With an extensive career spanning over 40 years in the banking and finance sector, he is also a senior independent non-executive director at Distribution Finance Capital Holdings, where he chairs three boards, including the risk, remuneration, and nomination committees.

From 2018 to 2020, Mark held the position of CEO at Allica Bank, where he worked on building a company that could ensure small- and medium-sized businesses have access to the products and expertise they need.

He retired late last year, and was replaced by Richard Davies, who took over the CEO role at Allica Bank.

Prior to working at Allica, he was CEO at Harrods Bank, where he oversaw the bank’s strategic direction, including its 2018 sale to challenger bank Tandem.

He also held various senior positions at Aldermore, including founding director, group commercial director, and deputy chief executive.

Mark previously joined CrowdProperty as non-executive director for approximately six months back in 2016 after his time at Aldermore, but left when he took over as CEO at Harrods Bank.

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Commenting on his appointment, Mark said: "It’s an exciting time to be joining the team, given the numerous milestones and accolades achieved against a difficult economic backdrop over the last 12 months. 

“The fundamental property expertise at the core of the business, track record, and technology underpinning it have enabled CrowdProperty to develop a clear and strong proposition, achieving strategic advantages in the sector and the ability to scale. 

“Supporting SMEs is a subject which I have been passionate about for many years, and I embrace the opportunity to continue to do so as part of the CrowdProperty board.”

Michael Bristow, CEO at CrowdProperty, added: “Mark’s four decades of experience in providing financial services which empower SME businesses will be highly valuable in enhancing CrowdProperty’s current service offering and future strategy, while enhancing the collective expertise on our board.”

“Having doubled lending through 2020 and surpassing £100m lent, we are firmly on track to provide over £400m of lending per annum by 2024, with over £200m of funding applications per month.

"...Further institutional backers making up diverse sources of capital [have] proven to be reliable during the pandemic."

He added that the company was on a trajectory to continue growing rapidly, underpinned by a highly scalable, in-house built, proprietary technology platform, as well as scalable capital sources and deep expertise in exactly the asset class being lent against.