Nick Atkin
Chief Executive, Yorkshire Housing

Nick has a track record of leading organisations through transformational change, driving performance improvement, with a focus on maximising the untapped potential from businesses and people. Born and brought up in Doncaster he joined Yorkshire Housing in 2019. Since this time, he’s delivered transformational change throughout the business to meet the future opportunities and challenges. Nick has previously introduced a fully flexible/ remote working approach. He also led the move to 90% of customer led transactions to be delivered through online self-service channels. He is a keen advocate of innovation and uses digital as an enabler to drive fundamental change in how businesses operate. He is also a disruptor in the ‘future of work’ debate and has been paperless for 19 years.

Mel Barrett
Chief Executive, Metropolitan Thames Valley

Mel is responsible for providing policy advice to elected councillors and providing visible leadership to the council’s 7,000 staff delivering vital public services, securing economic growth and improving life chances. He was previously Chief Executive of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and has a successful track record in the management of large scale customer facing services, organisational change and transformation initiatives, and the delivery of large scale regeneration and development projects. Mel is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and an alumnus of the City University, London MBA Programme, as well as a Commissioner for the Commission for Creating Healthy Cities.

Martin Collett
Chief Executive, English Rural Housing Associations

Martin has been working in the rural housing sector for around 20 years. He is a Corporate Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, graduate of the University of London and former Chair of the Rural Housing Alliance. Martin is also a Trustee for the rural community business charity the Plunkett Foundation, a Director of the Rural Services Network, and a Trustee of the LGBT+ youth homelessness charity the Albert Kennedy Trust.

Ruth Cooke
Chief Executive, GreenSquare Accord

Ruth is passionate about the importance of housing and care and support services, having spent virtually her whole career working in and with housing associations. A highly experienced chief executive and finance director, Ruth has held Chief Executive positions at Clarion Housing Group and Midland Heart, followed by two years as Group Chief Executive of GreenSquare. She has also held several senior finance positions.

Ruth has spearheaded major programmes to improve the service delivery of housing associations including the development of new corporate strategy, the transformation of financial and operational performance and the redesign and refocus of customer services. Ruth is dedicated to ensuring that GreenSquareAccord is a brilliant landlord.

Emily Cox MBE
Chair, Gentoo

Emily lives in the north-east and has built up a wide array of senior political contacts across the whole of the North. She frequently represents the Group in Policy discussions, including chairing a discussion on social housing at Labour Party Conference featuring the Shadow Secretary for Levelling-up and the Shadow Housing Minister. She also has a depth of relationship important regional stakeholders at the Combined Authorities, especially the new North East where she has been involved in designing the authority’s approach to growth. Her role as Chair of the Gentoo Housing Association has provided added value to our discussions on themes like social housing. Emily also represents the Group on a number of regional organisations, including the North East LEP, where she sits on the board. She is incredibly passionate about gender diversity, and was awarded an MBE in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to gender diversity in the FS sector.

Paul Fiddaman
Chief Executive, Karbon Homes

Paul is the Group Chief Executive of Karbon Homes, an organisation with close to 30,000 homes and 800 staff in the north east of England and Yorkshire. Paul qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse (now PwC) before joining Sunderland Football Club as Financial Controller and then Secretary and General Manager in 1992. He became involved in housing as a board member and moved into the sector to become Director of Finance and Development with Enterprise 5 Housing Association in 1996. He has been involved in housing ever since in various senior roles, becoming Chief Executive of Isos Housing before it merged to become Karbon Homes in April 2017.

Tracey Gore
Director, Steve Biko Housing Association

Tracey has over 30 years’ experience of working in the social housing sector and is currently the Director of Steve Biko Housing Association. Tracey is a member of the Better Social Housing Review (BSHR)  Steering Group, and Chair of the  BSHR Race Task Group. Tracey is a member the National Housing Federation EDI group, a member of BME National Executive group, a Liverpool CitySafe Board member, and Chair of the Liverpool Strategic Hate Crime Group. Tracey is also a member of  Liverpool City Region Equalities in Housing Group and has previously held the position of Chair.

