Lord Victor Adebowale CBE
Chair, NHS Confederation

Lord Victor Adebowale became chair of the NHS Confederation in 2020. Before this, he was CEO of Turning Point, a social enterprise providing health and social care interventions to approximately 100,000 people on an annual basis. He is a non-Executive Director of the Co-Operative Group, Collaborate CIC, Nuffield Health, Visionable and Leadership in Mind. He is also the Chair of Social Enterprise UK. Victor served for 6 years as a Non-Executive Director on the board of NHS England. He has chaired a number of commission reports into: policing; employment; mental health; housing and fairness for The London Fairness Commission; the Metropolitan Police; and for central and local government. He was awarded a CBE for services to the unemployed and homeless people, and became a crossbench peer in 2001. Victor is an honorary member of the Institute of Psychiatry, President of The International Association of Philosophy and Psychiatry and a Governor at The London School of Economics. In 2023, Victor was given the Outstanding Contribution to Public Health Award by the Royal Society of Public Health.

Pooja Agrawal
Chief Executive Officer, Public Practice

Ruhena Ahmed
Deputy Director, Social Housing Quality and Residents, Social Housing Directorate, Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)

Ruhena Ahmed is the Deputy Director for Social Housing Quality and Residents within the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Her responsibilities include the physical decency of social housing, the quality of social housing services, tenants voice, and redress. She has previously worked as a Senior Civil Servant at the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Terrie Alafat
Chair, Riverside Group and NHF Future of Supported Housing Advisory Board

Terrie served as Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing from 2015 to 2019 and has a wealth of housing experience spanning over 30 years. Her previous appointments include Director of Housing at the Department of Communities and Local Government where she was responsible for national housing polices including affordable housing, homelessness and supported housing. Terrie has extensive NED experience in housing and homelessness organisations. Currently she is a trustee of the Nationwide Foundation and JRF, as well as chairing JRHT. She is also Senior Independent Director for Grosvenor Hart Homes. Her wealth of knowledge of the housing sector and her work in shaping policy is instrumental in continuing to take the Riverside Group forward as one of the country’s leading providers of housing and homelessness services.

Jo Allen
Head of Member Relations, National Housing Federation

Jo has worked at the NHF since 2015. Prior to joining the NHF, she worked in policy and public affairs roles in local government, the banking sector and the British Embassy in Madrid.

Amanprit Arnold
Disability Urban Strategist, Disability Urbanism

Amanprit Arnold is a visionary Disability Urban Strategist, changemaker and problem-solver. She specialises in accessible design, urban innovation, disability inclusion, social impact, inclusive growth and investment. Born Deaf, Amanprit is passionate about innovating solutions through her thought leading Accessible and Disability Urbanism practice, to foster inclusive environments for everyone. She excels at connecting the dots and navigates complex systems to drive meaningful, real-world change.

Dr Tom Arnold
Regional Engagement and Devolution Policy Manager, Chartered Institute of Housing

Tom Arnold is a policy manager at the Chartered Institute of Housing. He leads the organisation’s work on devolution, planning, regional engagement and rural housing in England.

Jess Asato MP
Member of Parliament for Lowestoft

Jess Asato is the Member of Parliament for Lowestoft, elected in 2024. At the end of last year, she was appointed VAWG Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care. Prior to being elected, Jess was the Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the children’s charity Barnardo’s, worked for the domestic abuse charity SafeLives, and was a political advisor to Tessa Jowell. Jess currently is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse and is an Officer for the APPG for Domestic Violence and Abuse.

Peter Baffoe
Vice Chair and Resident, Peabody

Peter is the Director of South London Mission, a small charity based in the London Borough of Southwark and has over 20 years of experience working in community settings. In addition to his role at South London Mission, he serve as Chair of Governors at Rye Oak Primary School, a Trustee of the Maudsley Charity supporting mental health initiatives, and the Vice Chair at Peabody Housing Trust, where he also chairs the Resident Experience Committee. A passionate advocate for social justice, he hopes to help shape strategic decisions that impact housing and community wellbeing through both his day job and voluntary roles.

Louise Bassett
Chief Executive Officer, Gentoo

Louise Bassett has been Chief Executive Officer at Gentoo Group since 2023, having formerly been Gentoo’s Executive Director of Corporate Services. Prior to joining Gentoo, Louise spent over 20 years’ in the pharmaceutical and consumer health sector where she worked in senior HR leadership roles across Europe on business transformation, organisation development, talent management and mergers and acquisitions. Louise is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and is passionate about business and the difference people and culture make to organisation performance and customer service.

