The Leadership Team

Rob sits at the helm as CEO of the Brightstar Group – the UK’s largest specialist distributor of UK-based, secured property debt, producing more than £1 billion of specialist property debt per annum. Brightstar has won more than 100 national awards since 2012 including the coveted, Investor in People (IIP) Best Gold Employer (below 249 staff) in the Globe and was named The Sunday Times Best Small Company to Work For in both 2019 and 2020.

Rob is in his third decade working within the specialist lending market. He has served as Chairman of the AOBP (2013 to 2015) and was member of the AMI Industry Contact Group. Rob is  a regular panellist and keynote speaker as well as being a much-respected media commentator. As a key voice within the sector, he provides support to the FCA through ongoing discussion on current and future market issues.

Rob is a five times British Mortgage Award winner and was voted Mortgage Personality of the Year at the Mortgage Strategy Awards in 2021 and won it again for an unprecedented second time in 2019.

The pride that Rob has for the group and the wider industry is clear to all that meet him. He works tirelessly to ensure we work with the best partners and recruit and retain the very best stakeholders. His passion for raising the standard of employment, education, regulation, and service is infectious. His belief that ‘you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate’ has been facilitated by his larger than life personality and ability to build genuine and rewarding relationships across the industry.

Bradley is a founding Director of Brightstar Financial having worked with Group CEO Rob Jupp for 7 years prior to the Companies Launch in 2011. With 25 years of financial services experience, 21 of which are in the specialist mortgage market. Bradley is the Senior Exec responsible for the Profit and Loss of the UK’s Leading Specialist Distributor working with the many Mortgage Clubs and Networks that the business supports with specialist solutions, as well as working closely with its lender partners to innovate and seek even better outcomes for its introducers and their clients. Bradley is well known for his no nonsense approach and desire to ensure that Brightstar remains at the very top of the Specialist Finance Sector.

As Director of People Development for the Brightstar Group, Clare has been guiding, supporting and developing the group team since inception. Clare’s belief that ensuring the highest levels of staff engagement result in increased job satisfaction, motivation and ultimately business success has guided the group to being crowned ‘The Sunday Times Best Small Company to Work For’ in both 2019 and 2020. Clare’s accolades do not stop there as she has personally won Financial Reporter Women’s Recognition Awards 2018 – ‘Women in Management’ and ‘Equality Employer of the Year’ and the Financial Reporter Women’s Recognition Awards – ‘Spokesperson of the Year’ in both 2019 and 2020. As Clare’s award wins suggest, she is an avid industry spokesperson, regularly participating in round-tables, podcasts, judging panels and key speaker engagements.

Clare also plays an active role in the Women in Finance Charter, and is passionate about supporting women into the industry. Having been an early adopter and signatory of the charter, she continues to proactively fly the flag for the cause as a supporter and confidant, speaker, columnist, campaigner and event organiser.

Clare boasts a BA (Hons) in English (Vice Chancellor’s Prize Winner – Top all round graduate at Birmingham University in 1992), a PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate Education), MA Management and Leadership and NPQH (National Professional Qualification for Headship). Her unique ability to to bring out the best of everyone she works with was founded with a 16-year career in education including a roles as a secondary school Headteacher. It was during this time Clare believes she learnt the invaluable skills of communications, public speaking, coaching and mentoring – whether that be for the Young Learners and Young Brightstars programmes or Senior Managers needing help further engaging with and inspiring their teams.

Kara joined Brightstar in October 2013. She has now clocked up over 9 years’ experience in the financial services industry, having previously working for Lloyds Banking Group.

Kara is one of our ‘home grown’ talents, having joined Brightstar as an administrator for the Mortgages & BTL division, managing cases for 4 consultants. The team rapidly grew and her role evolved to become the Sales Support Team Leader where she helped lead and manage process changes. As well as being a team leader, Kara was also one of the original ‘Learning Champions’ within a scheme that was created to enhance the learning programme for new starters and to support existing employees. Within her Learning Champion capacity, Kara helped devise the induction programme and booklet which is used by all new entrants to help them successfully pass their induction.

Recently, Kara has taken on the role of PA to Rob Jupp and Bradley Moore and is very much looking forward to new challenges.