Elly Hoult
Chief Operating Officer, Peabody Trust

Elly has over 22 years' experience in the housing sector, working her way up from supported housing officer to executive level roles. Elly was previously the Group Director, Assets and Sustainability at Notting Hill Genesis.  Her earlier roles were Programme Director, leading the integration programme for Notting Hill and Genesis, and Director of Business Improvement as well as a range of roles at Orbit and A2 Dominion.  Elly is a Board Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, sits on the National Housing Federation’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group and is a member of the Green Spaces Advisory Board.

Mike Kirk
Board chair, Hyde Housing Association

Mike is Chair of the Hyde Group Board. He joined Hyde in 2021 from housing association Vivid, where he was Chair from 2017, following the merger of First Wessex (where he was Chair from 2015) and Sentinel.

He is currently a trustee of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust and was previously Executive Chairman at Quadrise Fuels International plc, Chair of Portsmouth Water, Senior Independent Director at KBC Advanced Technologies plc, Chair of The Conservation Volunteers and Chair of Thackray Museum of Medicine.

Mike studied chemical engineering and nuclear fuels technology, at the University of Leeds and Imperial College, respectively and was a Chartered Engineer. After working in the nuclear and chemical industries, he worked as a loss prevention engineer in the insurance industry covering clients throughout EMEA. After gaining a Finance MBA from Bayes Business School, Mike worked in corporate finance and became a Partner at investment bank Cazenove & Co. and then was Managing Director of Financial PR agency Weber Shandwick/Square Mile before commencing a plural career as a non-executive director.

Fayann Simpson
Senior Independent Director, L&Q

Fayann, who joined the Group Board in 2018, has devoted nearly 20 years to working as an involved resident. For two decades she has worked tirelessly with L&Q and the wider social housing sector to drive continuous improvement in the quality of homes and services. Following the Grenfell tragedy, she has also taken a place on Dame Judith Hackitt's Industry Safety Steering Group, She is currently the Chair for L&Q’s Resident Services Board, Chair of the South Neighbourhood Committee, and a member of L&Q’s Audit and Risk Committee.

Paul Smith
Chief Executive, Elim Housing

Paul has worked in housing for over 30 years, both supported and general needs. He has been the Chief Executive of two organisations, Housing Potential UK (the housing skills body) and the Furniture Re-use Network. He has worked at a senior level for two housing associations and prior to joining Elim was the Cabinet Member for Housing at Bristol city Council. Paul believes his priorities are excellent customer service, sustainable growth of the business and ensuring good governance informed by the views and needs of our residents. Paul has overall responsibility for the delivery of our corporate plan and the delivery of services to all our customers.

Heather Thomas
Chief Executive Officer, 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.

Matt Baird
Founder and Recruitment Partner, The Social Housing Roundtable and SpireHouse

Matt has over 13 years of experience supporting the social housing sector. He has served as Board Co-Chair for Spring Housing and St Annes Hostel and founded The Social Housing Round Table, a platform connecting thousands of sector stakeholders. On a day-to-day basis he recruits staff for the sector nationally in partnership with Spirehouse Recruitment with his clients nicknaming him “the ethical recruiter”. As an advocate for change and authentic dialogue, Matt champions the needs of tenants and professionals within the social housing space, believing that it’s only through open discussion that true change can occur.

"With the incredible success of last year’s conference, it’s fantastic to be involved with putting together a programme that is focused on what the sector has requested and needs. Being a part of this panel provides the opportunity to truly share ideas of those that we work with in the sector to create a conference that those who truly care about making things better can be proud of."

Luke Jno-Baptiste
Head of Neighbourhoods, South Liverpool Homes

Luke is a Chartered Housing Professional with over 10 years’ experience within the sector. He is currently the Housing Management Services Manager at Riverside Housing Group, delivering a nationwide service. Previously, Luke was a Senior Community Engagement Officer at Community Gateway Association (CGA), where his team gained national awards for tenant engagement. Luke is a member of the Housing Diversity Network BAME Action Learning Set and uses his experiences in equality and inclusion across the sector by delivering talks across the country on driving Board Diversity. Luke has an in-depth understanding of the benefits of social housing and homelessness prevention through his lived experience and uses this to ensure customer needs are heard and acted upon at a strategic level.

