People: Reward Funding; ART Business Loans; Harris Lamb

Reward Funding has further strengthened its presence in the Midlands by appointing a new business development director.

Carl Perry joins Reward’s Birmingham office, bringing over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector across the region.

He spent the majority of his early career in commercial banking roles before moving into senior lending roles within challenger and alternative finance organisations, where he delivered both asset-based lending and structured credit facilities to SMEs.

Perry will be focused on expanding Reward’s extensive network of introducers, as well as providing flexible asset-secured funding solutions across the Midlands to help ambitious entrepreneurs and businesses achieve their goals.

Perry said: “Reward has a fantastic reputation for delivering agile, flexible, property-backed lending solutions – enabling borrowers to access funds for a wide range of purposes. Whether you need to improve cash flow, unlock working capital, support investment opportunities or restructure, Reward brings the expertise and efficiency to get deals done quickly. Rewards’ swift decision-making often makes the difference between a borrower seizing an opportunity versus missing out.

“Joining Steph and her team in the Midlands at this growth stage in Reward’s journey is extremely exciting. I’m looking forward to building on what is already a strong regional presence.”

Steph Brown, Reward’s regional director in the Midlands said: “We’re building a hugely talented team here in the Midlands, and Carl is a fantastic addition. It is great to welcome someone with his extensive and diverse lending experience, strong professional connections and the ability to support the entrepreneurs and businesses we work with.

“I am looking forward to working with Carl to strengthen and grow our relationships with professional business advisors, brokers and accountants across the Midlands, as we continue to expand our regional presence and lending book.”

Birmingham-based ART Business Loans has appointed Richard Steele as an additional Lending Manager, in support of its relationship-led business model.

With over 20 years’ experience in financial services, Steele has built an extensive career working within high street banks and the responsible finance and commercial finance broker sectors.

His previous roles include senior business relationship manager at Barclays Corporate Bank, supporting SME clients with turnovers up to £25m.

Richard Steele

Roles within the alternative finance market led to Richard establishing his own finance brokerage in 2019, specialising in supporting business start-ups, business acquisitions, cashflow finance, and business growth.

In his new role as lending manager at ART, Steel will focus on supporting both businesses and introducers seeking finance for growth, cashflow and acquisition purposes across the West Midlands, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Shropshire regions.

Steele said: “ART’s focus on providing a relationship-led service resonated with me, as I believe this is how we can best serve our clients. Through an in-depth knowledge of their business, we can provide the most appropriate finance package that will support both their immediate financial requirements as well as their long-term plans.

“I look forward to working alongside the ART team to support local businesses in accessing finance, and to help unlock opportunities for future growth across the region.”

Dr. Steve Walker, chief executive at ART Business Loans said: “We’re so pleased to welcome Richard to our lending team. He has significant experience in providing finance solutions and an extensive business network of introducers built over his 20-year career in financial services.

“Richard also shares ART’s belief in funding as a partnership, with a personal motivation to build a deep understanding of client needs. At ART, our team of dedicated lending managers are at the heart of our relationship-based approach, enabling businesses to access the right funding support at the right time. Richard will be a real asset to the team moving forward, as we continue to increase our lending over the next 12 months.”

Harris Lamb has appointed experienced ecological consultant, Natalie Walsh, to head up its environment team.

Walsh joins the business from Focus Environmental Consultants in Worcester, where she spent 10 years, working her way from ecologist to associate ecologist, and has extensive experience in surveying protected species, botany matters and advising on Biodiversitiy Net Gain.

Natalie Walsh

Her experience includes the undertaking of Preliminary Ecological Appraisals, Ecological Impact Assessments (EcIA), Habitat Regulations Assessments (HRA), and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) Assessments, as well as botanical / habitat surveys and field surveys for protected species including great crested newts, badgers, bats, reptiles, riparian mammals and dormice.

Simon Hawley, director of Harris Lamb’s planning team said: “Our team has worked with Natalie in her former role and we are delighted that she is joining us to head up the Environment department. Ecology plays an increasingly important role in our business, and Natalie’s knowledge and experience will be an asset in providing our clients with the essential information they need to avoid delays and concerns when bringing forward their projects.

“Natalie holds Natural England and Natural Resources Wales survey licences for great crested newts and bats (Class 2), and has been the ‘Named Ecologist’ on Natural England (development) licences for bats and on Natural England licences to close or disturb badger setts, all of which will be an asset when it comes to helping to deliver the many rural schemes we advise on,” he added.

Walsh said: “I was attracted to Harris Lamb because of the importance it places on ecology in development proposals. I’m looking forward to working with a property consultancy where I can assist in enabling the ecology of a project to be an early consideration for clients, something which is of particular importance now with Biodiversity Net Gain being a mandatory requirement.

“The business has a really interesting project portfolio and cohesive way of working that I am looking forward to getting involved in, working with and developing the ecology team and supporting other in-house departments.

“I was also particularly impressed with Harris Lamb’s track record in investing in employees through training and development, which is important to me. I believe that demonstrates a real commitment to both developing the business and its team, and that’s something I’m very keen to be part of,”