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

Tom Arey
Director, PfP Thrive, Places for People

Tom serves as the Director of PfP Thrive, the new training initiative by Places for People. With 15 years of experience in Learning & Development, Talent, and HR roles across the housing and hospitality sectors, Tom is dedicated to supporting individuals and creating environments where everyone, especially those furthest from the job market, can flourish. "I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to thrive in their chosen career. My passion is straightforward: supporting individuals and creating an environment where anyone, especially those furthest from the job market, can flourish." As the Director at PfP Thrive, my role is to ensure that our strategic mission of providing world-class learning, while developing, supporting, and encouraging every learner, is fulfilled."

James Carss
Chief Executive, Castle Peak Group

James Carss is the founder and CEO of Castle Peak Group, an executive search firm with a difference. With over 20 years in executive recruitment across the UK, Asia, and North America, James has always challenged the norm. His journey began in the North East, where he stood up for a friend facing racial prejudice. This experience sparked a lifelong commitment to challenging inequality. After making his mark with top firms in London and leading teams in Hong Kong, James returned to the UK with a mission. In January 2024, he founded Castle Peak Group to offer executive search services that genuinely prioritise diversity, inclusion, and ethical leadership.

Donna Cesir
Chair, ForHousing

Holly Dagnall
Director of Homes and Wellbeing, Nottingham Community Housing Association

Holly has over 20 years of senior management experience in managing business risk, strategy, quality delivery and operational experience in the Housing, Care and Support sector. She joined NCHA in April 2002 and has worked across a range of specialist supported and registered care home settings in both an operational and strategic lead capacity.

Holly became Director of Housing with Care and Support in April 2016 and in April 2018 took on the role of Director of Homes and Wellbeing bringing together NCHA’s specialist housing, care and support teams with social, affordable and submarket rent homes.

Holly’s passion has always been social justice and she is a proud advocate of Supported Housing as both a platform for growth and independence and a safety net for those who need it.

Jenny Danson
Chief Executive, Healthy Homes Hub

With over 30 years of leadership experience, Jenny has held prominent roles including CEO, COO, Executive Director, and Programme Manager. Jenny's impressive career spans various sectors, working with giants like BAA plc, Boots Opticians, Lovell, Ilke Homes, Kier, and Fortem, as well as numerous Councils and Housing Associations. Her strategic and operational prowess has consistently driven growth and innovation in every organisation she’s touched. In 2017, Jenny founded Danery to provide executive coaching and consultancy to the housing sector and tech start-ups. Her passion for property innovation led to the launch of the Proptech Innovation Network in 2021, a groundbreaking initiative in social housing. Jenny has worked with and supported over 130 housing associations, local authorities and combined authorities over the last 20 years. Now, with the establishment of Healthy Homes Hub in 2024, Jenny aims to create a collaborative platform to promote healthier, more sustainable living environments. With her extensive expertise and industry connections, Jenny is set to make Healthy Homes Hub a beacon of change in social housing.

Kate Dodsworth
Chief of Regulatory Engagement, Regulator of Social Housing

Kate started her career in housing 30 years ago in homelessness, working with rough sleepers in Birmingham and later managing homeless hostels in Brighton. After completing a Masters degree in Housing, she worked at the National Housing Federation for 10 years; latterly as Assistant Director covering London, the South East and East of England. She was Executive Director of People and Communications at Amicus Horizon and, post-merger, as Optivo.

Kate was Chief Executive of Gateway Housing Association for three years until starting as Director of Consumer Regulation at the Regulator for Social Housing in July 2021. In 2023, she was appointed Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH. Kate was an external examiner for Westminster University until 2019 and a co-founder of the charity, Leadership2025, which aims to increase representation of black housing professionals in senior roles and address structural inequality.

Parminder Dosanjh
Board Member, WHG

For the past twenty-five years Parminder has designed and delivered ground-breaking audience development initiatives for arts, broadcast, and heritage. Her work spans digital production with the BBC, supporting the Cultural Olympiad programme with Arts Council England, and inclusive programming.

Now Creative Director of one of Arts Council’s Creative People and Places programmes, Parminder co-leads Creative Black Country. Her role focusses on co-design, placemaking and amplifying the assets in the region through creative process.

Outside of her role, Parminder is an Area Council Member for Arts Council England, Trustee with Black Country Living Museum, and a Board Member of West Midlands Combined Authority Cultural Leadership Board.

Parminder is also a member of whg’s People and Governance Committee.