Anna Bishop
Chief Executive, South Liverpool Homes

Imogen Blood
Founder and Research Director, Imogen Blood and Associates

Selvin Brown MBE
Director, Net Zero Buildings - Domestic, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)

Selvin Brown joined the Cabinet Office 35 years ago and since then held a number of policy, strategic and corporate roles in government. From 2015 to 2020 he was on the board of the Health and Safety Executive as Director for Engagement and Policy, and he spent six months as Director for Policy and Engagement for PPE at the Department of Health and Social Care before taking his current role. He is the Director of Net Zero Buildings: Domestic at DESNZ, having been in the role since September 2020. He has held a number of charity positions, most recently as a NED for the Charity for Civil Servants. He is passionate about the Civil Service, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion; and is the Civil Service Deputy Race Champion.

Bethan Buck
External Affairs Manager, National Housing Federation

Bethan has worked for the NHF for eight years, having previously worked for a social enterprise specialising in community development and placemaking for areas undergoing regeneration. As External Affairs Manager for London, Bethan works closely with housing associations across the capital and is responsible for the NHFs offer for smaller housing associations. With significant programme management experience, Bethan is currently working across various specialisms at the NHF including supply and regeneration, building confidence and trust, the Better Social Housing Review, and community cohesion. Bethan also sits on the Advisory Board for the LGBTQ+ Housing Pledge.

David Cleary
Managing Director Housing, Corporate and Institutional Banking, Lloyds Banking Group

David is a Managing Director with responsibility for Lloyds Banking Group’s relationships with clients in the house building and social housing sectors. Having joined Lloyds Bank in 1989, David undertook numerous roles across Retail and Commercial Banking before joining the Capital Markets division in 2000. David was instrumental in the development of the Bank’s Capital Markets business in both the public and private debt markets in the UK, USA and Europe. In January 2017, David returned to relationship banking to create a new team with responsibility for UK Housing. David has a passion for sustainability and in 2021 became a Board director of Sustainability for Housing Ltd and joined the Executive Committee of NextGeneration, both of which focus upon developing sustainability reporting standards and frameworks in the rental and new build markets. He also supports Regeneration Brainery which focuses on the putting the ‘S’ in ESG.

Steve Coffey
Chief Executive, Torus

Steve is a passionate advocate for high-quality and affordable housing, and is responsible for Torus’ overall strategic direction, performance and development. Prior to joining Torus, he led Liverpool Mutual Homes for 10 years as Chief Executive. Steve’s career began in civil engineering prior to moving into the housing sector. He also worked for several local authorities prior to taking up a senior housing role in the west midlands at the start of the new millennium before returning to the Liverpool City Region some years later. Steve has considerable experience operating at boardroom level, in both executive and non-executive roles, and is an active member of bodies including the CBI North West Regional Council and the National Housing Federation. In 2022, he was appointed as Chair of Homes for the North. His work experience has also nurtured a keen personal interest in health matters, environmental issues and the low carbon agenda. Addressing green skills, employment, the retrofit challenge and volatile energy costs as an integrated issue is a key element of Steve’s vision.

Alan Collett
Chair, A2Dominion Group

Alan Collett is a Chartered Surveyor whose career covered all aspects of private sector housing, including investment, fund management, valuation and development. In 2012 he joined the Board of Hyde Housing, serving six years on the Investment and Development Committee and three as Chair. In 2021 he joined the Board of A2Dominion as Chair Designate and has been Chair since March 2022.

Sam Collier
Head of Policy and Research, Aico

As Head of Policy and Research for HomeLINK (Aico), Sam focuses on the challenges of decarbonisation and damp & mould within the social housing sector. In this role, he is responsible for ensuring the company's products meet the specific needs of social housing providers, particularly in the context of regulatory change. With a PhD from the University of Bristol and five years expertise in data and IoT technology, Sam contributes to solutions that aim to improve the living conditions in social housing - making them more sustainable, safer, and healthier. He also has an interest in the ethics of IoT technology and how these innovations can be responsibly implemented to achieve positive outcomes for all.

Sam Dalton
Labour Party Councillor, London Bridge and West Bermondsey and Deputy Cabinet Member for Supported Housing

Sam Dalton led the development of Southwark's first Older People's Housing Strategy and Action Plan in his role as Deputy Cabinet Member for Supported Housing, published in February 2026. He was first elected as a councillor for London Bridge and West Bermondsey ward in 2022. Outside of Southwark Council, Sam has worked for a number of organisations on policy and campaigns around older people's housing and other forms of supported housing.

Ruth Davison
Group Chief Executive, Newlon Housing Trust

Ruth worked in a variety of sectors before finding her home in housing almost 20 years ago. She is Chief Executive of Newlon Housing Group, which she describes as being a specialist organisation – its specialism being North and East London, where she has lived for almost 30 years. This conditions Newlon’s wide and deep offer to the communities it exists to serve – homes for social rent, intermediate and key worker rent, shared ownership, and the work of Outward, a charity which specialises in supporting people with learning disabilities and autism, born of parent activism. Current priorities are the regeneration of an estate by Kings Cross, and building safety remediation. Previously Ruth lead another North and East London Housing Association, ISHA, worked for the NHF, and in roles across health, local government, education, and at the Audit Commission. Newlon is a member of The L12, a group of community associations in London.

