Pexa UK has appointed Matthew Joy to the role of chief growth officer for property exchange platform Smoove, which it bought last year.
Joy will take “immediate responsibility for developing and growing” the business after the departure of Jesper With-Fogstrup when he joins Pexa at Easter.
He will report to Pexa UK CEO Joe Pepper.
Joy joins from TM Group, where he was a sales and marketing director for around 13 years.
Before that, he worked at Richard Gray as an account manager for around two years, and prior to that he worked as a marketing manager at Willmett Solicitors for seven years.
Pepper commented: “I am delighted that Matt has chosen to bring his experience and knowledge to the Pexa group, and the Smoove team in particular. We are very excited about the potential for growing the Smoove business and for developing a market-leading combined Pexa and Smoove proposition.
“Matt is a well-known and hugely respected leader with a track record of developing innovative solutions to meet the needs of the property market, and I have no doubt he will live up to that record in his new role at Smoove.”
Pexa completed the acquisition of Smoove in December last year for £31m. The platform offers access to over 75 conveyancer firms and an additional 2,100 firms via its role arranging panels for lenders across the UK.
Pexa also bought Optima Legal from Capital in 2022 to support a UK roll-out and made the first “digitally enabled remortgage transaction” in that year.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
