Stephen Lawrence retires from Norton Home Loans after 50 years in sales

Lawrence (pictured) worked his way up from being a branch manager and business development manager (BDM) at Leeds and Holbeck Building Society in 1972, before moving to The Mortgage Corporation Ltd in 1987 as regional sales manager, gradually working his way up through various senior sales positions at lenders including the Yorkshire Building Society.

He joined Citigroup in 2000 under Citifinancial/Future Mortgages, where he says he took up his first role in second charge mortgages.

To learn more about the sector, he decided to work with Norton Finance for a month where he says he “learned how a secured loan could benefit a customer, the loan process from application to completion and how to make an application fit the published lending criteria.”

He added: “This short period proved to be a turning point in my career as I was allocated many of the UK-based master brokers and asked to develop increased business levels from them.”

‘I’ll miss the buzz’

In 2005 Lawrence was promoted to national accounts manager secured loans at Citigroup, before moving to Norton Home Loans in 2008, where the lender says “he was instrumental” in launching first and second charge mortgage lending.

Lawrence, said: “I retire leaving an exceptional team of managers and I would like to think I have in some way trained and supported them in their important company roles. The last 14 years have been the happiest work moments in my life and I will definitely miss the buzz.”

Paul Stringer, managing director of Norton Group, paid tribute. He said: “Steve has always been one of our most valued employees, carrying out his role in his usual conscientious and dedicated way he has built up a reputation as one of the most well-liked and respected sales managers in the industry.

“He will be missed not only by his colleagues but also the large number of friends he has made over the years within the company and the broker market in general. We wish him all the best for the future.”