Ortus makes five key promotions in London and Belfast

In the London office, Jamie Russell has taken on the role of commercial director where he will oversee the performance of the sales team. This covers product development, training, recruitment and strategy.

Russell has worked with the firm since 2019 and before that was a business development manager (BDM) at Octopus Property for nearly two years. Prior to that he was in the British Army for just over five years.

David Foster has been promoted to head of credit where he will have responsibility for credit strategy and recoveries. He will continue to run loan transactions for key introducers, the lender said.

He has been with the firm since 2017 and was previously associate director for lending. Before that he worked at Colliers International UK for just over three years.

Joshua Field will take on the role of associate director for lending from Foster and will primarily work in a deal structuring capacity. He will also build on the company’s underwriting and technology.

Field has worked at the firm for around four years and was most recently a senior lending manager.

Prior to that he worked at Oblix Capital for just over two years and has worked at Nationwide for around two years.

In the Belfast Office, Stephen Davidson will take on the role of head of lending, where he will manage the team daily, improve system and develop and build relationships with professional advisors.

He has been with the firm for around three years and worked at the Link Group for nearly four years before that. Davidson also worked at Bank of Ireland for around seven years previously.

Daniel Eastwood will become senior manager for lending and work on more complex transactions in the UK.

Eastwood also worked at Link Group and before that, worked at First Derivatives as a consultant for just over two years.

Jon Salisbury, managing director of Ortus, said: “These promotions are all the result of outstanding performance over a sustained period, and we feel extremely fortunate to have such excellent colleagues at the firm.

“Ortus has grown significantly over the past few years, both in size and in product range and these individuals have played hugely important roles. We are proud that Ortus is a firm where talented people can prosper.”

The lender was founded in 2013 and has offices in London, Belfast, Manchester and Glasgow. It offers residential and commercial bridging loans throughout the UK and has transacted around £200m in loans.