Mark Easton
Broadcaster, author and former Home Editor at the BBC

Mark Easton is an award-winning broadcaster and author, a familiar face and voice on British television and radio for more than 40 years. He has written extensively on the UK, including in his books ‘Britain etc.’ (2012) and ‘Islands’ (2023). A new book, provisionally entitled ‘Brits’, is currently in production. As the BBC’s Home Editor from 2004 until 2025, Mark provided news coverage, analysis and broad perspective on the major events affecting Britain. Before that, he was the Home and Social Affairs Editor at Channel 4 News and Political Editor at Channel 5 News. Mark started his career as a cub reporter on his local paper in Southampton in 1978. Mark is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, a Senior Fellow of the National Centre for Social Research, a Governor of the National institute of Economic and Social Research and member of Westminster Abbey’s Council of Reference.

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.

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.

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.

Ciaran Tully
External Affair Manager, National Housing Federation

Ciaran Tully is an External Affairs Manager at the National Housing Federation. He is the regional lead for North West and the member engagement lead for influencing.

Peter Baffoe
Vice Chair and Resident, Peabody

Peter Baffoe is a senior leader with extensive experience across housing, community development and governance. He is Vice Chair of Peabody and Chair of its Resident Experience Committee, where he brings a strong focus on ensuring resident voice influences decision-making, service quality and organisational culture.

Alongside his housing roles, Peter is Executive Director of South London Mission and Bermondsey Central Hall, leading a diverse programme of community services and partnerships in inner London. His work is rooted in a belief that good governance and meaningful engagement should translate into tangible improvements in people’s everyday lives.

Peter brings both professional and lived experience of social housing to conversations about customer experience, resident influence and the future of the sector.

Kai Jackson
Special Membership Project Lead, TPAS

Kai Jackson is the Special Membership Project Lead at Tpas England, where she drives national work to strengthen tenant voice and create more inclusive, representative engagement across social housing. A long-standing social housing tenant herself, Kai brings lived experience together with professional expertise to champion meaningful participation and challenge structures that exclude underrepresented communities. Kai is the author of Is There a Seat at the Table?, a landmark Tpas report exploring the barriers faced by ethnic-minority tenants in engagement and scrutiny. Her work focuses on turning research into action — supporting landlords to redesign engagement models, broaden participation pathways, and embed equity into decision-making. Before joining Tpas, Kai built a career in health and social care, including senior roles supporting people with complex needs. She has also volunteered with organisations focused on rehabilitation, inclusion, and children with SEND, deepening her commitment to social justice and community advocacy. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and Counselling, accredited by the British Psychological Society. Recognised for her insight, warmth and practical approach, Kai works closely with tenants, councils, housing associations and policymakers. Her mission is simple but powerful: to ensure every resident feels welcomed, heard and genuinely able to shape the services and decisions that affect their lives.

Alex Raikes
CEO, Stand Against Racism & Inequality (SARI)

Alex became Chief Executive of Stand Against Racism & Inequality (SARI) in January 2024. SARI is a leading, regional hate crime charity, based in Bristol and operating throughout the Avon & Somerset area that also influences national response to hate crime. Alex joined the charity as their first caseworker in 1991 under the leadership of the founding Director the late Batook Pandya MBE DL. Alex has gone on to be a driving force in SARI and its surrounding areas for tackling racism and hate crime; ensuring a best practice response by responsible agencies and ensuring that conflicts between and within communities are minimised so safety, security and cohesion is maintained for all. Alex is a member of the National Hate Crime IAG and Gold Group; Chair of the Board of the Key Unlock Potential (a charity developing a social enterprise cafe for ex-offenders) and several strategic partnerships across the region for tackling hate and promoting race equality, equality, diversity and inclusion and cohesion. She is a member of the University of Bristol Court; was awarded an MBE in 2009 for her contribution to race relations; was made an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of West of England in 2019, was made Deputy Lieutenant of Bristol in July 2020, was the High Sheriff of Bristol 2022-2023, and received an Honorary Doctorate from Bristol University in 2023.

