His arrival is expected to add more experience to its self-employed management
Broker firm Just Mortgages has bolstered its self-employed management team with the appointment of Nigel Smith (pictured) to the role of area director for the Midlands.
Smith brings with him more than 17 years of experience from his tenure at Countrywide, starting out as a broker himself in 2006. As the region’s top-performing broker for three years in a row, he was promoted to sales manager in 2011 for Somerset and Bristol, before progressing to financial services director for the West and Wales division in 2018. In this role, he managed eight sales managers and more than 60 mortgage advisers based in estate agencies across the region.
In the new role at Just Mortgages, Smith will support self-employed brokers in the region with their day-to-day operations and their future planning. In addition to coaching those making the move from employed to self-employed, he will help those existing self-employed brokers to expand their skillsets and ultimately their own businesses. He will also work closely with brokers to access the ongoing training, compliance, and marketing support offered by Just Mortgages.
Smith’s appointment is expected to add further experience to the self-employed management team at Just Mortgages, which now stands at 21 members of staff. He becomes the 14th area director and joins recent hire Stephen Swyny in supporting brokers in the Midlands region.
“Expanding our management team continues our commitment to ensuring we provide all our self-employed brokers with the necessary support structure to make a real success of it,” stated Carl Parker, national director at Just Mortgages. “Having worked at Countrywide together, I know Nigel to be incredibly experienced and highly motivating. It’s great to see him join the team at Just Mortgages.
“We have made our ambitions clear that we want to grow the division to more than 1,000 advisers in the coming years. Expanding our management team, increasing our knowledge base, and putting the necessary support structure in place is critical in achieving that. We’re fast approaching 500 self-employed brokers, which demonstrates the strength and success of our proposition.”
Commenting on his appointment, Smith said he was delighted to be joining the team at Just Mortgages and taking on the challenge in its impressive self-employed division.
“A big passion of mine is using my skills and experience to coach brokers and help them grow their day-to-day business,” Smith explained. “The role presents a fantastic opportunity to do this and to join an ambitious and exciting brokerage.
“When I was a broker, it was very hard to transition into a self-employed role. However, Just Mortgages really has managed to bridge that gap with the fantastic support they provide. That support begins when brokers get started and continues with help maximising their business and their own potential. This is very appealing to brokers and for me too when joining the firm.”
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