Alison Dean
Chief Executive, Great Places Housing Group

Alison joined Great Places as a graduate in 1997, beginning her career in customer involvement before progressing into regeneration and a range of housing management roles. With more than twenty five years’ experience in the housing sector, she has held numerous operational and leadership positions, always with a strong focus on delivering great services for customers. Prior to becoming Chief Executive of Great Places in 2024, Alison was Deputy Chief Executive, and led several large‑scale transformation programmes, embedding a culture where customer insight shapes service design and colleagues feel empowered to make a positive impact. Since becoming Chief Executive, Alison has overseen further significant progress across the organisation - including Great Places’ upgrade to a C1 regulatory grade. Alison is also a sponsor of the 20% Movement, a collaborative initiative led by Greater Manchester Housing Providers, to expand employment opportunities for people living in social housing. Its key goal is to ensure that by 2034, 20% of the workforce within participating organisations is made up of social housing residents and their families. Alongside her role at Great Places, Alison is also the Deputy Chair at Warrington Housing Association.

Joe Dromey
General Secretary, Fabian Society

Joe joined the Fabian Society as General Secretary in January 2025. The Fabian Society is a left-leaning think tank and membership organisation, committed to building a more equal economy and society. He recently authored a report on how we can tackle the construction workforce crisis. Joe has over a decade of experience working in think tanks - including IPPR and Learning and Work Institute - focusing on labour market policy. Prior to joining the Fabian Society, Joe worked for four years as Director of Central London Forward, a partnership of central London local authorities. He has previously served as a Councillor and cabinet member in a London Borough for seven years, leading on employment and skills.

Trudi Elliott
Chair, Southern Housing

Paul Fiddaman
Group 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.

Sarah Finnegan
Head of Policy, National Housing Federation

Sarah has been at the NHF since 2017 as part of the member relations team, before becoming Head of Policy last year. She previously held different policy and strategy roles in local government in London.

Helen Fisher
Director, Cladding, Safety Scheme, Homes England

Kelly Fowler
Chief Executive, Belong

Maggie Galliers CBE
Chair, National Housing Federation

Maggie has over a decade of non-Executive experience in the education sector, recruiting and performance managing CEO’s and senior executives at both local and national level. Previous to this she worked in education for over 40 years, including 15 years acting as CEO at several colleges. Most recently Maggie has served as chair of The National Learning and Work Institute since 2016 and is Pro Chancellor and Chair of Council for Buckinghamshire New University. She was awarded a CBE in 2009 in recognition of her services to local and national further education.

Kevin Garvey
Head of Member Relations, National Housing Federation

Prior to joining NHF Kevin worked in roles in public affairs, Parliament, Shelter and local government.

Sarah-Jane Gay
Head of Building and Fire Safety Programmes, National Housing Federation

Sarah-Jane joined the NHF in July 2025 and will be covering the Head of Building and Fire Safety Programmes role for 18 months. Sarah-Jane has worked in housing for the last ten years, including 5 years as Senior Policy Adviser to the Housing and Planning Committees at the London Assembly, and a previous spell at the NHF from 2016 to 2020. Prior to that, she worked in policy and delivery for third sector organisations such as Citizens Advice and National Numeracy.

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.

Charley Gibbons
Group Chief Executive, emh group

Charley was appointed Group Chief Executive in 2025, bringing a wealth of leadership experience and a deep commitment to social impact. Before stepping into this role, he served as emh’s Executive Director for Housing, where he led transformative initiatives to enhance customer experience, resulting in a marked rise in satisfaction across our services. Before joining emh in 2024, Charley was Director of Customer Experience at Orbit Housing, and previously held the position of Chief Executive at Citizens Advice Coventry. His career reflects a dedication to empowering communities and improving lives through accessible housing, outstanding service delivery, and a high-performing organisational culture. Driven by values of fairness, opportunity, and inclusion, Charley has championed national campaigns addressing child poverty and advancing energy efficiency in UK social housing.

Mark Gifford
Chief Executive, First Choice Homes Oldham

Jonathan Goldstraw
Senior Project Director, Partnerships and Regeneration, Hyde

Jonathan is a senior housing professional with over 15 years’ experience across investment, regeneration, and strategic partnerships spanning the public and private sectors. At Hyde, he currently hold a dual role: as client director for Hyde's role as operating partner for M&G’s national affordable housing portfolio, providing oversight of management contract delivery and executive support to the RP Board; and as stakeholder relations lead for local authority partnerships supporting business development and new investment opportunities. Previously, he led a range of strategic initiatives, including the creation of For-Profit Registered Providers, development of a design and placemaking standard for new homes, and work to support new financing and debt structures. Earlier in his career, at the Greater London Authority he led major housing investment and regeneration programmes, including as client lead for Lewisham Gateway and Kidbrooke, and contributed to national estate regeneration and intermediate housing policies. Before this at the HCA (now Homes England) he was programme manager for property and regeneration projects in London.