Crucially, as a dual heritage individual with 4 sons, Alex has first-hand experience of racism and running a busy, lively household.

Phil Andrew
Group Chief Executive, Orbit

Phil Andrew is Group Chief Executive at Orbit Group, one of the UK’s foremost housing groups. Phil is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, a Chartered Accountant, qualified treasurer, and Chartered Marketer, and has over 30 years’ experience in leadership positions across the for-profit, governmental contracting and not-for-profit environments. The last 20 years specialising in commercially minded organisations that are driven by social purpose. Prior to joining Orbit, Phil served as Chief Executive at StepChange and Chief Executive of Working Links. He has also held a number of senior positions in the UK and France including Chief Finance Officer of Sodexo UK & Ireland, and Chief Executive, Sodexo Justice Services. Phil was previously Vice-Chair of Raven Housing Trust and Chair of the Breck Foundation, an online safety awareness Charity.

John Beadle
Vice Chair, Providence Row Housing Association

Cara Green
External Affairs Manager, National Housing Federation

Cara Green is External Affairs Manager at the National Housing Federation. With a background in communications, strategy and digital innovations, she works closely with members to drive meaningful change with a powerful mission: ensuring everyone has access to a safe, affordable home.

Bernadette Conroy
Chair, Board, Regulator of Social Housing

Bernadette is an experienced Chair and Non-Executive Director operating across a number of sectors. These include financial services regulation, where she is a NED for the Financial Conduct Authority and housing, where she is the former Chair of Network Homes.

She is also the Independent Chair of the Buildings and Estates Committee of Cambridge University with responsibility for the development and maintenance of the University’s estate and its capital build programme and a NED for Milton Keynes Development Partnerships.

Prior to taking on a non-executive portfolio, Bernadette held a number of executive roles in financial services, latterly as Global Head of Strategy and Planning for HSBC Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets.

She has an MA in Mathematics from Cambridge University and an MBA from INSEAD. In 2020, Bernadette received the Sunday Times Not for Profit Non-Executive Director of the Year award.

Melanie Czarra
Non-Executive Director – Investment Committee / Non-Executive Director – Chair Audit & Risk Committee, Abri / Vectis Housing Association

Melanie is a Portfolio Non-Executive Director in Housing and Financial Services, with deep expertise in Treasury, Capital Markets, and Private Credit, following a 30+ year executive career in investment banking at global bulge-bracket investment banks including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho and UBS Investment Bank. Melanie reached the level of Division Head and ExCo member as well as EMEA Head of Debt Syndicate and Head of EMEA & Cross-Border Debt Capital Markets. She has a strong commercial acumen and technical knowledge of corporate finance, large-scale M&A finance advisory, structured finance, private credit, and credit sales & trading and hedging strategies, working with sophisticated, global multinationals (all industries and sectors) and global institutional investors (including activist). Melanie's current NED portfolio consists of the following roles: Non-Executive Director – Investment Committee, Abri Group; Non-Executive Director – Chair, Audit & Risk Committee, Vectis Housing Association; Non-Executive Director – Chair, Board Risk Committee (SMF 10), Chetwood Bank; Remuneration Committee Chair-Elect, Scotiabank. Previously, Melanie served as NED and Board Risk Committee Chair (SMF 10) for Daiwa Capital Markets Europe. She has also served as Board Chair of United Way UK (the UK chapter of the largest publicly funded charity in the world); Senior Advisor to FinTech firm, BondAuction; and Member of the International Advisory Board of the University of Edinburgh Business School. Melanie is a strategic thinker, and an engaged, outcome-focused NED, who thrives in delivering complex solutions and business transformation; encouraging opportunistic growth by assuming appropriate levels of risk; nurturing culture uplift; and mentoring the next generation of future leaders, whilst operating to the highest standards of governance and integrity. In addition to Melanie's global investment banking career, Melanie has recent operating experience as entrepreneur and CEO of 3 SMEs on the Isle of Wight, including as Founder & Chair/CEO of a luxury goods retail SME. Throughout her career, Melanie has built award-winning, successful businesses - large and small.