Octopus Property hires three BDMs

Specialist property lender Octopus Property has appointed three business development managers, Samantha Graydon for the Home Counties, Michelle Walsh in the West of England and Chris Timms in the Midlands.

Octopus Property hires three BDMs

Specialist property lender Octopus Property has appointed three business development managers, Samantha Graydon for the Home Counties, Michelle Walsh in the West of England and Chris Timms in the Midlands.

Since the start of 2018 Octopus Property has made 25 hires, supporting its loan book growth, which now stands over £800m.

D’mitri Zaprzala, head of sales at Octopus Property, said: “Recruiting and retaining the industry’s brightest talent is vital for Octopus, and we’re pleased to welcome these three new BDMs to the business.

“Their regional expertise will help us offer a local service to brokers, while helping to build long term, trusted and personal relationships.

“We pride ourselves in not having any geographical limits or quotas that stop us from lending in specific areas, and this is aligned with the growing demand we are seeing from borrowers outside of London.

“Samantha, Michelle and Chris all have an in depth understanding of what is driving local markets, and we’re confident they’ll help us expand and strengthen our intermediary network as we target £1bn of lending over the next 12 months.”

Graydon joins from Castle Trust, where she was instrumental in growing the loan book in the Midlands and the North. In her new role, she will be driving the residential, commercial and development broker relationships.

With 10 years’ experience in financial services, Timms brings a wealth of experience both from the broker and the direct lending side, most recently working as a BDM for Together, covering the Midlands.

Walsh also joins from Together, where she raised brand and product awareness amongst intermediaries in the South West.

Prior to Together, she worked at Barclays for over 10 years in several different operational and sales roles. This expertise will help Octopus develop intermediary relationships, as well as continue to improve its market leading broker offering.

It follows the recent announcement that it has provided four regional commercial property loans, totalling £35m, across Birmingham, Derby, Manchester and Edinburgh.