Lord Michael Gove
Former Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Michael Gove is a seasoned public servant and journalist who shaped major reforms across education, justice, environment, housing, and local government during 14 years in UK Cabinet. He earned a reputation as a pragmatic reformer—“the minister who gets things done”—and led the Vote Leave campaign that secured the 2016 Brexit vote. Since standing down as London MP in 2024, Gove has served as Editor of The Spectator since October 2024 under new ownership. In 2025 he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Gove of Torry. He remains a leading voice on UK politics, education, governance, media transformation, and international affairs.

Adam Gravely
Policy Officer, National Housing Federation

Adam leads the NHF’s policy work on shared ownership and accessible housing, and supports policy development across new housing supply and sector finances. He joined the NHF in 2024. Prior to this, he was a Graduate Trainee and later a People & Purpose Strategist at the John Lewis Partnership, owner of John Lewis and Waitrose. Adam is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Warwick and a Master’s in Business and Management from De Montfort University. Adam grew up in social housing and has lived experience as an involved resident and as a young carer.

Ian Gregg
Chief Property Officer, Riverside

Ian is the Chief Property Officer for Riverside and is responsible for all aspects of Property at Riverside. This includes Development and Regeneration, Asset Investment and Repairs as well as Building Safety. Ian started working at Riverside in 2014 and has been an executive Director for over 20 years and in that period has served on a number of non-executive positions including being Chair of the Forviva group and Housing Diversity Network. At Riverside Ian ahs responsibilities for over a 100 High Risk Residential Buildings and is overseeing a large-scale cladding remediation programme which will make all Riverside buildings above 11m compliant by the end of 2028.

Rob Griffiths
Chief Executive Officer, Housemark

Paul Harris
Executive Director of Operations, Watford Community Housing

Paul brings a wealth of experience in leading customer services, operational performance and stakeholder engagement. He joined Curo in 2017, where he was the senior person accountable for complaint-handling and had responsibility for their compliance with the consumer standards. Paul has also been VP Corporate Affairs for Acorn Group, an African property management company, Group Director Customer Experience at Unite Students Group, and held roles at the South West Regional Development Agency, Laing O’Rourke Group and Royal Mail. Paul will also be Executive Director of Operations of the new organisation when we merge with Thrive Homes on 1 June 2026.

Cllr Charlie Hastie
Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, West Northamptonshire Council (Reform UK)

Lizzi Hearn
External Affairs Manager, National Housing Federation

Kate Henderson
Chief Executive, National Housing Federation

Kate is Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation (NHF), the voice of housing associations in England. Kate is passionate about tackling the housing crisis, inequality and climate change. She is a member of several government panels including the Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel and the Social Housing White Paper Expert Challenge Panel. Kate become a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2021. Prior to joining the NHF in 2018, Kate was Chief Executive of the Town and Country Planning Association.

Stuart Hensby
Sales and Marketing Director, Abri

Stuart leads the sales and marketing of Abri’s new homes pipeline, as well as overseeing re-sales and staircasing across a range of home ownership tenures, including shared ownership and open market sale. With extensive experience in the new homes industry across the south of England and London, Stuart combines strong market insight with a commitment to developing sales strategies that make the buying experience clear, supportive and customer led. Passionate about placing customers at the centre of every decision, he champions a service focused approach that supports buyers at every stage of their home ownership journey.

Afua Hirsh
Author, Documentary Maker, former Barrister

Elly Hoult
Deputy Chief Executive, Peabody Trust

Elly is Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive at Peabody Trust responsible for repairs and maintenance, neighbourhood management, tenancy services, customer contact across Peabody's property portfolio providing 109,000 homes to more than 220,000 residents. Elly is the Executive lead for Town and Country Housing the Peabody subsidiary. Elly has over 27 years of experience in the housing sector, working her way up from supported housing officer to executive level roles. Elly was the former President of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Amy Hurst
Head of Practice, New Local

Amy is Head of Practice at New Local. She brings experience of working both within and alongside public services, in a range of roles covering policy, commissioning, collaboration and place-based change. She is motivated by the opportunity for services and institutions to reimagine their relationships with local people and communities and is currently leading our work with the National Housing Federation to explore the future of Supported Housing.

Will Jeffwitz
Head of Policy, National Housing Federation

Will Jeffwitz is Head of Policy at the National Housing Federation. He has also worked on housing supply and finance at the NHF, and previously had policy roles in the civil service and the charity sector.

