Meet our leadership team

Christian comes from a legal background having practised as a real estate lawyer in Australia at Allens Arthur Robinson, and then in the UK with Clifford Chance and Deutsche Bank. In 2008, Christian co-founded the business with Ian Thomas, initially seeing an opportunity in the short-term mortgage market.

He served as CEO of LendInvest until January 2020.

Christian has been actively involved in the fintech sector as founder of the Fintech Founders group, a member of the government’s Fintech Delivery Panel, the City of London’s Fintech Strategy group, and an advisor to the Department of International Trade’s Telecoms and Technology Trade Advisory Group.

Christian is now CEO of Faes & Co, which is a firm that actively builds and invests in technology-enabled direct lending businesses.

Stephan Wilcke currently chairs Bima, the leading mobile delivered health and insurance provider in emerging markets and serves on the boards of Hamburg Commercial Bank and Equiom. He is a former Executive Chair of OneSavings Bank and has also served on the boards of Amigo, Azimut, Independer, Farmafactoring, the Jersey Financial Services Commission, the Hellenic Financial Stabilty Fund, Nova Lubjanska Bank, TBC Bank Pic and Travelex. In his executive career he served as CEO of HM Treasury’s Asset Protection Agency, was a partner at Apax Partners responsible for Financial Services in Europe and started his career at Oliver Wyman where he progressed to partner level. Stephan is an active early stage investor and has been an advisor to the business since 2016.

Stephan chairs the Remuneration and Nomination Committees, and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Maeve is an accomplished financial services professional who brings over 30 years of experience to her new role. She has held key leadership positions at respected institutions like RBS and KPMG and currently serves as a Non-Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair at Alpha FMC. Maeve’s expertise in governance and financial oversight will be instrumental as she steps into the roles of Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee, contributing her insight to the Company’s strategic goals.

Maeve has been appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Company and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee. Maeve is also a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees.

Rod joined LendInvest in 2015 to lead the business’ Capital Markets and Fund Management division. Within that time Rod has overseen LendInvest’s AUM grow from £100m to £1.8bn and managed the launch of its listed Retail bond and RMBS programmes. Rod became Chief Executive Officer of LendInvest in January 2020.

Rod is a Chartered Surveyor with 17 years’ experience in property and property finance. He was previously Senior Director and a board member of the Investment Advisory Committee for CBRE. There, as well as advising LendInvest on its Real Estate Opportunity Fund, he advised UK and global institutional clients and managed a range of property and property debt portfolios.

Rod is passionate about property, alternative finance and prop-tech. He has lectured on property finance at the University of Reading and regularly advocates for the sector at conferences globally.

A qualified chartered surveyor, Ian has many years’ experience of property valuation, mixed-use development and investment acquisitions in both the UK and abroad, previously holding senior positions at Ballymore and SEGRO. Ian co-founded the business with Christian in 2008, during the global financial crisis.

Ian oversees all investment strategy and decision-making at LendInvest. He is a regular speaker at property industry events, a member of the MIPIM PropTech Advisory Committee and an active investor in several PropTech startups.

Rod joined LendInvest in 2015 to lead the business’ Capital Markets and Fund Management division. Within that time Rod has overseen LendInvest’s AUM grow from £100m to £1.8bn and managed the launch of its listed Retail bond and RMBS programmes. Rod became Chief Executive Officer of LendInvest in January 2020.

Rod is a Chartered Surveyor with 17 years’ experience in property and property finance. He was previously Senior Director and a board member of the Investment Advisory Committee for CBRE. There, as well as advising LendInvest on its Real Estate Opportunity Fund, he advised UK and global institutional clients and managed a range of property and property debt portfolios.

Rod is passionate about property, alternative finance and prop-tech. He has lectured on property finance at the University of Reading and regularly advocates for the sector at conferences globally.

A qualified chartered surveyor, Ian has many years’ experience of property valuation, mixed-use development and investment acquisitions in both the UK and abroad, previously holding senior positions at Ballymore and SEGRO. Ian co-founded the business with Christian in 2008, during the global financial crisis.

Ian oversees all investment strategy and decision-making at LendInvest. He is a regular speaker at property industry events, a member of the MIPIM PropTech Advisory Committee and an active investor in several PropTech startups.

Stephen Shipley is a seasoned Chief Financial Officer with extensive experience in the financial services industry. He has a strong background in financial management, reporting, planning, and analysis, having held significant roles at Barclays for over 23 years. During his tenure at Barclays, Stephen served as MD, Treasury CFO, and Head of Group Business Performance.

In his most recent role, Stephen was the CFO at Foundation Home Loans, where he managed capital markets and credit risk analytics, contributing to the company’s financial stability and growth. His expertise includes developing and implementing key systems and process changes.