Before joining Sesame Cupis worked at Legal & General for eight years in senior roles such as mortgage propositions director, while he is also deputy chairman of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries.
Cupis is still at Openwork and the changeover date is yet to be been confirmed.
His appointment will complete Openwork’s move to divide its distribution business into wealth, mortgage and protection – each with a director responsible for the proposition and its distribution.
Openwork has already appointed Pat McKenna as head of its protection business Owl Financial and Mike Morrow, formerly of IFA wrap platform Ascentric, as wealth director.
Mark Duckworth, chief executive officer of Openwork, said: “We are thrilled that John has agreed to join Openwork during this extremely exciting period for the business.
“John’s experience, expertise and commercial acumen are second to none and his arrival is a major signal of Openwork’s intentions in the UK mortgage market.
“I have asked Paul Shearman to continue to be our principal liaison with key lenders and to support our biggest firms grow their businesses.
"Together, John and Paul make up the strongest possible team in the mortgage market to develop this critical strand of Openwork’s offering to advisers.
“With directors now appointed to run all three business units, we are well positioned to develop our distribution proposition and increase our overall profitability from its very solid base.”
