Target Group bolsters its Executive Team as it transitions to new leadership era

Target Group, the operational transformation, business processing and software provider has today announced leadership changes across its Executive Team.

These changes follow news that Roger Newman has stepped back as Chief Executive Officer, and replaced by the Chief Operations Officer and CEO designate, John Barker.

John Barker has been replaced by Peter O’Connor in the role of COO, who joins from Capita, where he held a raft of senior roles. As Change and Innovation director he was responsible for internal and external change, IT, service improvement and business recovery. More recently, he held the position of Managing Director of Capita’s mortgage software business, responsible for growth as well as operations, change, IT transformation and Risk & Assurance. Before Capita, Peter spent over 10 Years at Lloyds, where he held a number of senior roles in Innovation and relationship management.

Target is also pleased to announce a raft of promotions, strengthening its leadership as it moves into a new servicing era. Mark Gilliver was recently announced Chief Growth Officer and will be responsible for setting and executing Target Group’s 3–5-year growth strategy. He will head a team of colleagues covering business development, solutions and bid disciplines.

Katie Pender is now Managing Director of Elderbridge, having previously held the role of Head of Operations and Mortgage Originations in the Group, where she spearheaded the development of Target’s award-winning Mortgage Hub. She will assume SMF1 responsibilities for Elderbridge which provides Lender of Record, master servicing and portfolio trading services.

Akin Arikawe is now Group Commercial Director and will oversee sales function support in pre-sales by adding commercial innovation to the way deals are structured, negotiated and won. He will also manage contractual risk, supply chain regulation and reporting, and Target’s legal framework.

Finally, Matt Davies has been named Chief People Officer, accountable for the people strategy at Target Group; making sure the business creates a world-class working environment for all colleagues to thrive.

John Barker, Chief Executive Officer for Target Group commented: “Target Group is entering a new era of becoming a fully purpose led business. To help us navigate new possibilities and challenge conventional thinking, I am pleased to make these well-deserved additions to the team.

“We have the ambition to double our revenue in three years. To do this, we’ll need a host of expertise leading from the front. With these new additions, I’m confident we’ll be able to do just that. I look forward to working with them closely as we execute our strategy to deliver superior digital capabilities and transform the customer experience.”