Denise Fowler
Chief Executive, Phoenix Community Housing

Denise has previously been the Chief Executive of Women’s Pioneer Housing and has been the Housing Ombudsman for England. Denise also co-founded and co-chairs the Women’s Housing Forum, which aims to raise awareness of the links between women’s housing needs and gender inequality. The Forum’s ambition is to encourage social housing providers and other partners to work together to tackle the issues that women face in finding and keeping suitable housing.

Kanika Selvan
SID and Chair, Customer Experience Committee, Incommunities and Managing Director, Beetroot Consulting

Kanika is Senior Independent Director, NED and Chair of Incommunities Customer Experience Committee. She is also a professional speaker who creates thought leadership, championing diversity and inclusion on topics such as change, technology, leadership, and innovation. Founder of Beetroot Consulting, a tech, change consultancy that works with SMEs to develop their digital maturity, she leads both technical change and people change, offering a holistic perspective that considers the business, infrastructure, data and applications.

Charmaine Simei
Chief Executive, Tuntum Housing

Charmaine has been working in social housing and related fields for some 28 years. Since graduating in 1995, she has enjoyed a wide range of roles from front-line worker to CEO. Charmaine was voted 'Professional of the Year' at the Women in Housing Awards 2021, primarily for establishing the Community Investment arm at Longhurst Housing Association. Charmaine has previously been a mentor with the Housing Diversity Network, and has sat on a number of steering Groups including HACTs Racial Equality Group. She is currently a serving board member with Communities that Work.

Halisha Kaur
Chair, CIH Futures

Halisha joined housing through a graduate scheme in development following completing a degree in City and Regional Planning. Halisha’s passion for the sector drove her to volunteer for CIH Futures and become Chair. Halisha believes that “Housing is more than bricks and mortar, our jobs are about providing a safe, secure home and new life opportunities to allow our residents to thrive”. Halisha lobbies to make housing a career of choice for the next generation and to increase the diversity of voices heard within the sector.

Trina Chakravarti
Director, Building Better

Trina co-founded Building Better with four housing association colleagues during the National Housing Federation's Greenhouse programme in 2018. Building Better has since grown to become an alliance of 30 social housing providers committed to delivering the highest quality housing through MMC with aggregation and collaboration at its heart. Over 1,500 units have been assessed for viability under the Category 1 / modular framework and Category 2 / panelised DPS.

Kevin Maxwell MBE
Head of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, St Mungo’s

Kevin has a diverse work experience, starting from their role as a Detective at Greater Manchester Police in 2001. Kevin then joined the Metropolitan Police as a Detective in 2008 until 2012. Following this, they worked as a Lecturer at the University of East London in 2022. Kevin became the Head of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at St Mungo's in 2021. They later became a Trustee at Your Place (formerly Caritas Anchor House) in 2022. Additionally, they served as a Scrutiny Panelist at Islington & Shoreditch Housing Association starting from 2023. Currently, Kevin is a member of the ED&I in Housing Steering Group at the National Housing Federation since January 2024.

Jesse Fajemisin
Director of Business Operations - Mount Green, Board Member - Gloucester City Homes, Mount Green

Jesse has over 12 years’ experience in housing, most of which has been in the G15, and in positions of leadership. At Sapphire Independent Housing, he is the executive lead for housing, leasehold and asset management services. He is also a Board Member for Gloucester City Homes, where he is the Vice Chair of their Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee too.