ONP Group springs into growth with new leadership team and commitments to partnerships and tech innovation
26 April 2023
ONP Group has restructured with a new leadership team. The new team will spearhead the company, driving it forwards and taking a new partnership approach with brokers, panel managers and lenders in particular.
The new team comprises a blend of people, some with deep industry expertise, others with careers as diverse as technology, grocery and travel. This team has been put together to challenge the norms of the industry and find better, more innovative ways of doing things.
Nick Hale was recruited last year to head up the group as CEO. He was previously Managing Director of Ventures, part of the BT Group, European MD of Enjoy Technology, and has also worked as a director of KPMG and within Accenture.
Nick has spent the past few months putting a leadership team in place who can reshape the ONP Group for the future. The goal to be the leading technology enabled and innovative Legal services business, having brilliant people that transform the client experience for conveyancing of remortgages and sale & purchase transactions.
Nick’s fellow members of the Executive team include both Craig Underwood, appointed as Chief Operating Officer, and Mark Tosetti, Group Partnerships Director, both of whom joined from Optima Legal towards the end of last year.
The ONP Group comprises O’Neill Patient Solicitors (ONP), Cavendish Legal Group, Grindeys, Conveyancing Alliance (CAL), LMS and LavaTech. It has offices around the UK and is looking to increase this number, initially focusing on a new office in Leeds.
The approach of the group is centred on three pillars:
• Brilliant people – training and developing the best people in the conveyancing industry to provide the best possible customer service.
• Innovative technology – to continue to develop and utilise the most cutting-edge technology available, across the whole business to benefit both customers and broker partners.
• Transformative attitude – to develop a culture where everyone in the business is focused on the customer journey, on delivery and on finding different ways to do things to improve the conveyancing market as a whole.
Nick Hale, ONP Group CEO, says: "The ONP Group has grown rapidly to become one of the largest conveyancing firms in the UK. Our goal now is to continue that growth but to do it in a sustainable and manageable way that puts people at the heart of our operation. By people, that means our colleagues and the partners we work with, including brokers, lenders and panel managers, and of course the end customer.
“We believe there are better and smarter ways to carry out conveyancing by utilising the best and newest technology, while also working collaboratively to innovate and do things differently. Our aim is to ultimately improve the way that conveyancing is carried out across the industry.
“We now have a really strong Executive team across the group, bringing together a mix of leaders from inside and outside the industry, who are all focused on achieving these aims and in turn, achieving growth. But this is not growth at any cost. This is manageable growth that will also deliver the very best service.”
Other members of the ONP Group Executive team include:
• Toni Newcombe Chief People Officer
• James Argyle Chief Finance Officer
• Andrew Taylor Chief Technology Officer
• Waseem Haq Chief Digital Officer
• Tom Cook Strategy Director
• Mark Snape CEO Conveyancing Alliance
ONP Group has always led the way with its talent agenda and technology innovation to improve the customer journey. Including Visualfiles configuration, InCase Client Experience and being at the forefront of Automation, providing the tools for Case Managers to do their role with greater and greater ease, while delivering exceptional client service.
