Meet the team

Dan Ware

CEO

Dan has been working in fintech, financial services and marketing for almost twenty years. He started off in a creative and design capacity, moving into B2C and B2B, PR and Marketing, as well as Strategic Marketing, Communications and Statistical Analysis.

Over the years, Dan has worked across numerous brands including Havana Club Rum, Sacla, Anthony Nolan, The Richmond Group and TablePouncer. More recently, he was CEO and driving force for award winning businesses DJS (UK) Limited and PiggyBank.

In terms of recognition within the industry, Dan was named 2019 Outstanding Young Executive by the Global Business Excellence Awards and listed as one of the Top CEOs in the UK at the CEO Today Awards 2018.

As well as being a business leader, Dan is a big family man, and spends his spare time doting on his wife and three sons.

Read our interview with Dan to find out more about him!

Ramzi Al-Masri

CFO

Ramzi is a Big4 and Top10 trained Chartered Accountant with a strong technical audit and accounting background as well as experience in Performance Improvement consultancy. He has previously worked in a senior group commercial finance role for a multinational organisation, and most recently as a finance director of an award winning fintech business. This experience means that Ramzi brings both technical and commercial finance experience with him as Chief Finance Officer.

As part of the senior management team, Ramzi oversees the day to day running of the finance and HR departments. He additionally contributes financial expertise to the strategy and operations of the business.

When he isn’t working, Ramzi’s personal project is the ongoing renovation of his home, where he lives with his wife and three children.

Rob Samuel

Operations Director

Rob has had a varied career, spending ten years across the financial industry. He started out in retail banking and moved into alternative lending six years ago.

Rob has earned four promotions during his tenure, and now heads up operations for the company. This means he is involved with all major projects, and has exposure to all areas of the business. These areas include marketing, credit risk, customer care, finance and fech - having oversight of such a variety of departments allows Rob a more balanced view. 

This helps to ensure that all decisions have the key stakeholders’ best interests at the core, whilst reaching commercially viable and sustainable solutions.

In his spare time, Rob is a keen golfer - you can find him on the course most weekends, practicing his swing!

Sam Baxter

Head of Business Relations and HR

Sam has worked within the Financial Services industry for over ten years. He started off working in a call centre, before working his way up through various levels of senior management as well as across a number of departments. 

In his most recent job, when an opportunity arose to move into the accounts department, Sam studied AAT as well as ACCA in order to become an accounts assistant, then a group management accountant. Within this role, Sam developed key partnerships with suppliers and lead generators, helping to reduce costs and increase business relations. He furthermore developed skills within health and safety (IOSH registered) and in the HR sector.

Sam likes to keep active in his spare time, often running or cycling to work. He also enjoys spending time with his wife, whether it’s marathoning Marvel movies at home, or taking luxurious trips abroad.

Marc Linley

Sales & Recruitment

Marc has primarily worked within the finance and recruitment sectors over the past decade, for brands such as the Richmond Group, Harvey Sturtt and Amigo Loans.

From 2014 to 2019 Marc was Head of Recruitment and Training at DJS (UK) Limited, and was responsible for expanding the call centre from a few phone based agents to a large multi channel contact centre.

Marc has a talent for getting to know candidates, and ensuring they will be a good culture fit for an organisation. He believes that longevity is always something to strive for when it comes to recruitment.  

When not working, Marc loves spending time with his friends and family. He’s always on the go, and has an incomparable zest for life!

Nikki Brown

Digital Marketing Manager

The newest addition to the Big Golden Pineapple family, Nikki joined as our Digital Marketing Manager in 2022.

Bringing more than eight years of financial services experience, and six years of marketing knowledge, Nikki is a valuable addition to the team. Having shaped the marketing strategy at her previous role Nikki will help us to reach and support more customers across our range of products.

In her free time Nikki co-hosts a podcast, enjoys all things creative, such as reading, writing, painting, and spends a lot of time walking her dog through the local fields. Nikki is happiest when camping deep in the beautiful UK countryside!

Danny Hobbs

Audit & Quality Manager

Since Danny founded his first audit team, he has adopted a thorough and rigorous approach to ensuring that excellence and quality is delivered by all teams that he monitors. 

This is no doubt thanks to his huge breadth of experience in alternative finance, including guarantor lending and short term loans. Danny has personally excelled across numerous operational departments including complaints, recoveries, collections and underwriting.

Danny is able to highlight where an operation is excelling, as well as where there is room for improvement. He then uses his knowledge and experience to bring forward realistic and sustainable solutions, to ensure that the business continues to go from strength to strength. 

In his spare time, Danny spends a lot of time with his family. He also enjoys keeping fit, and makes regular use of Bournemouth's long beaches by cycling and running.

Hannah Melvin

Communications Manager

Hannah started working for the company in the email communications team, sending bespoke emails to customers. She then went on to create a bank of automated messages to be sent out, before moving to a more marketing based role. Her MA in Creative Entrepreneurship allowed her to seamlessly adapt to such a position, with her experience in marketing across multiple channels. 

Hannah has a natural drive and ability when it comes to writing content, whether it’s for a small or large audience. She has a wealth of knowledge regarding the financial industry, built up over working in this sector for the last five years. 

In her free time, Hannah is an avid reader, and enjoys creating intricate and personalised artwork for friends and family.