Anne Chapman
Assistant Director of Governance and Compliance & Independent Member of the Audit and Risk Committee, Golding Homes & CIH

Having extensive governance, strategic and legal experience, Anne is the corporate lead for governance and compliance matters and the Company Secretary for housing association, Golding Homes. Anne has held many non-executive board positions and is currently the Vice Chair of Eldon Housing Association, an independent member of the Audit and Risk Committee at the Chartered Institute of Housing and a trustee of the homelessness charity, Porchlight.

Caritas Charles
Senior Policy and Insight and Innovation Manager, Tpas

Caritas has worked in the sector for 24 years in numerous roles at a frontline and strategic level . In his current role he works with Tpas members in informing on and helping to shape national housing policy and ensuring that people who live in social housing have their voices heard. A scrutiny geek he also facilitates the National Scrutiny Club. Keen to bring new ideas in engagement to the sector Caritas has written a guide to using deliberative engagement methods and is currently looking at global engagement best practice.

“I am delighted to be asked again to be on the Advisory Panel for the Housing Community Summit. The inaugural event was a huge success demonstrating the passion, commitment and dedication that is out there in our sector and the amazing work we do when we all come together. 2024 set the bar high, I cant wait to see what we can put together for 2025.”

Richard Clark
Head of Housing and Neighbourhoods, Bournville Village Trust

Richard has worked in housing for 19 years. Richard has held Community Safety based roles due to his background in the police. In 2011 he completed one of the final CIH Professional Housing Studies degrees at Birmingham City University, which gave him the opportunity to learn more about the sector and enter into housing management leadership roles outside of anti-social behaviour and community safety. After several management roles across the Midlands and London, in 2022 Richard joined Bournville Village Trust as Head of Housing and Neighbourhoods. BVT is an organisation steeped in history and matches Richard’s values of community building and creating thriving and sustainable communities for our residents to live.

“I am looking forward to how the event will help us understand how other organisations are meeting the challenges of the Tenant Satisfaction Measures and taking away best practice examples around customer experience and neighbourhood management.”

Nicki Clarke
Head of Housing, Standing Together Against Domestic Violence

Nicki is the Head of Housing at Standing Together Against Domestic Abuse, leading the Housing team to ensure that survivors of domestic abuse can access safe and secure housing. Nicki also sits on the National Domestic Abuse and Housing Policy and Practice Group, working with partners across the sector to influence national policy around this area. Prior to this Nicki spent more than 13 years working frontline in various roles within social housing and as the Domestic Abuse lead for Westward Housing she successfully guided them to achieve DAHA Accreditation in 2022.

"The Housing Community Summit is an event that really delivers for housing providers, offering a wide range of subject matter from engaging and interesting speakers. It is fantastic to be part of helping to shape this!"

Sharon Cosgrove
Chief Executive, Oaklee Housing (Ireland)

Stewart Davison
Founder and Vice Chair, Elehan Consulting and Elim Housing

Stewart has had a diverse career including nearly 10 years in the British Army. Stewart has worked in the field of Social Housing and Proptech for over 25 years and is passionate about how technology can be a force for positive change, having worked in both front line social housing and for technology companies he strives to inform, educate and implement new technologies to improve the lives of tenants and residents across the UK.

Neil Goodrich
Head of Customer Performance and Improvement, SNG

Neil has studied and/or worked in the social housing sector for the best part of 15 years, primarily working in positions that focused on performance, analysis and report development. A chartered member of the CIH, he was one of the founding members, and a former chair, of the CIH Futures Board. An experienced housing professional, Neil has worked in a number of organisations across England and has recently joining Sovereign Network Group to be their new Head of Customer Performance and Improvement. Prior to that he spent just under 10 years at Orbit in various roles having started his career at Family Housing Association (Birmingham) Ltd (now part of Citizen Housing).

Sophie Hayward
Head of Housing, Westmoreland Supported Housing

Sophie is the Head of Housing at Westmoreland, with 13 years of experience in both general needs and supported housing settings. She is passionate about amplifying tenants’ voices, championing fairness, and fostering empowerment. Sophie is dedicated to enabling individuals to lead better, more independent lives by prioritising their needs and advocating for positive change within the housing sector.

"I am thrilled to be a part of the panel again for the Housing Community Summit 2025. This event offers a valuable platform to connect with people, exchange ideas, and work together on innovative solutions to the pressing challenges facing housing today. Last year’s Summit was a tremendous success, marked by a friendly and wholesome atmosphere where housing matters remained at the very core of every conversation. I look forward to building on last year’s momentum and contributing to impactful discussions that inspire positive change and help create more inclusive, sustainable communities for the future."

