The private lender has welcomed a new director of origination and senior business development and aggregator partnerships manager to its team.
Specialist non-bank lender Pallas Capital has announced two new appointments to support its origination strategy and broader broker engagement.
Joseph John (JJ) Mills has joined the lender as its new director, origination at Pallas Capital. In his new position, which he started in July, Mills is focusing on expanding broker and borrower relationships.
Mills was most recently the investment director at investment platform YSC Partners (headed up by former broker Adrian Lee), where he was responsible for sourcing and structuring mid-market property transactions across Australia’s eastern seaboard, including construction facilities, land loans, and residual stock finance.
He previously held senior roles in banking, including as associate director of corporate property and association director of infrastructure at National Australia Bank (NAB), and as an associate of property finance at the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ).
Meanwhile, Portia Ridley has joined the Melbourne team as senior business development & aggregator partnerships manager, where she will help the lender grow aggregator partnerships and expand broker engagement nationally.
Ridley joined Pallas Capital in August after moving across from non-bank lender ORDE Financial, where she was state manager/senior business development manager for Victoria. In her previous role, she helped launch a full product suite across residential, commercial, SMSF, and development finance.
The new senior business development & aggregator partnerships manager has more than 11 years of experience, having begun her career at La Trobe Financial in 2015, moving her way up from credit administration to state manager of client partnerships.
According to Pallas Capital, the appointments aim to reinforce the lender’s commitment to delivering “fast, flexible lending solutions to brokers and borrowers in the underserved mid-market segment”.
Noting the new hires’ expertise in origination strategy and broker engagement, Jason Arnold, head of origination at Pallas Capital, commented: “We’re thrilled to welcome JJ and Portia to the team.
“JJ’s experience in structuring complex transactions and guiding origination strategy, combined with Portia’s strong broker relationships and aggregator expertise, will enhance our ability to serve the market with a truly client-focused approach.”
Speaking of his new position, Mills said: “Pallas Capital has a reputation for delivering tailored funding solutions with speed and precision.
“I look forward to growing our lending capability in Sydney, supporting brokers with responsive deal execution, and helping clients unlock new opportunities in the property market.”
Ridley commented: “The aggregator channel plays a vital role in connecting brokers and borrowers with tailored lending solutions.
“I’m excited to help strengthen our presence in this space and make it easier for brokers to match clients with the right funding – faster.”
Pallas Capital suggested that the two new senior appointments will help strengthen its ability to provide tailored funding with speed and precision and noted that it has arranged over 1,080 transactions with a total value exceeding $9.3 billion since inception.
It reportedly has a current investment book of about $3.3 billion across over 300 loans and other investment types.
The non-bank lender’s expansion of its team and institutional capacity follows a period of strong strategic growth. A key development was the launch of a $185 million construction warehouse facility in February, which is the company’s sixth institutional warehouse and the first dedicated specifically to funding construction loans.
The move was a direct response to the increasing demand for construction finance in a market where traditional bank lending has seemingly become more restrictive, according to the lender.
Construction lending already accounts for over 40 per cent of the company’s total loan book.
The lender has also recorded a strong financial year 2025, having settled a record $807 million in new loans over the December quarter, and $602 million in the March quarter, before ramping up later in the year.
The demand drivers in the quarter were investment loans on stabilised assets, pre-development loans for new sites, and an uptick in residual stock loans as developers grew more optimistic about future sales.
[Related: Pallas Capital launches $185m construction warehouse facility]