John Johnston
Chief Executive and Chair, North East Housing Partnership, Bernicia

John has over 35 years’ experience of working in the social housing sector. He is passionate about the sector and the North East region, its people and potential. Prior to becoming Chief Executive John directed all operational services, successfully developing strategy and delivering significant improvements across a wide range of directorates. He successfully led stock transfer, merger and major regeneration initiatives at Bernicia. John is a member of a range of National and Regional representative, professional and trade organisations, notably he chairs the North of Tyne and Northumberland Committees of the North East England Chamber of Commerce and is the Vice Chair of the North East Housing Partnership (NEHP). He was pivotal in setting up the Housing Employment Network North East (HENNE) and continues to be instrumental in taking the partnership forward.

Katie Kelly
Chair, New Local

Katie Kelly is the chair of New Local, an independent think tank and network of public sector bodies with a mission to transform public services and unlock community power. She is an affiliate at Nurture Development Asset Based Community Development, an Executive Coach, Mentor and Strategic Advisor. She is the former Deputy Chief Executive with East Ayrshire Council and has recently retired following an incredible career of over 30 years in the public, health and communities’ sectors. Katie is passionate about working alongside people and communities, reducing inequalities, servant and collaborative leadership, coaching and helping to make a positive and lasting difference to people lives. Katie provides Executive coaching and leadership mentoring for colleagues from across the public and third sectors and acts a as critical friend and facilitator for leadership teams. Katie has been a member of a number of Expert Advisory Groups including the National Expert Advisory Group to The Health Foundation Independent Review of Health Inequalities in Scotland, the National Expert Advisory for the Independent Funding Review for Violence Against Women and Girls, Chair of the SOLACE National Gambling Harm Pilot Steering Group, a Commissioner of the Local News Commission and a Commissioner of Thames Freeport. Katie is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).

Joanna Key
Director General, Regeneration, Housing and Planning, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Joanna was previously Director of Growth and Infrastructure at HM Treasury and Director for Domestic Affairs at the Cabinet Office. Prior to the Cabinet Office, she spent three years working as a director at the Department for Exiting the European Union, leading the work on the legal and constitutional implications of the UK’s departure from the EU. Joanna joined the UK Civil Service in the mid-1990s. Over her career she has worked on a wide range of issues including economic growth, Brexit, planning and housing, climate change and energy policy. Married to a diplomat, she has lived, worked and travelled extensively in the Balkans and China, returning to the UK in 2015 after three years working in Beijing on urban policy and growth. She has a masters degree in economics.

Jonathan Layzell
Chief Executive, Stonewater

Jonathan Layzell was appointed Chief Executive of Stonewater in 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.

Laura Lazarus
Director of Home and Lifestyle Claims, Aviva

Steve Loveland
Head of Clann, Clúid

Steve Loveland has over two decades of experience in housing working across supported accommodation services, homelessness services and social housing. Steve joined Clúid in 2020 where initially he was responsible for leading teams across estate and tenancy management before spearheading the coordination and delivery of Clúid’s Resident Engagement Strategy where he inspired continued improvement and uptake of resident engagement initiatives that promote participation while widening structures that enable residents to influence how services are delivered and developed. Currently, Steve is Head of Clann Housing - Clúid's age-friendly service offering, focused on enabling older people to live independently in communities of their choice, through inclusive design, innovative partnerships and ever closer collaboration with the residents themselves and Co-Chair of the European Federation for Living's Age-Friendly Topic Group, a network of seventy housing associations and experts from across 19 EU countries aiming to create more affordable, sustainable housing for all. Steve is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, and an advisory board member on the Common Purpose Leadership programme.

Andrew Lewin MP
Member of Parliament and Chair, Welwyn Hatfield and All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on New Towns

Jo Makinson
Chief Finance Officer, Bromford Flagship LiveWest (BFL)

Jo has held a number of finance director and chief executive roles in the health, housing and charity sectors over the past ten years. Most recently, Jo was Director of Finance and Transformation at St Monica Trust. She is particularly passionate about social housing and is a non-executive on the board at Abri. Jo started her career in London working with a social development consultancy. She then moved to Bristol and spent six years in PwC’s public sector team. During that time, Jo trained as a chartered accountant and worked alongside a range of purpose-driven organisations working to make lives better for vulnerable people and communities.

Kate Markey
Chief Executive, Nationwide Foundation

Kate Markey joined Nationwide Foundation as Chief Executive in early 2024, bringing extensive experience in social enterprise, social investment and impact‑led leadership. She previously spent more than five years as Chief Executive of London Community Foundation and began her career in journalism, including several years as Editor of The Big Issue North. Kate’s leadership is focused on addressing the UK’s housing crisis through long‑term, collaborative and sector‑wide change. Under her leadership, Nationwide Foundation has recently launched the Homes with Social Purpose Fund, supporting the creation of genuinely affordable homes delivering lasting social value, and the Empty Homes Fund, which brings long‑term empty properties back into use. Nationwide Foundation also continues to play a leading role in shaping and driving reform in the Private Rented Sector, using evidence, investment and partnership to help influence the future direction of housing policy and practice.

