Meet The Team

Leigh Bartlett

Chief Executive Officer

Leigh Bartlett was appointed Chief Executive Officer of MSP Capital in 2025, following several months working closely with the team to shape the company’s next chapter.

Leigh brings over two decades of experience at executive leadership level, including previous roles as CEO and Chief Financial Officer across the financial and technology sectors. His background spans organisations such as Masthaven Bank, FNZ Group, NatWest Group, Westpac New Zealand and Novo Banco, as well as board-level involvement with private equity-backed businesses and joint ventures.

Now leading MSP Capital, Leigh is focused on building on the company’s strong foundations by enhancing strategic capabilities, optimising operations, and continuing to deliver outstanding financing solutions across the UK property sector. He works alongside the established leadership team to drive forward the firm’s long-term vision and sustainable growth.

Julie Davies FICA

Head of Risk & Compliance

Julie’s career spans the UK and international financial institutions with extensive experience across banking, payments, and FinTech. Specialising in financial crime prevention, regulatory strategy, and enterprise risk management, Julie has led major transformation projects and built resilient compliance frameworks that support business growth and regulatory excellence. 

A recognised innovator, Julie developed and sold intellectual property for an AML risk modelling solution now widely used in the finance and fund management industries. Bringing a strategic and pragmatic approach to embedding regulatory frameworks to enable business growth while ensuring robust governance.

Julie is a Fellow of the International Compliance Association and a Chartered Manager.

Ben Arnold MRICS

Property Services Director

Ben is a highly experienced property professional with over 25 years’ experience across residential and commercial property, valuation, development land, and planning throughout the South of England.

He began his career in residential and commercial agency and general professional practice, qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor in 2005. Ben later joined Savills (UK) Limited, where he worked within the development team, progressing to Development Director and Head of the South Coast Valuation Team.

In 2017, Ben moved client-side to take up the role of Land and Planning Director at south coast regional housebuilder Pennyfarthing Homes. During this time, he was responsible for the acquisition and promotion of more than 3,000 strategic land plots and secured planning approvals for 1,885 homes, including 650 affordable dwellings. He also led the delivery of the first strategic phosphate mitigation scheme in the country.

Ben has since joined MSP Capital as Director of Property Services, where he applies his extensive experience in development, planning, and valuation to support borrowers and lead both internal and external property professional teams.

Richard Cargill

IT & Transformation Director

Richard joined MSP Capital in 2025, bringing 40 years of IT experience in technical and senior managerial roles. He started as a technical consultant, working with multinational corporations and government departments, representing major computing firms like IBM, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems. Later, he transitioned into financial services, holding senior positions at American Express, AXA, Aviva, and Credit Suisse across global offices. Wanting to focus on UK based smaller organisations, he served as CTO for hedge funds and held interim roles at Close Brothers Merchant Bank. Before MSP, he was Global IT Director at Advanced Instruments, supporting mergers and acquisitions. Beyond IT, Richard enjoys sailing and photography.

Adam Tovey MRICS

Commercial Director

Born and raised in Dorset, Adam is a Chartered Surveyor with nearly 20 years of deep expertise in property and financial services. His career began with a prominent multi-disciplinary property agency, where he developed a strong reputation by conducting valuations for secured lending on behalf of major UK banks.

Joining MSP Capital in 2010, Adam quickly became pivotal in the company’s growth, bringing a sharp focus on risk management, valuation accuracy, and innovative lending strategies. His insight has guided the development of new products and refined underwriting approaches that align with MSP Capital’s commitment to secure, growth-oriented financing for professional property developers.

Now, as MSP Capital’s Commercial Director and a member of the Board, Adam oversees several areas in the company – driving strategies that support revenue growth, build on our already strong reputation in the market and lead on future business development opportunities.

Nicky Hollamby

Finance Director

Nicky is a Chartered Accountant who trained as an auditor at Grant Thornton, where she gained significant experience working with a wide variety of clients from small owner-managed businesses to PLCs.

Since joining MSP Capital in November 2017, Nicky has grown the ability of the finance department as well as ensuring they provide real time data and analysis to the wider team to allow informed decision making. Her role has since deepened substantially having been involved in a series of key transactions.

As Finance Director, Nicky is tasked with driving the direction of the firm’s strategic funding programme, building on its relationships with institutional investors. She also oversees operational finance activities with borrowers, including financial crime compliance.

