Caroline Ong joins Glenhawk as Non-Executive Director

By Bridging Loan Directory 17th June 2019

Glenhawk, the fast growing UK challenger lender, is pleased to announce that it has significantly strengthened its senior team with the appointment of Caroline Ong, pictured, as Non-Executive Director.

With more than 20 years of commercial and residential real estate experience as a board advisor, committee member and executive director, Caroline will provide strategic operational and governance counsel to the Glenhawk leadership team as it targets further loan book growth, additional funding sources and new product launches.

Effective immediately, Caroline joins existing Non-Executive Director Harry Hill, formerly chairman of Rightmove and former CEO of Countrywide, on the Glenhawk Board, alongside CEO Guy Harrington and Managing Director of Lending Nick Hilton

Harry Hill, Non-Executive Director of Glenhawk, commented:

“Caroline is a well known and highly experienced industry heavyweight and her decision to join Glenhawk is a coup for the business and a major statement of intent as we continue to scale up the business.

Her signficant operational background, experience of navigating increasingly complex regulatory environments, as well as her adherence to corporate governance, will be invaluable as we continue to mature.”

Caroline joins Glenhawk from the early stage UK specialist mortgage lender Octane, where as a Non-Executive Director she was heavily involved in its successful launch in 2016, including overseeing the risk framework to ensure it was appropriate for an early stage business, and providing guidance on business direction and growth.

Caroline also spent over seven years as Chief Operating Officer of Pamplona Capital Management’s hedge funds, and then as a Portfolio Manager of its flagship credit fund where she was a member of the investment committee, operations committee and performance review committee.

She was responsible for launching two funds totalling £1 billion, whilst also implementing signficant efficiency savings allowing capital invested to triple and the average internal rate of return to increase by 50%.

Caroline has also worked for international financial services firms Goldman Sachs, Bank Austria AG and Bear Stearns, in Australia, Singapore, and London. Caroline has an MBA from the University of NSW and University of Sydney.

Since launching in January 2018 Glenhawk has provided over £50 million of primarily unregulated bridging finance, across 95 loans with a total Gross Asset Value of £116 million, and has originated over £750 million of enquiries.

Glenhawk will be looking to expand its product range with the launch of regulated bridging, Buy to Let term products and retirement interest only mortgages later this year pending their FCA application.

Caroline Ong added:

“I have been following the rapid growth trajectory of the Glenhawk business from afar, increasingly growing its profile and market share to become a lender of choice, and the opportunity to join two of the industry’s leading visionaries in Guy and Harry and support this expansion was too good to turn down.

The UK property lending and wider financial services sectors remain ripe for disruption, both in terms of available products as well as the technology driving this change, and in Glenhawk I see the leader of the next wave of businesses that will capitalise on changing client requirements and set new standards for the industry.”