Clare McGonigle
Chief Executive, Framework

Paul McGrady
Chief Financial Officer, Magenta Living

Paul is the CFO of Magenta Living based in Birkenhead. Previous to this role, he spent two years on the board there before becoming a member of the executive team in 2024. Prior to Magenta he spent 10 years working for housing associations in finance executive roles. He has worked in local government as a finance director but also head of housing. He also was a founding director, and is chair of the board, of the WellFed social enterprise set up during Covid to provide healthy subsidised meals.

Professor Julienne Meyer CBE
Chair, Older People's Housing Taskforce

Julienne Meyer is a leading expert in aged care, renowned for her evidence-informed, relationship-centred, and appreciative approach to improving practice. In addition to her emerita role, she holds visiting professorships at University of Hertfordshire and Ulster University. Since retiring in 2019, she has continued to shape national policy, including chairing the Older People’s Housing Taskforce (2023–2024). She is Founder and Trustee of My Home Life Charity and serves as an advisor to key care organisations. Internationally recognised, she has also held visiting professorships in Australia and the United States and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2015 for services to nursing and older people.

Clare Miller
Chief Executive, Clarion Housing Group

Clare has been the Group Chief Executive since 2018. She is a chartered accountant with almost 30 years’ experience in the housing sector. Clare joined the Housing Corporation in 1992 as a financial regulator. Over the next 18 years progressed to become its Director of Regulation. She then became an Executive Director at the Tenant Services Authority, with responsibility for housing association regulation. In 2010 Clare joined Affinity Sutton as Group Director of Governance and Compliance. She took up the same role at Clarion in 2016, before taking on her current role two years later.

Hashi Mohamed
Barrister, Broadcaster and Author

Bruce Moore
Chief Executive, Housing21

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.

Jess Mullins
Head of Member Relations, National Housing Federation

Jess has worked at the NHF since 2017. She has worked in our public affairs team and has been Head of Member relations since 2021 leading on equality, diversity and inclusion; general election work and larger housing association members. Prior to joining the NHF Jess worked in Parliament.

Charlaine Nkum
Vice Chair, Resident Strategy Group, Southern Housing, ED&I Workforce Lead, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Southern Housing and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Charlaine is a passionate advocate for social housing residents, championing equality, inclusion, and the right of every resident to influence the decisions that shape their lives. She believes that safe, dignified housing is not a privilege but a right, and that the people most affected by housing policy must be at the centre of designing it. She currently serves on the Resident Experience Committee at Southern Housing and leads EDI Workforce initiatives at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the Grenfell Borough — where the stakes of getting housing right could not be higher. Charlaine has driven meaningful change at Southern Housing, from embedding equality impact assessments across policies to co-creating the Life in Focus survey, which captures the real demographic and social realities of residents to shape more equitable services. In 2023, she won the G15 Resident Hero Ethnicity in Housing Award — and was nominated again in 2025. Her message is simple: lived experience isn’t a footnote in housing policy — it’s the foundation!

John Palmer
Operations Director, Building Safety Regulator

John joined the BSR as Director of Operations on secondment from MHCLG, where he spent four years leading policy work on changes to the Building Regulations and implementing the HRB Building Control regime. His early career was as an engineer in the Royal Navy, where he held various roles related to IT, logistics, and procurement as well as several overseas deployments. After leaving the navy, John transitioned into the construction sector with a focus on energy efficiency and building services, working in small consultancies on the design and project management of domestic refurbishment and new builds. He then worked at the Passivhaus Trust, a role which inspired him to build his own Passivhaus home. In addition to his professional experience, John has served in several volunteer capacities, including Town Councillor and founder of a Community Land Trust.

Steve Partridge
Director, Head of Housing Consultancy, Affordable Housing, Savills

Steve is a senior leader and highly regarded national expert in UK housing finance with nearly 30 years’ experience in the public and private housing sectors in business planning, investment appraisal, financing and the development of new homes. Steve leads Savills’ work on building funding and delivery capacity with UK-based local authorities and housing associations, to help deliver new homes at scale, and also specialises in working to bring new sources of private investment and housing providers together to introduce new and innovative ways to bring private finance into the development of affordable housing. He leads work on setting up new housing providers, raising capital for investment into non-profit and for-profit housing providers, and helped traditional housing providers access these new sources of capital.

Emma Payne
Director, Social Housing, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Stephen Peacock
Chief Executive, West of England Combined Authority

Stephen Peacock has a commercial background in international energy and technology allied with experience as a leader in the public sector. A former partner with a major professional services firm, Stephen was Chief Executive of Bristol City Council where his achievements include the creation of the award-winning City Leap public-private partnership and a resurgence of housebuilding. As Chief Executive of the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority Stephen is responsible for over £1bn of investment in initiatives to drive sustainable inclusive growth across the most productive and fast-growing UK city region outside London. Priorities include housing, strategic transport, net zero and nature recovery, inward investment and support for innovation and skills.

