Sharon Van Loenen: Head of Partnerships and Communications. The Voice Helping Keep Connect Informed, Connected and Moving Forward. In any successful mortgage network, communication matters.
Advisers need timely updates. Lenders and providers need strong working relationships. Networks need consistency, clarity and a shared sense of direction. When markets shift, criteria changes emerge and compliance expectations evolve, clear communication becomes even more important.
That is why Sharon Van Loenen’s role at Connect carries real value.
As Head of Partnerships and Communications, Sharon helps keep the network informed, connected and moving in the same direction. Her work supports advisers, strengthens lender relationships and helps ensure that important messages are delivered clearly, at the right time and in the right way.
Behind every strong network is a voice helping hold it all together.
What Does Head of Partnerships and Communications Mean?
It is a title that covers a wide range of responsibilities, but at Connect, it centres on one essential purpose: helping the network stay informed and connected.
In a busy mortgage network, information only becomes useful when it is shared effectively. Advisers need access to updates that help them support clients, grow their businesses and stay aligned with changing standards across the market.
Sharon helps make that happen.
Her role includes communicating the updates and opportunities that matter most to advisers across the network, including:
- Semi-exclusive and exclusive product updates
- Compliance changes
- Training opportunities
- Events and network initiatives
- CPD awards
- Important business announcements
- Wider network messaging that keeps advisers informed and engaged
This work supports a more cohesive adviser community. It also helps reduce confusion, improve awareness and create confidence across the network.
Why Clear Communication Matters in a Mortgage Network
The mortgage market does not stand still.
Lender criteria can change. Compliance expectations can shift. New opportunities can appear quickly. Advisers need to know what is changing, what it means and how they should respond.
When communication is unclear or delayed, the impact can be significant. Opportunities may be missed. Advisers may feel uncertain. Momentum can slow.
When communication is strong, the opposite happens.
Advisers feel informed and supported. They are better placed to act confidently, adapt to change and make the most of the opportunities available to them. This is especially important in a network environment, where many advisers rely on central communication to stay aligned with the wider business.
Sharon’s role helps bridge that gap. She supports a culture where information is not simply sent out, but communicated with purpose and clarity.
Supporting Strong Partnerships Across the Network
Communication is only one side of Sharon’s role. Partnerships are equally important.
With more than 200 lenders and providers across the network, strong relationships are essential to Connect’s health and success. These partnerships help shape the support, access and opportunities available to advisers and, ultimately, to their clients.
The relationship between lenders and networks plays a major role in the wider mortgage industry. Advisers continue to fill an important gap where digital lending alone cannot meet every customer’s needs, particularly in more complex areas of the market.
Lenders and intermediaries depend on each other. Both are working towards the same goal: helping customers secure a mortgage that suits their needs.
Those relationships do not maintain themselves. They need communication, consistency and care.
Sharon, alongside Connect’s Director of Mortgage, Jane Benjamin, helps lead that from the front. Together, they support the network’s relationships with lenders and providers, helping to ensure those partnerships remain active, valuable and aligned with the needs of advisers.
Bringing Events to Life for Advisers
One of the most visible parts of Sharon’s role is her work on events.
Events play an important role in helping advisers learn, connect and engage with the network. They also bring communication to life beyond email updates or internal messaging.
Whether it is lender and provider events, network initiatives, the ConnecTED Tours or the Connect Annual Conference, Sharon plays a central role in helping make them happen.
This involves:
- Liaising with venues
- Coordinating with lenders, providers and ARs
- Shaping event messaging
- Managing the details behind each initiative
- Helping create experiences that feel worthwhile, professional and genuinely useful for advisers
Well-run events add real value to a network. They give advisers the opportunity to build relationships, stay informed and gain practical insight that supports their day-to-day work. Sharon helps ensure those events reflect the standards and professionalism that advisers expect from Connect.
Supporting the Wider Connect Message
Sharon’s work also extends across wider communications and marketing activity.
Her role includes contributing to mailshots, company press releases, social media and broader messaging that supports the Connect brand. This helps ensure that the network’s message is not only seen, but properly understood by advisers, partners and the wider industry.
Consistency matters here.
A strong reputation does not happen by accident. It is built over time through clear communication, strong standards and reliable relationships. Sharon’s contribution helps support that reputation by making sure Connect communicates with professionalism and purpose.
She also supports industry award submissions, helping showcase the network’s strength in categories such as Network of the Year. This is another important part of how the business presents its value, achievements and identity within the mortgage sector.
Helping Advisers Feel Part of Something Bigger
A strong mortgage network should feel supportive, informed and well-connected.
Advisers should not feel isolated or disconnected from the wider business. They should feel part of a professional environment where information is shared clearly, opportunities are communicated effectively and relationships are built with purpose.
That is a key part of what Sharon helps deliver.
Her role connects people, opportunities and information across the network. She helps ensure advisers feel engaged, up to date and supported as part of a business that values communication and partnership.
This kind of support is not always the most visible part of a network, but it is one of the most important. It creates the structure that helps advisers work with greater confidence and clarity.
Why Sharon Van Loenen’s Role Matters
Every great network needs more than systems and services. It needs people who can bring everything together.
Sharon Van Loenen does exactly that through her work in partnerships and communications. She helps ensure advisers receive the information they need, strengthens the relationships that support the network and plays a major part in delivering events and messaging that keep Connect moving forward.
Her work matters because it helps create a network that feels informed, professional, and well-supported.
In a fast-moving mortgage market, that makes a real difference.
The Connect Difference
At Connect, strong communication is not an afterthought. It is part of what helps the network function effectively.
From product updates and compliance messaging to lender relationships, events and marketing activity, Sharon helps support the flow of information that keeps the network connected.
That is part of the Connect difference.
Real communication. Strong partnerships. A network that works to keep advisers informed, engaged and moving in the same direction.
Thank you for reading our “Head of Partnerships and Communications | Connect Network. Stay “Connect“-ed for more updates soon!