Fuller, who also won the Nelson/Marlborough regional award, became a mortgage broker in 2003 after leaving Westpac, initially working with Les McKay at Mortgage Link as a contract broker and then forging out on his own using what was to become the Prosper group as his aggregator.
Operating under the Prosper brand name for the past two years, Fuller says: "Everything I do, I try to do for the benefit of the client."
Fuller says he has a number of mentors to thank, including McKay and Prosper head and former New Zealand Mortgage Brokers Association (NZMBA) chairman Geoff Bawden.
He classes as role models Christchurch-based Rob Parsons, multi-award winner including the 2006 supreme award, and Craig Seton, of Mortgage Link Manawatu, winner of his region's award for eight out of nine years.
First runner-up was Auckland-based Bruce Patten of LoanMarket, who was last year's supreme award winner and who also won the greater Auckland regional award this year.
Second runner-up was John Bolton of Squirrel Financial Solutions who also won the mid-central Auckland regional award.
Other regional award winners were:
- Paul Wang of Mortgage success for the North Harbour and Northland region
- Phil Caldwell of Lime Group for the Waikato region
- Lee Johnson of Mike Pero Mortgages for the central North Island region
- Maria Pereira of Mike Pero Mortgages for the greater Wellington region
- James Heath of Mike Pero Mortgages for the Canterbury region
- Shane Crawford of Mike Pero Mortgages for the Otago/Southland region.
Current NZMBA chairman Darren Prattley was awarded the Geoff Chong memorial award for services to the industry over many years - previous winners include Mike Pero and former NZMBA chairmen Rob Tucker, Brian Berry and Bawden.
The Gary Dell Isola award for lender of the year went to Westpac Bank while the business development manager of the year award went to Laura Gregory at finance company DBR Limited.
