement average with faster time to turnaround via platform; growth to over 4 million accounts and growing the Group’s new purchase segment to 46% of lodgements.

Lendi Group’s current Chief Financial Officer, Jason King has chosen to depart in May to pursue a new opportunity outside of the Group.

David Hyman thanked Jason for his seven-year tenure at Lendi Group stating, “Jason led what was a three-person finance team, that has grown to a successful finance division within Lendi Group today. Jason has been at the heart of several key transactions and transformation projects, giving Lendi Group an excellent foundation to grow from moving forward.

“On behalf of the entire board and executive team, I want to thank Jason for his leadership and friendship, and I wish him every success in his next endeavours,” added Hyman.

Hyman also confirmed there will be net headcount growth for the Group through this change with 59 new roles.

Confirmed Lendi Group Executive Team

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, David Hyman

Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, Sebastian Watkins

Chief Financial Officer, Leo Bautista

Chief Product Officer, Travis Tyler

Chief Distribution Officer, Brad Cramb

Chief Legal and Operations Officer, Nicole Johnschwager

Confirmed State-based leadership

Head of Lendi Distribution, Joel Curley

General Manager of Queensland, Matt Whyte

General Manager of NSW & ACT, Karen Sorrenti

Head of SA/NT/WA, Corey Drew

General Manager of Network Delivery & Acting GM of VIC/TAS, Aaron Hockey