Specialist business bank Redwood Bank has appointed Simon Goodyear as its new chief information and technology officer (CITO).

Prior to joining Redwood Bank, Goodyear was chief technology officer of car finance and loan company JBR Capital, a position he held for more than two years.

There, he defined and delivered a technology roadmap that supported the company’s successful acquisition by Shawbrook Bank.

He also developed a new cybersecurity framework to ensure data protection and compliance, while leading the integration of technology platforms during the acquisition process.

He also worked for car finance and loan company Oodle Car Finance for five years.

After starting as head of Salesforce in 2017, he was promoted to vice president of engineering in 2020. Here he grew the engineering team by more than 130 per cent, introducing career development and succession planning frameworks.

He was also tasked with modernising technology architecture and introducing microservices and system software, including Kubernetes to improve performance.

Chief executive and co-founder of Redwood Gary Wilkinson said that Goodyear “brings a rare blend of technical expertise, strategic thinking and a people-first mindset.”

He continued: “As Redwood continues to grow, it’s critical we have the right leadership in place to modernise our infrastructure while staying true to our identity. I’m delighted to welcome him to the team.” 

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