Lee Merrifield

Credit Director

Lee is a qualified Chartered Banker who spent 28 years at Natwest, prior to joining the team at MSP Capital.

During his time in banking, Lee worked extensively with real estate clients of the bank, both in residential and commercial property sectors. His role progressed from covering funding and support to risk assessment and credit control elements of lending.

Since joining MSP Capital in October 2017, Lee has applied his extensive lending experience to optimise decisions on funding solutions, whilst carefully managing the firm’s credit appetite. Furthermore, Lee helps drive the strategy and provides guidance on borrower acquisition via self-generation and marketing, to ensure MSP Capital remain at the forefront of specialist property lending.

Dan Curtis

Legal Director

Dan has worked in the commercial property market for over 20 years, and joined the team in 2024. Recognising his valuable contribution to the company, he was promoted to Legal Director in January 2025.

In the early part of his career, he worked at Wragge & Co (now part of Gowling WLG). He then spent 13 years with Blake Lapthorn/Blake Morgan, with seven of those years being spent as a partner. Dan’s interest in commercial property, and in particular the financing of real estate deals, means that he has quickly become an invaluable member of the team.

A core part of his role is leading the internal legal department to help further streamline our lending process and working alongside our underwriting and valuations team to advise on the legal aspects of real estate deals. As a director, Dan also works alongside other senior leaders in the company to further the growth of MSP Capital.

Rachel Bartlett

Head of Marketing & People

Rachel joined MSP in early 2021 as our Marketing Manager, having worked previously for LV= in the marketing department for several years after graduating. Using her experience in content creation, brand strategy and campaign management she developed a marketing department from scratch, to help build upon MSP’s ambitious and exciting plans for future growth. in 2024, Rachel was asked to become Head of Marketing & People. Her role is to enhance the company’s brand both internally and externally. Overseeing the Marketing, Human Resources, and Office Administration departments, she ensures that the brand values and culture are integrated into every aspect of our operations.

Neil Hannaford

Senior Treasury Manager

Neil joined MSP Capital in October 2025 as Senior Treasury Manager. After graduating from Solent University, he spent 10 years within Treasury teams at regional building societies. During his time, he worked across all Treasury functions with a particular focus on risk management. For the past 18 years Neil has led the Treasury operations at a large global corporate business. During this time, he was involved with several large complex transactions in both the private equity and public market space. Neil is a Fellow of the Association of Corporation Treasurers. His role as Senior Treasury Manager at MSP Capital is to be responsible for overseeing cash flow and liquidity management, maintaining and optimising funding facilities, and ensuring covenant compliance. He plays a key role in supporting the day-to-day finance operations, working closely with internal teams and external stakeholders to ensure robust financial performance and operational efficiency.

Chris Sheppard

Head of Underwriting and Loan Management

Chris joined MSP Capital in August 2016 as an initial member of the Underwriting and Business Development team. As of January 2025, Chris has been appointed Head of Underwriting. In this role, he will work as part of the senior leadership team to drive MSP’s growth and shape its future strategy, ensuring MSP Capital remains the lender of choice for development and bridging finance.

After graduating from Plymouth University with a degree in Business Studies, Chris qualified as a chartered banker and spent 22 years with a Top 5 High-street Bank. During his time in banking Chris worked across both corporate and commercial markets,  with a particular focus on the real estate sector where he stayed for ten years before joining MSP.  

Chris has therefore numerous years’ experience in providing funding for residential development as well as commercial and residential investment. MSP has allowed Chris to further develop his in-depth understanding of what a client in the property industry needs from their lenders in order to succeed – something that he is keen to carry on to ensure that MSP attracts new clients and remains a growing and successful business.

Chris Wright

Head of Sales Relationships

Since graduating from the University of Kingston in 2007 with an MA in European Real Estate Management, Chris has worked for a number of multi-disciplined property firms on the South Coast, becoming a Chartered Surveyor in 2010.

His previous roles saw him undertake secured lending valuations on behalf of all major UK banks, and providing advisory work for several private clients regarding the development of both commercial and residential properties. Chris concentrated on utilising his professional nature and industry expertise to build strong client relationships over the past decade. This has meant that many of Chris’s historic clients have gone on to become well-regarded clients of MSP, and continue to generate new business.

Having joined MSP Capital in 2018, initially within the Valuations Team, Chris has since moved into the Sales Team and now leads on developing and nurturing MSP Capital’s key professional relationships. He works closely with customers, valuers, solicitors, monitoring surveyors, commercial agents and accountants to strengthen MSP Capital’s presence in the market and support long-term, sustainable business growth.

