Bruce Moore
Chief Executive, Housing 21

Bruce joined Housing 21 as Chief Executive in 2013. Before that, Bruce was Chief Executive for Hanover Housing Group and had previously been Chief Executive of Wolverhampton Homes and Deputy Chief Executive of Anchor Trust. Bruce’s early career was as an in-house lawyer and he is a qualified solicitor, but he has spent more than 20 years leading change and seeking to improve the provision of housing and care for older people. Bruce has served and continues to serve as a board member for a number of housing organisations, charities and a local authority owned care company. He completed a PhD considering the differences in attitudes and expectation of the governance role of boards of housing associations in 2017 and then undertook a further PhD on the priorities and preferences of residents of Retirement and Extra Care Housing that he completed in early 2021.

Catherine Thomas
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Clarion Housing Group

Catherine leads the work at Clarion Housing Group to influence government policy and create positive change in the housing sector.  Prior to joining Clarion in February 2020, Catherine held senior marketing and communications roles in real estate and retail. Her skills in placemaking and destination marketing were honed at Land Securities, where she led the communications team for Victoria SW1, including Nova, the highly successful mixed-use complex. She has also worked on major European and Middle Eastern real estate projects.

Charley Gibbons
Group Chief Executive, emh group

Charmaine Simei
Chief Executive, Tuntum Housing

Charmaine has been working in social housing and related fields for some 30 years. Currently in role as CEO at Tuntum Housing based in Nottingham, a BME led organisation; Charmaine has enjoyed a varied and successful career working with some of the most marginalised and vulnerable communities within society.In April 2021, she was voted 'Professional of the Year' at the Women in Housing Awards 2021, primarily for establishing the Community Investment arm at Longhurst Housing Association which had delivered over 18,000 support interventions at the time of her departure. Charmaine became the CEO of Tuntum Housing in October 2023 and has supported the organisation to regain its G1 rating.

A keen advocate for social justice and social mobility, Charmaine has previously been a mentor with the Housing Diversity Network and sat on a number of steering Groups including HACTs Racial Equality Group. She has recently stood down as a board member for Communities that Work and currently serves as an executive member of BME national.

Heather Thomas
Chief Executive, Sapphire Independent Housing

Heather has been the Chief Executive of Sapphire Independent Housing, a smaller housing association located in North London that offers supported housing and general needs homes, since 2016. Before her current role, she worked as an executive director of operations for several registered providers. She is vice chair of the g320 group of smaller London housing associations and sits on its executive committee. Heather recently completed her tenure as the Chair of CCHA, the local housing association in Croydon, South London, where she lives. She is a corporate member of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has a Master’s degree in Organisational Behaviour.

John Ghader
Chief Executive, Prima Group

John has worked in Housing for over 35 years, both within Local Authorities and Housing Associations, and also spent some time working for the Audit Commission and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). John is a Fellow of the CIH and has an MBA from Bradford University. As Group CEO, John reports directly to the Prima Group Board and has overall responsibility for delivering the Group’s Corporate Strategy and is accountable for Prima Group, which includes: Pierhead Housing Association (PHA), Leasowe Community Homes (LCH) and Prima Commercial (PC). John is also an Executive Member of the Group’s Commercial Board.

Jonathan Layzell
Chief Executive, Stonewater

Jonathan Layzell was appointed Chief Executive of Stonewater in June 2025. A respected sector leader with over 20 years’ experience, Jonathan brings deep expertise in affordable housing, customer service transformation, and strategic growth. Before becoming CEO, Jonathan led Stonewater’s national housebuilding programme—delivering more than 1,000 new homes every year—and spearheaded major mergers and acquisitions. He also held interim responsibility for the Customer Directorate, supporting services for over 93,000 customers. Jonathan has led nationally significant bids, including securing over £500 million in funding for Stonewater from Homes England, and has pioneered initiatives in sustainability, public art, and community investment.

Kate Smith
Chief Executive, Connexus

Kate has a wealth of experience gained from over 15 years at executive level in the social housing sector, with organisations of scale, complexity and ambition. Before joining Connexus Kate worked for national housing and care provider Anchor, where she was group executive director of business services for five years. Kate has held executive leadership positions at Southern Housing and bpha, as well as a number of non-executive positions.

Mark Gifford
Chief Executive, First Choice Homes Oldham

Mel Barrett
Chief Executive, Metropolitan Thames Valley

Mel is Chief Executive of MTVH (Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing) one of the UK’s leading providers of affordable homes to rent and buy. He is a former local authority Chief Executive with extensive experience in the leadership of customer facing services, transformation initiatives, and large-scale regeneration and development projects. Since joining MTVH in September 2024, Mel has led the organisation through a Regulatory Inspection, with MTVH compliant with all standards, including the newly introduced Consumer Standards, and overseen a development programme which has delivered 544 new homes and a 5-year development pipeline of 4,970 new homes. Mel is a Trustee of the Whitehall & Industry Group, a charity focused on collaborative cross sector leadership development. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Land Management, an MBA from City University Business School and is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Paul Dolan
Chief Executive, Riverside

Paul Dolan took up his post as Group Chief Executive of Riverside in 2024, following seven years as Chief Executive at Accent Group. Paul has a successful track record in delivering transformational business and culture change. He is experienced in organisational turnarounds, taking businesses from positions of serious regulatory failure to full compliance. Paul has led both not for profit and commercial businesses, and managed stakeholders through complex organisational change. In 2019, he successfully led Accent to a record-breaking deal with the UK social housing sector’s lowest ever price on a long-dated public bond. Prior to his time with Accent, Paul was a former chief executive of Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust(JJHT) from February 2014 to April2017, where he steered the organisation to financial stability, regulatory compliance and through a comprehensive reform of governance. He delivered JJHT’s new vision and provided the organisation with a clear purpose and a national voice for retirement living.

Selina White
Chief Executive, Magna Housing

Selina has led Magna Housing for six years, where she has championed innovative solutions for affordable housing across the South West. As the Chief Executive, she has spearheaded initiatives that prioritise community well-being, sustainability, inclusivity and growth. Selina’s unwavering commitment to affordable housing has made her a respected voice in the industry. She actively collaborates with stakeholders to address housing challenges.

Selina is Chair of the National Housing Federation’s South West Leadership Forum and plays a pivotal role in shaping housing policies and strategies in the region. She is also a dedicated member of Homes for the South West, a collaboration of the 12 largest developing housing associations in the region, helping to shape national housing policy and driving positive change.