Nick Chadbourne, chief operating officer (COO) at conveyancing service provider and panel manager LMS, has been promoted to CEO.
He is taking over from outgoing chief executive Andy Knee with immediate effect.
Chadbourne (pictured) will be responsible for the strategic direction and management of the business as well as sales strategy, process improvement and product development .
He started working for LMS in February 2016 as managing director for LMS’ sister company, TCS, before becoming chief operating officer in September 2016.
He joined LMS from the Sherwood Partnership, a change management consultancy he founded in 2014. Previously, he worked as managing director of insurance intermediary, Amity Finance. Earlier in his career he was employed by lenders Halifax, Bank of Scotland, and Birmingham Midshires as well as mortgage broker Freedom Finance, where he was latterly managing director. He has more than 15 years’ experience in business leadership, working across a wide range of senior management and executive roles in financial services.
Chadbourne said: “This is an opportune time to be stepping up to the CEO role at LMS , given our appetite to become even more of a major player in the conveyancing and remortgaging space in the future. This is a strong, growing business, with industry investment from two huge property groups in the form of Connells and LSL, both of whom have a long-term partnership approach to developing services. I’ve got a great team behind me; LMS has excellent management bench strength and our six-strong senior management team has more than 100 years’ experience collectively.
“I look forward to continuing to provide the most comprehensive panel management service to the broadest lender base in the UK. We remain committed to help ing clients enhance their productivity and service delivery while reducing cost and risk. There are pressures on LMS, as well as the industry as a whole, and while we are looking at optimisation to drive value in all areas of the business, we will also be looking to make improvements in areas such as fees assisted.”
Knee joined LMS in 1999 as sales and marketing director, before becoming managing director in July 2002. Previously he worked as head of IMC at mortgage lender Bristol & West.
Knee said: “ I’m very proud of my work at LMS and the achievements we’ve had but it’s the right time for me to step aside and let the business continue in a new phase of its development. I’ve been working with Nick very closely for the last year and a half as I have started stepping back from the business and planning my succession – and I know he’s a highly experienced general manager with relevant specialist knowledge in process efficiency, strategic business development, and large scale people management. With his passion for providing a world – class service to our clients, Nick’s a perfect fit to lead LMS. I look forward to watching the group go from strength to strength under his leadership.”