She joins from Shawbrook Retail Mortgages, where she held a similar role and was responsible for the sales strategy of its brands, The Mortgage Lender (TML) and Bluestone Mortgages. Palmer also oversaw the business development and corporate account teams.
This year, Palmer has served as a management committee member for the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) and will represent Gen H on its executive committee.
Before Shawbrook, Palmer was at Santander for Intermediaries for 14 years, managing strategic partnerships and developing its fintech proposition through its Mortgage Engine secondment. She has also worked at Morgan Stanley, Platform and Network Data.
At Gen H, Palmer will report to Pete Dockar, chief commercial officer, and will join the lender’s management team and executive committee.
She will lead its distribution and business development activities, focusing on strengthening its relationship with brokers.
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Palmer (pictured) said she was “extremely excited” to begin the new chapter with Gen H.
She added: “I am joining a lender whose innovation is genuinely driven by its clear passion for unlocking homeownership for more borrowers. Intermediaries play such a key role in distributing forward-thinking products like Gen H’s, and I am very much looking forward to building strong relationships with our panel in the coming months and years.”
Gen H recently launched part and part mortgages up to 95% loan to value (LTV) and announced that its New Build Boost product, launched as an alternative to the Help to Buy scheme, received more than £90m in approvals in principle.
Dockar said: “Gen H is at an exciting stage in its growth. We’ve launched a number of genuinely innovative propositions this year, and our intermediaries play a critical role in ensuring our products reach those who we’re best positioned to help. Our panel has shown immense enthusiasm and dedication, embracing each launch wholly, and with Sara’s appointment, we’ll be in a position to provide better service and reach more customers than ever before. Sara will be a game-changer for Gen H, and I can’t wait to see where she takes us.”
Graham McClelland, chief executive of Gen H, added: “We wouldn’t be here helping people into homeownership without the support of our intermediary panel, and Sara’s appointment marks a step change in how we approach and provide service to our intermediary partners. Her appointment reflects our commitment to our broker partners – we knew we needed someone who could drive change and set a new standard for service, because that’s what our partners deserve.
“We have a great suite of products on offer that allow intermediaries to support more clients than ever before, and there is no one better than Sara to tell this story and lead us as we grow.”