Will is responsible for the operational management of the entire Brightstar Group. He is a highly valued member of the team, taking lead on all matters financial, Human Resources, technology and operational. He works relentlessly to champion a proactive environment, ensuring that the group operations remain resilient in an ever-changing market and drive efficiencies in our working practices. Since joining the group in 2011, he has racked up a number of accolades including Winner of Rising Star Distributor at The Specialist Lending Awards 2018, Top 35 under  35 for Bridging & Commercial Magazine 2020 and a place on the judging panel for the British Specialist Lending Awards 2020.

Will’s background is steeped in politics, with more than 13 years spanning leadership and campaign roles with Brentwood Borough Council and the Conservative Party. He utilises this mindset and skill base to achieve consensus and resolution amongst the Group teams and partners, and plays a pivotal role in finding a way forward with any challenge the Group comes across, whether internal or external. It is no surprise that his favourite quote comes from one of the most respected politicians of our time, Barack Obama: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

A true champion for operational and organisational change, with genuine passion for the finance sector, our team, valued partners and education in general, Will’s imprint on our company culture is invaluable.

Michelle joined Brightstar in April 2013 from performance improvement agency, Grass Roots, where she worked on designing incentive and recognition solutions for large corporations such as Asda, O2, Blackberry and A-Plan among others. Previous industry experience includes business development in a field role for Enterprise Finance Group and various sales roles at iGroup and Commercial First.

Michelle designed and project managed our EasySource platform and is responsible for our brand, marketing and communications strategy.

Michelle is a keen amateur chef but doesn’t get much time in the kitchen as she prefers to spend as much of it with her two young children.

Gina has been an influential member of the Brightstar team since August 2012.  Having an extensive underwriting background, working for lenders such as Kent Reliance and Beacon Homeloans, she brings an understanding to the role that benefits both lenders and brokers.

Following a career as a highly successful consultant on the residential mortgage desk, this has rewarded Gina with the role of Head of Residential Mortgages where her knowledge and experience benefit the entire team.

Gina has recently been promoted to Head of Sales.

Outside of work Gina is a happy and proud mother to her little boy, and enjoys spending quality time with her family and friends.

Steve joined the Brightstar Group in 2016 as a residential and buy-to-let consultant, and later became a short term and development finance specialist.  In 2020, Steve took on the role of ‘Group Head of Compliance.  He provides a crucial service in ensuring the activities within the Brightstar Group meet regulatory standards via quality checks, training, competence testing and policy reviews. Steve regularly updates the team with regulatory changes and any consequential operational impacts.

Prior to joining Brightstar, Steve’s 30 years’ experience in finance were spent in a number of managerial and directorship roles within retail and private banking, secured and unsecured lending, as well as protection markets.

Steve is known for performing his role with the upmost diligence, boasts full CeMAP qualifications and is highly skilled in business creation and inception.

In his spare time, Steve enjoys music, cycling, socialising, eating out and holidays.

Paul joined the team in 2021 as Head of Finance. In his role, he has oversight of the finance department for the entire Group, producing timely financial information to support the wider business. He leads on the ongoing budget management, company forecasting and financial due diligence. He is known for his attention to detail and accuracy and applies those skills to his work in preparing the group for the future market opportunities.

Before joining Brightstar, Paul started his career working for a ‘Big Four’ accountancy practice in London. He worked his way up in that environment with several local practices, becoming ACCA qualified in 2009. Paul then branched out to work with the finance departments of a variety of industries and company sizes, spanning from small owner-manager to a multi-national company.

In his spare time, Paul enjoys films, music, watching football and spending time with his wife and two children.

Andrew was recently appointed as National Account Manager for the Brightstar team. He comes to us after successfully helping to create, and build from scratch, the charity ‘Challenging MND’ which helps sufferers of motor neurone disease fulfil memorable experiences.

Having previously worked for many years in the media and advertising industry, Andrew will be transferring his skills to Brightstar, and promoting the great work provided by our award-winning team.

Andrew is a qualified personal trainer, and his love of all sport led him to teaching PE and coaching rugby for several years. He is a huge rugby fan and it’s not normally too long after talking rugby with him that he will let you know he was at the Rugby World Cup Final in 2003!

A keen cyclist and movie goer, Andrew is also a frustrated chef in the kitchen!