Arian Manouchehri

Head of Sales and Originations

Arian joined MSP Capital in January 2021 and is responsible for overseeing the Sales and Originations Team.  Arian’s focus is not only to form strong and long-lasting relationships with customers, but to lead on the further enhancement of our presence within the property industry.

Arian is a ‘Big Four’ Chartered Accountant with prior experience in private equity and investment management, and a London School of Economics Alumni.  With an extensive financial understanding and motivated by his own family development business, Arian has been working in Property Finance for a number of years. He has extensive experience in debt structuring and specialises in helping brokers to create simple solutions to complex funding requirements, securing the best outcome for their clients.

Tom Callaghan

Head of Commercial Performance

Tom joined MSP Capital in 2019 and is responsible for leading commercial performance across the business. He combines financial expertise with a strong commercial mindset, providing insights that support strategic decision-making and optimise the company’s funding and capital structure.

A Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA), Tom began his career in finance, working with high-net-worth clients and within the property and conveyancing sectors, before moving into commercial roles. With extensive experience in property, bridging, and development finance, Tom specialises in translating complex financial data into actionable strategy, enhancing value creation, and driving long-term business growth.

Rupert Morrall

Development and Construction Senior Manager

Rupert joined MSP Capital in October 2021 as a Development and Construction Monitoring Manager.

With 35 years’ experience in construction management and property development, Rupert uses the wealth of knowledge gained to monitor MSP development schemes. Rupert spends most of his time on site, reporting on the work being undertaken and offering a deeper understanding of the assets we lend on to enable us to better aid our clients. 

Mike Townsend

Business Development Manager

Prior to joining MSP Capital in May 2022, Mike spent 35yrs with a Top 5 High-street Bank. For twenty of those years, Mike worked as a Relationship Manager specialising in the South Coast Real Estate sector.  Through this role he provided funding solutions and support to clients for various residential developments, commercial properties, and residential investment projects.

As part of the Underwriting & Business Development Team, Mike’s role is to further spread awareness of the MSP brand, primarily across the Hampshire & West Sussex areas, and seek out new funding opportunities to help meet MSP’s continued growth aspirations.

His in-depth knowledge of the industry, experience in building relationships and expertise in structuring property deals is seen as being invaluable to the business and clients alike.

Louise Garner

Underwriter

Louise joined MSP Capital in 2022 as a Junior Underwriter, previously working for a Top 5 High-street Bank. Louise has over nine years’ experience in the finance industry, with three years focussing on the real estate industry in the Dorset & Hampshire regions. She has helped organise the funding for residential developments, commercial properties, and residential investment properties.

As an Underwriter at MSP Capital, Louise will be managing loan applications for new and existing clients, as well as helping the team generate new lending opportunities. Her excellent relationship management and her experience in finding tailored funding solutions for property clients makes her a natural fit to the team.

Jo Kelly

Underwriter

Jo joined MSP Capital in 2022 as a Credit Analyst using her skills in asset lending, risk assessment, and credit reports to assist the Underwriting & Credit Manager. 

Jo has over 25 years’ experience in the finance industry, including working for a top 5 High Street Bank and Asset Finance provider.   

As an Underwriter she now plays a pivotal role in assessing and structuring development and bridging finance, loan management and building customer relationships to drive MSP’s continued growth. 

Karen Sloyan

Deal Administrator

Before joining MSP in 2019, Karen worked for a Top 5 High-street Bank for 14 years. It was here that she honed her expert organisational skills, working closely with the Branch Manager to improve efficiency and drive business growth.

Her attention to detail meant that Karen maintained optimum service standards and took total responsibility for all controls and risks within the branch, as well as travelling to other branches in the Bournemouth area to improve their KYC and compliance controls – often taking branches to ‘platinum’ status within the Bank.

As Deal Administrator at MSP, Karen keeps the wheels turning smoothly when it comes to writing deals for our clients.  As well as being a key point of contact throughout the underwriting process, Karen manages the operational documentation for the department and ensures audits are completed to our usual high standard.  

Conor Knight

Business Development Associate

Conor is a dynamic professional with a diverse background. After completing an 18-month apprenticeship in a property firm specialising in mortgages and protection sales progression, he ventured into entrepreneurship, successfully managing his own restaurant for three years. Currently, as a junior business development analyst for Arian, Conor brings a wealth of experience and a passion for driving growth and innovation.