Sue Phillips
Founder, Shared Ownership Resources

Sue Phillips established Shared Ownership Resources, in 2021, to champion the interests of ‘shared ownership’ leaseholders and households considering ‘shared ownership’. The project publishes case studies, collaborates with housing, legal and financial experts to offer specialist information and advice; advocates reform to drive better outcomes, and campaigns for improved transparency and against mis-selling and other poor practices in the sector.

Mark Pragnell
Chair, Rural Coalition

An economist with over 30 years’ experience, Mark advises businesses, trade associations, NGOs and the public sector. He has been a strong advocate for social and affordable housing providing the evidence that has underpinned many of the sector’s national policy campaigns. He is also a keen supporter of rural communities and works to ensure government policy properly reflects their needs and maximises their opportunities. Mark is chair of The Rural Coalition, which comprises twelve national organisations who subscribe to a vision for a living and working countryside in England, in addition to his roles as chair of English Rural Housing Association and managing director of Pragmatix Advisory, an economics, strategy and policy research consultancy.

Chris Pryke-Hendy
Head of Sustainability, Nottingham Community Housing Association

Amy Rees
Chief Executive, Homes England

Amy Rees became Chief Executive of Homes England in September 2025. Prior to joining Homes England, Amy served as Interim Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, where she oversaw the full breadth of the department’s responsibilities — including criminal justice, prison and probation services, civil, family and criminal courts, legal services, and constitutional policy. Before that, Amy was Chief Executive of HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) for nearly three years. As HMPPS CEO and Accounting Officer, she provided strategic direction and operational leadership to the Agency, working closely with partners across government and the justice system to enforce court orders, protect the public, and reduce reoffending throughout England and Wales.

Steve Rotheram
Mayor, Liverpool City Region

Steve began his political career when he was elected to serve as a councillor in 2002, representing Fazakerley ward on Liverpool City Council and held the ceremonial title of Lord Mayor of Liverpool through the city’s European Capital of Culture year in 2008. In 2010, Steve was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Liverpool Walton constituency. While in Westminster, he led campaigns for justice for the Hillsborough families; in support of blacklisted workers; for compensation for those suffering from mesothelioma and asbestosis; and to change the law on the use of old tyres on buses and coaches. In 2017, Steve was elected as the first ever Liverpool City Region Mayor, representing 1.6m people across the boroughs of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and the Wirral and was subsequently re-elected in 2021. In 2024, Steve was elected for a third term as Mayor. Steve has pledged to return to council housebuilding at scale, to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) into the region, to build three new train stations and to launch a free pilot of artificial intelligence (AI) in local schools. He has also revised the region’s net zero target to 2035 – the most ambitious target for a city region in the country.

Catherine Ryder
Chief Executive, PlaceShapers

Catherine previously led the Federation’s work on the Social Housing Green Paper. Catherine has also worked as Advisor to the Chief Executive at the Federation and has spent some time working on economic development and housing at Coast to Capital – a Local Enterprise Partnership in Surrey and Sussex. Before joining the Federation Catherine worked at the Audit Commission as a Strategy Manager, leading the development of assessment frameworks for local government.

Helen Scurr
Executive Director, ARK Consultancy

Helen is an experienced housing professional, Trustee, NED, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing, who has influenced housing policy and practice as a Trustee on the CIH National Council. Helen has worked at executive and senior level within the housing sector during the last thirty-five years, having strategic and operational responsibilities for housing and property services. She has 15 years’ experience as a consultant working with Local Authorities, Housing Associations and charities on many diverse projects. Helen leads ARK’s Housing, People, Development and Regeneration business streams which encompasses a wide range of consultancy services. She works closely with executive teams and Boards to help organisations to understand their leadership and culture, to assist in driving forward cultural and service improvements and growth.

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.

Gavin Smart
Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Housing

Prior to becoming CEO Gavin served as both Deputy CEO and, before that, Director of Policy and Practice at the CIH. Before joining CIH Gavin worked at the National Housing Federation (NHF), latterly as Assistant Director for Research and Futures where he led the NHF’s research and analysis function, it’s future facing thinking and it’s policy work on finance and government investment. Gavin joined the NHF from a spell working for the UK civil service commissioning research and analysis into a variety of housing policy areas. He began his career as an academic researcher at the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol.

Cathy Smith
Chair, Joint Strategy and Impact Group and Tenant, Habinteg

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.

Alistair Smyth
Director of Policy and Research, National Housing Federation

Alistair has worked in the social housing sector for the last 16 years in a wide range of roles and organisations including a previous spell at the NHF from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant on a range of neighbourhood and community empowerment projects. He also spent three years working in a customer-facing role as a Neighbourhood Manager and as Assistant Head of Neighbourhoods for Peabody. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Policy Advisory Committee.

