After B&C broke the news last week that leading personal asset lender borro had boosted its business development team, Jason McGee-Abe spoke with its new recruit Chris Willis, Senior Vice President at borro, to find out more about his role, background and what changes we can expect to see from the lender…

JMA: Firstly, congratulations on joining the borro team. When did you officially start?

CW: I started in January.

How have you found your first month?

It has been very interesting. Being a new sector for me, I have been getting to grips with the market and our products alongside lots of meetings with clients and potential introducers and affiliates.

So, how did you hear about the role at borro and why were you attracted to the position?

I met Paul Aitken (CEO) skiing a couple of years ago and discovered we had lots in common including building growth businesses and a fondness for V neck jumpers! When this role became available, we had a few meetings and it was an opportunity at an exciting time in the business that I couldn’t resist.

Could you explain to our readers what your job role entails?

I look after the business development and sales teams at borro. These teams deal with loan applications direct from consumers and the sourcing and account management of our introducer database. I will also be building our online affiliate networks and looking for new partnerships to spread the borro message.

What is your professional background and what expertise will you bring to borro?

My first job after university was at VNU Business Publications Ltd. (Intrinsic) where I became Advertisement Manager of Accountancy Age. I then worked for the national press for 11 years before joining online ticketing start-up Seatwave at launch in 2006. I have a solid business development track record and experience of senior level account management as well as a strong start-up background.

What’s been the highlight of your career to date?

Either helping take Seatwave from nothing to a €50 million-plus turnover business or generating £350,000 from the investment industry for Barnardo’s via a competition I ran at the Guardian.

Whilst at the Guardian/Observer you launched dedicated personal finance sections. Do you think there is a negative perception of short term asset lending?

I believe that unlike some areas of the short term loan sector, personal asset lending is not on the news agenda. My experience of national press financial journalism is that they tend to look to consumer protection. The transparency, efficiency and approach at borro certainly would not generate a negative perception.

What is the current focus of borro?

Continuing to educate potential customers as to the ease and value of our offering, partnerships and growing our commercial and introducer network.

What do you think of the short term asset industry currently, and do you have any immediate concerns about the sector that you’d like borro to help address?

It’s a little early for me to have an industry view other than that I think many people are under-informed about using it as a finance option. That is what I would like us to address as the UK’s leading personal asset lender.

Are there any initiatives that you’ve already implemented? If so, what are they?

There are some that I can’t reveal but we will be doing a series of roadshows for advisers and introducers in the spring.

What’s your future vision for borro in 2013 and ahead?

Growth!