Paragon Bank grows its SME lending team

Paragon SME Lending has bolstered its sales team with four new business development managers and two internal promotions to business development executives. The new recruits will work across the division’s transport, regional and broker teams.

Jamie Thompson and Craig Nel become business development managers as part of the transport team under Dale Trenam’s management. Thompson joins from Huxley Corporate Finance and will focus on Paragon’s Dealer Finance proposition, working with dealers to find suitable finance solutions for clients. Nel has worked previously with Deutsche Leasing and BNP, focusing specifically on the van finance market working predominantly with virtual van dealers and introducers.

The broker team has seen the appointment of Gulshan Khan as business development manager and the promotion of Jake Harfield as business development executive, all reporting into Ian Galbraith, head of broker. Khan joins Paragon Bank with an extensive career in asset finance, and was previously a sales manager at Dawsongroup Finance. Harfield began his Paragon career in 2017 as a business development associate.

In addition, Lauren Cargill has been promoted to business development executive within the regional team under the direction of Peter Pike, whilst Wayne Hall has been recruited from Shire Leasing. They will both be focused on the southern regions.

Paragon SME Lending sales director Ken McKeating said: “These new recruits are a sign of intent from Paragon. We are keen to grow our lending activity and to support our direct customers and brokers even further. We look forward to the recent additions to our team getting out into the market and helping to deliver on our growth strategy.”