Dr Kelly Henderson
Founder and Managing Director, Addressing Domestic Abuse

Crystal Hicks
Director, Crisis

Crystal is an experienced housing professional and CIH member. She is Vice President of Women in social housing and was until recently lead for the CIH North East group. Working across the housing and homelessness sector for over a decade she is currently a Director at Crisis, whilst also sitting on the board of Church Housing Association. Known for her work in creating a fairer, more equitable sector for colleagues and tenants, Crystal is an influential advocate and campaigner locally and nationally.

"I’ve been actively involved in designing, delivering, and attending CIH and NHF events for a number of years. I’m passionate about ensuring that Summit represents a diverse range of voices, creating a platform for our tenants and those with lived experience of homelessness to shape our thinking and discussions. The Housing Community Summit is establishing itself as the must attend event of the year and I’m keen the programme is accessible and relevant for attendees – with everyone leaving feeling inspired, better informed and with new connections."

Sue Hodgson
Chair and Member, Thurrock Council Resident Scrutiny Board & Mears Scrutiny Panel

Sue is a retired Civil Servant, having given up work to look after her husband, who was suffering from cancer. She is a member of Mears Scrutiny Board and the Chair of Thurrock Resident Improvement Board. She is the Tenant representative on overview and Scrutiny for place at Thurrock Council, and is the Thurrock Council elected representative on the Tenants Board of the Association of Retained Council Housing. Sue is also Vice Chair of Thurrock Sea Cadets.

“I am very interested in the subject of repairs, especially for vulnerable tenants and young tenants. I also am interested in the subject of Damp and mould at the Housing Community Summit.”

Sem Lee
Director and Founder, OURI Labs

Sem Lee is an urban strategist and social entrepreneur with over 11 years programme managing sustainability, communication and design projects. Deeply affected by our housing crisis founded OURI Labs, a practice specialising in participatory research and design working between urban planning policy and practice to help reduce the problem of the approximate £1.4bn cost to the NHS due to poor housing in the UK. Collaborators include Health Innovation North East North Cumbria, Greater London Authority, Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and UK Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.

"With the current challenges facing social housing delivery, this collaborative platform comes at a crucial time. I'm particularly passionate about social housing's vital role in addressing health inequalities, and I believe this summit will allow us to collectively explore creative solutions to meet ambitious housebuilding targets while ensuring we create homes that truly serve our communities' needs. The prospect of engaging with diverse perspectives and facilitating crucial, challenging discussions that will help shape the future of social housing makes this panel particularly exciting."

Michaela McCusker
Assistant Manager, Northern Ireland Housing Executive and CIH Futures Board Member

Victoria McDonald
Social Impact Manager, Hightown Housing Association

Michelle Meldrum
Chief Executive, Berwickshire Housing Association

Latif Patel
Project Manager, Places for People

Latif is an accomplished area manager and project manager at Places for People. He holds over 15 years of leadership in the housing Sector, key knowledge in social housing relations, complaints handling, consumer standards, tenancy and estate management, repairs and maintenance, asset and investments, new build developments, and mixed tenure schemes.

“My role in the planning of the Housing Community Summit is informed by my extensive experience in housing management, overseeing a diverse portfolio of over 4000 homes. This experience spans social housing, new build developments, and mixed tenure schemes. I am genuinely excited about the opportunity to contribute to the planning and advisory group for the event. I am particularly eager to initiate and engage in dialogues centred on strategies and best practices for enhancing BAME representation in these key roles.”

Chris Pinson-Bradley
Community Engagement Manager, Platform Housing Group

Chris has worked in the affordable housing sector for 20+ years and has seen a lot of change during that time. He is currently employed by Platform Housing Group as their Community Engagement Manager and is passionate about the customer voice and ensuring they provide services that meet and exceed customer need.

"I’ve been involved with the CIH since 2006 undertaking a number of regional board positions in the West Midlands. I’m really excited to be part of this advisory panel & build on the success of last year’s Summit.”

Jo Rees-Wigmore
Chartered Surveyor - Affordable Housing Specialist

Ailish Whitehouse
Rough Sleeper Initiative Project Lead, Birmingham Voluntary Service Council