New chief exec on how she will put her stamp on trade association
“I am passionate about advice, and I'm passionate about the future of this market,” shared Stephanie Charman (pictured), the recently appointed chief executive of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), explaining why she wanted the role vacated by Robert Sinclair. “I've got big shoes to fill, from a predecessor perspective. Do I aim to fill those shoes? No, because I aim to do it differently. I want to do it my way.”
If her life had followed the plans which she initially envisaged as a teenager, Charman wouldn’t today be heading up AMI, which is one of the leading trade associations within the mortgage industry and advocates for the interests of intermediaries and associated businesses. “I left school planning to do a little bit of travelling and go to university to train as a doctor,” she said. “We had a life company on the South Coast where I lived - Abbey Life, at the time. My mum, and my aunt and my uncle worked there. My mum said, ‘If you want to go travelling, I suggest you come and work here for six months and earn some money.’
“So I went to Abbey Life and I never looked back. I fell into it, as most of us fell into financial services. I loved what I did, I never went travelling, nor to university to become a doctor, and just found this career path. Then I moved to a local building society and that led me into roles in intermediary distribution. I don't regret any of it - I would probably have had huge amounts of student debt.”
Having chanced on a career in financial services, Charman is keen that upcoming generations have a better understanding of the opportunities available to them in the sector, and AMI is actively working towards greater education of school pupils on what a mortgage career offers – not least because, she acknowledges, there is an ageing adviser base. “I would never have known that three quarters of the jobs that I have either worked in or know about now, working in this industry, even existed,” Charman said. “So how do we raise that awareness of people who are coming to the end of school or college of the meaningful purpose you can have in people's lives by operating in this sector? Do we need to make sure that more people make this meaningful choice? I really think we do because advisers make a massive difference to people's lives. There's such a link between mental well-being and mental health, and emotional well-being and financial well-being, and I think that's the role that advisers really play, facilitating someone’s vision of buying their dream home or meeting their financial needs.” Charman suggests that AMI could consult firms successful at recruitment about what they have learned. “It's definitely something that's a key passion of mine, and something we want to drive forward,” she added.
Read more: How relationships have changed in the mortgage industry since the pandemic
The journey to leading one of the industry’s biggest trade associations
Charman’s 28-year career has seen her in roles such as head of mortgages and insurance at Mortgage Intelligence, director of mortgages at Positive Lending, and latterly as group partnerships and propositions director at Sesame Bankhall Group, before joining AMI in February. Coming from an intermediary distribution role, Charman is bringing to AMI a different perspective from that of her predecessor, Sinclair, who was from a lender regulatory background. “Hopefully that intermediary distribution lens means that I understand what advisers really need and can hopefully talk from their aspect, because that’s who I have worked with,” she said.
She is honest that she had some fears about applying for the chief executive role. “I have struggled with imposter syndrome and a lot of women do,” she said. “I think lots of men do as well. I nearly didn't apply for the role because I thought, ‘Well, can I do that, do I tick all the boxes?’ ” It took for somebody else to point out to Charman that she could be a guiding light for others. “If you can show women who are coming up through that actually they can overcome their imposter syndrome, then they can overcome their challenges,” she said. “It's not about me, but it's about how I help other women see that they can be just as successful, and more successful.”
Charman has spoken publicly about the fertility struggles she faced before becoming a mother, and she isn’t afraid to address another female issue that can impact women’s working lives. “I talk a lot about the menopause, and the amount of women who step out of the workforce when they get to senior management or exec level positions, because they're hitting the menopause as well, and that has massive impacts on their career and their health and their well-being,” she explained. “So there's a whole host of things that, as I go through what I hope will be a long tenure in this role at AMI, can help support women. But also, from a male perspective, how we help men build their businesses with successful women.”
Does Charman believe there is now a level playing field for women in what has long been seen as a male-dominated industry? “There is still work to be done,” she reflected. “It is definitely getting better. If I go back not that many years, I would have sometimes been the only female or one of only a few females in the room. If you look at the women who hold senior positions across distribution, across lenders now, there are more women in those senior positions than there has ever been. We need to showcase that there are huge opportunities for women in this industry.”
Charman values being part of a team at AMI, and teamwork is a guiding lesson from her career to date. “Don't try to do it all yourself - I think we've all tried that, haven't we?” she said. “It's not about I, it's about we. It's about the team around you. I love building and working with a team. You quickly realise that you can't do it all on your on your own and that your real success comes from collaboration.”
It’s early days, of course, but Charman is clear about what she hopes will be her legacy from her stewardship of AMI. “If I can keep advice and the customer at the heart of everything that we do,” she said, “and the sector safe as it grows, and make sure that we are forward thinking and embracing new technology, such as AI, then I will have done well when my tenure comes to an end.”
So, she won’t suddenly have a mid-life crisis and announce that she’s quitting the role to take a gap year to travel, and then train as a doctor? “No, definitely not,” she said, smiling. “You're stuck with me.”
