CrowdProperty Australia hires director of strategic partnerships
CrowdProperty Australia has appointed former PwC and Deloitte executive Diana Shoolma as director of strategic partnerships.
Shoolma is a chartered accountant and has experience working as head of professional services at NAB, director, assurance and advisory at Deloitte Australia and director, national markets at PwC Australia.
At CrowdProperty Australia, she will be responsible for helping the peer-to-peer property lending platform grow its wholesale, sophisticated and institutional investors.
Read more: CrowdProperty expands development team with new hire
Read more: CrowdProperty to release more ‘quality loans’ to meet investor demand
“My years working with two of the ‘big four’ accounting firms and one of Australia’s largest banks gives me deep insight into Australia’s wholesale investors and the private wealth sector,” Shoolman said.
“I’ve spent my career building relationships with leaders in the accounting and investment space and the high-net-worth community. Now to be able to provide access to an alternative investment vehicle that helps fund Australian housing is an exciting new chapter.”
Read more: CrowdProperty appoints Ian McManus as chief technology officer
“Our vision is to enable small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) developers to have access to specialist finance and enable them to build sorely needed homes for Australians,” said David Ingram, chief executive of CrowdProperty Australia.
“Finding finance is a huge pain point for SME developers who face significant challenges with banks, private lending, and ever-changing goal posts.
“Being able to provide reliable access to a source of funds from the wholesale and institutional investment sector, while providing specialist experience in property development to ensure projects are carefully curated and ultimately successful, is a proven opportunity Australia hasn’t taken advantage of until now.
“We’re looking forward to Diana’s contribution in building our wholesale investor community. What’s more, the future is looking very bright with the development of products to support sustainable developments, social housing, and to bring a retail investment product to market allowing all Australian investors to invest in a slice of the property development market.”
UK-headquartered CrowdProperty launched its sister brand in Australia last May. In October, it raised AUS$1.5m (£810,000) to expand its development finance offering and investment opportunities in the country.