Dr Lígia Teixeira
Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Homelessness Impact

Dr Lígia Teixeira is the Founding Chief Executive of the Centre for Homelessness Impact. She works with governments, mayors and housing leaders in the UK and internationally to help homelessness systems move from crisis response to prevention using better evidence, data and rigorous testing of what works.

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 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.

Claire Townson
Chief Executive Officer, Broadacres

Claire is an experienced senior leader with over 30 years’ experience across the social housing, charitable and commercial sectors. As Chief Executive of Broadacres, Claire provides strategic leadership for the organisation, with overall responsibility for the delivery of excellent services for customers, and for promoting a positive culture for colleagues. Claire is passionate about delivering rural affordable homes across North Yorkshire and ensuring that the services we provide are meeting the needs of our customers and the communities we serve so that they can thrive and flourish.

Luke Tryl
Executive Director, More in Common UK

As Executive Director of More in Common, Luke leads its ground-breaking UK public opinion and thought leadership work, shining a light on what the public thinks about topics as diverse as immigration, climate change, gender identity and mental health. With a focus on the nuances and complexity of public opinion, he has helped policymakers, business and civil society navigate issues often regarded as tricky and divisive. He is a regular media commentator and has appeared on flagship current affairs broadcasts on BBC radio and television. He has written for publications including the Times, Telegraph, Guardian, New Statesman and the Spectator. Before joining More in Common, Luke served as a Special Advisor to the then Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, during the David Cameron administration and as Director of Strategy at Ofsted, the UK government’s Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills.

Eddie Tuttle
Director of Policy, External Affairs and Research, Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)

Nick Walkley
Interim Chief Executive, Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority (CWCA)

Nick is Interim CEO of the Cheshire and Warrington Combined Authority. He has wide ranging leadership career across local government, having been CEO of the London Borough of Barnet and then Haringey, followed by Central Government as CEO of Homes England and latterly in the private sector as UK President of the global real estate advisor Avison Young. Nick is also a lay member of the Council of the University of Liverpool where he both studied and worked early in his career.

Jonathan Walters
Chief Executive, Regulator of Social Housing

Having previously been at Ernst and Young working in social housing consultancy, Jonathan has been at the Regulator since 2004. He has worked across the organisation and has extensive experience in dealing with funders, government and housing associations.

Martin Warhurst
Chief Executive, Habinteg Housing Association

Martin has over 24 years of experience within the social housing sector, with a particular passion for accessible, lifetime homes in inclusive communities. Martin is currently the Chief Finance Officer at Habinteg Housing Association. Previously, he was the Executive Director of Resources at Wakefield District Housing Association, Chief Executive of Martin House Children’s Hospice and prior to that, an Executive Director at Isos Housing Group (now Karbon Homes) where he was Managing Director of Cestria Community Housing Association following several years as Director of Finance and Corporate Services. He is a Chartered Accountant and has worked within the social housing audit teams at KPMG and RSM Robson Rhodes, who later merged with Grant Thornton. Martin has demonstrated his commitment to the not-for-profit sector by holding several voluntary audit committee, trustee and board positions. Currently, he is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at Salix Homes. In the past, Martin served full terms of office as a Board Member and Chair of the Audit Committee at Leeds Federated Housing Association and Broadacres Housing Association.

Mark Washer
Chief Executive, Sovereign Network Group

Mark is the Group Chief Executive Officer of SNG and an SNG Board member. Prior to his appointment, he was the CEO at Sovereign from 2018 until the merger with Network Homes in 2023. With extensive experience in the housing sector, he has been Chief Financial Officer at Clarion Housing Group and has been Vice Chair of the National Housing Federation (NHF). Mark is a trustee of Leadership 2025, a charity developing BME leadership in the housing sector.

Kieron White
Co-Founder and Chief Executive, Leading AI

Kieron co-founded Leading AI Ltd to bring the transformative power of AI to the most important public service challenges. Leading AI now partners with over 50 organisations in Housing, Local Government, and Education. Previously, Kieron worked as a management consultant on public sector policy programmes with the DfE and DCLG, gaining insight into complex sector challenges. He is now focused on demonstrating how AI can help address these issues.

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.

Donna Williams
Group Director, Strategy and Strategic Assets, Sanctuary

Donna is leading Sanctuary’s transition to net zero carbon by 2050, delivering social impact across the organisation as well as a range of strategic initiatives. Donna has over 15 years of experience within the social housing sector working in a variety of senior roles in areas including maintenance, development and communications. Having completed an MBA with the University of Warwick, specialising in sustainability, Donna has a particular interest in the formation of sustainability strategies and the link between environmental and social impact.

Rachael Williamson
Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs, Chartered Institute of Housing

Rachael Williamson Cert CIHM is Executive Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs at the Chartered Institute of Housing. With over two decades of experience across government and the charity sector, she has a strong track record in policy, communications, and member engagement. A passionate advocate for the housing profession, Rachael also serves on the Women’s Housing Forum Steering Group, the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence management team, and is a member of the Institute of Leadership.