Pepper’s executive team is made up of some of the best in the industry. The individual experience and expertise of Pepper’s executive team means that the company has solid leadership taking Pepper in the right direction.
Patrick Tuttle
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer
Patrick Tuttle is a respected leader in the Australian mortgage market and within the broader financial services and securitisation industries. As CEO of one of Australia’s leading specialist lenders, Patrick is focused on ensuring Pepper continues to help customers open the door to financial freedom. Patrick is a capital markets and financial services specialist with extensive experience in Australian mortgage-backed securities and securitisation programs.
Joining Pepper from Macquarie Bank in 2001 Patrick has also been the driving force behind Pepper’s mortgage-backed securities (“PRS”) program, which has issued in excess of A$2.5 billion in Australian non-conforming mortgage-backed securities. He is a Chartered Accountant and has been a National Committee Member of the Australian Securitisation Forum, Inc. since 2004, Deputy Chairman of the Australian Securitisation Forum since 2008 and the Head of the ASF Government and Industry Liaison Committee since 2010.
Mike Culhane
Executive Chairman
Mike Culhane founded Pepper in 2001. From 2001 to 2011, Mike chaired the Pepper Board as well as founding and running Oakwood Global Finance LLP, which is currently one of the largest specialists in purchasing and managing residential mortgage loans in the UK.
Prior to founding Oakwood, Mike served as the Executive Chairman of Future Mortgages and the CEO of the European subsidiary of FBR, a US-based, NASDAQ-traded, investment bank.
Mike joined Pepper in 2011 on a full time basis as Executive Chairman where he is responsible for all aspects of company performance, including the development of the company’s short and long term strategic direction in collaboration with the Board of Directors, setting corporate objectives, establishing corporate policies and procedures, creating and implementing the business plan and achieving targeted profitability.
Todd Lawler
Group Treasurer
Appointed in June 2009, Todd is responsible for managing the overall Treasury function of the Pepper Group, ensuring effective sourcing of debt domestically and offshore to meet the ongoing funding requirements of the business, managing all secured and unsecured loan and debt capital market facilities, managing interest rate risk, foreign currency risk, liquidity and market/balance sheet risk, and for developing appropriate Treasury strategies in relation to debt capital management.
Todd came to Pepper after eight years with GMAC-RFC where he served in multiple roles in non-conforming lending in the United States, Europe and Australia in both finance and executive roles. Prior to his time with GMAC-RFC he spent over ten years with KPMG and is a Chartered Accountant with more than eighteen years experience, mostly in financial services.
David Holmes
Chief Operating Officer & Executive Director
Appointed in August 2000 as Pepper’s Chief Operating Officer, David Holmes brings a wealth of experience in the non-conforming home loan market to Australia. David is responsible for the strategy, development, implementation and ongoing monitoring of Pepper’s credit policy and procedures. He oversees all of Pepper’s servicing operations teams; this includes Underwriting, Business Processing, Customer Service, Collections, Settlements and Compliance and is ultimately responsible for all aspects of Pepper’s lending criteria and end-to-end operations processes.
Prior to joining Pepper, he was involved in pioneering the non-conforming home loan market in the UK while working as a senior credit executive with the established Preferred Mortgages. Earlier, he was a financial advisor with, Abbey National, a major UK Bank, which he joined after a successful career in underwriting with Citibank and earlier as branch manager with Nationwide Building Society, Britain’s largest building society.
Tony Walden
Head of Operations
Tony is responsible for all operational aspects of loan origination and servicing activities including collections, leasing and customer service. Tony has been with Pepper since 2005 and has 43 years experience in the mortgage industry.
Prior to joining Pepper, Tony was Head of Operations for the ANZ wholesale lending arm, Origin and successfully implemented and launched the ANZ Mortgage Broking Unit in Perth. Prior to ANZ, Tony managed the entire lending activities including origination, product development and servicing for the Retail and Commercial arm of Town and Country Bank in Perth.
Mario Rehayem
Director of Sales & Distribution
As Pepper’s Director of Sales and Distribution, Mario is responsible for the development and implementation of Pepper’s ongoing sales and distribution initiatives. Mario also has the primary responsibility for developing strategic alliances and demand for Pepper’s specialised mortgage products.
Mario is a fantastic advocate for brokers and has been able to leverage in his current role his considerable expertise from his time as a broker. Mario has a reputation for service and imparting insightful practical advice for brokers garnered from many years spent as both a broker and a lender.
Prior to joining Pepper, Mario was the State Manager in WA & SA for Westpac’s Mortgage broker Distribution channel. Earlier he was a principal for one of NSW’s leading Mortgage brokering firms, where he was heavily involved in the strategy and development phase of the business.
James Henshaw
Head of Information Technology
James joined Pepper in 2004 as the Head of Information Technology with responsibility for developing and managing the strategic direction and operational effectiveness of the information technology division to support and achieve the objectives of the organisation and managing the end-to-end delivery of information technology projects.
James leads a dynamic team of IT specialists and has built an infrastructure with in-house capability including web developers, system developers, business analysts and programmers, to effectively support Pepper’s diversity and growth.
James has more than 20 years experience in the banking and finance industry having worked with HSBC and Advance Bank prior to joining Pepper.
Cameron Small
Group Chief Financial Officer
Appointed in November 2011 as Group Chief Financial Officer, Cameron is responsible for managing Financial Control, IT, Legal, Project Management and Risk & Compliance. He is a Chartered Accountant with more than twenty years experience of regulated financial markets.
Prior to joining Pepper Cameron spent the past twelve years in CFO positions with global Investment Banks based in the UK, more latterly with Altium Capital and Credit Suisse. Throughout this time he has successfully managed large teams of professionals deployed across Europe, Middle East & Africa as well as managing a diverse number of regulatory relationships covering a dozen or more jurisdictions. His mix of experience in both large scale and mid cap entrepreneurial firms is particularly suited to Peppers strategic aims.