Althea Efunshile
Chair, Metropolitan Thames Valley

Althea Efunshile CBE is an accomplished Chair and Non-Executive Director with a 40-year career in education, the arts, and services for children and young people across local and central government. She currently chairs Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing and Ballet Black, and serves as a Non-Executive Director of the Enforcement Conduct Board. Her previous roles include Deputy Chief Executive of Arts Council England, senior civil servant at the Department for Education and Skills, and chief officer in Lewisham. She began as a secondary school teacher in Brent. Althea was awarded a CBE in June 2016.

Sarah Elliott
Chief Executive, Shelter

Andy George
Director of Industry Attraction and Skills, Home Builders Federation

Director of Industry Attraction and Skills at the Home Builders Federation. Previously at Barratt Redrow, as Head of Talent Management. Having worked in the home building industry for almost 20 years, Andy has been responsible for developing multiple development frameworks and strategies beyond home building, within the hospitality and supermarket sectors, accumulating a wealth of experience in key HR and development roles. Previously Andy Chaired the HBF Skills and Supply Chain Engagement group, and the HBF Career Attract Group, has worked alongside HBF to drive collaboration and attraction activity across the home building sector for several years.

John Glenton
Chair, Pickering and Ferens

John joined the Board of Directors in July 2023 and brings comprehensive knowledge and expertise gained through over 35 years of housing sector experience, predominately within provision of care and support services to vulnerable people. John has been the Chief Care and Support Officer for the Riverside Group since 2016.

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.

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.

John Hoarey
Head of Dispute Resolution, Housing Ombudsman Service

Geraldine Howley
Chair, Together Housing

Geraldine Howley is Chair of Together Housing, one of the country’s largest housing providers. She retired as Chief Executive of Incommunities in 2021 after having cut her teeth as a Housing Officer on Bradford’s estates. Geraldine has had a long association the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), including being past President, and was also Chair of CIH Governing Board. She has Chaired the UK and Ireland Housing Partnership, part of the unique International Housing Partnership. Geraldine is the Executive Chair of the GEM graduate programme which has provided opportunities for young people to enter the social housing.

Leanne Hurrell
Head of UK Regional Public Sector, Amazon Web Services

Leanne Hurrell brings extensive experience in the telecommunications and tech sectors. Beginning her journey at Cable & Wireless, followed by roles at Level 3 and Verizon, she focused on addressing customer challenges through digital transformation initiatives. Known for her collaborative approach and customer-centric mindset, Leanne played a key role in developing Verizon’s acquisition team and was honored with the Leader of the Year award.

In 2019, Leanne expanded her expertise by moving to AWS, leading cloud acceleration programs for the top global and strategic accounts. Transitioning to AWS's UK public sector division in April 2023, she continues to lead teams dedicated to driving innovation in healthcare, education, non-profit organizations, and local government.

Outside of her professional endeavors, Leanne volunteers with Reenage, a charity combating isolation among the elderly. She is committed to making a positive impact beyond technology, striving to uplift communities and contribute to a brighter future for all.

Nick Phillips
Chief Executive, The Almhouse Association

Nick is focused on seeing almshouses recognised as the exemplar form of community housing. A chartered surveyor, Nick has worked in the commercial world before changing to the charity sector twenty years ago. Nicks career has blended his passion for historic buildings, access for secure housing for all and charity support.

Ruth Picknett-Powell
Resident Board Member, Sovereign Network Group

Ruth lives in a Sovereign Network Group home in Wiltshire and joined the RBP in September 2021. She currently works for the DSTL as a project delivery team leader having spent the majority of her career in the NHS.

Ben Shimshon
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Thinks Insight & Strategy

Ben is a leading insight practitioner, conducting research and providing strategic advice to high-level clients. He specialises in providing clients with policy, positioning, campaign and communication advice rooted in our qualitative and quantitative insight. Ben appears regularly in the media, commenting on public opinion and political sentiment, and he writes frequently for a range of newspapers, magazines and websites. Ben has contributed to a number of insight and research conferences for, among others, the MRS, AQA and AURA. Prior to founding Thinks Insight & Strategy, Ben was a Director of Brand Democracy, and held a number of roles in and around UK politics and think tanks. He is a trustee of The UK Friends of The Abraham Initiatives, and served on the Commission on the Future of Council Housing in Southwark.

Pat Ritchie CBE
Chair, Homes England

Pat Ritchie brings a wide range of experience to the role of Homes England Chair. She has been Chair of the Government Property Agency since 2020 and currently sits on the Homes England Board, where she helps oversee and implement the agency’s key priorities. She was previously Chief Executive of both Newcastle City Council and the Homes and Communities Agency. The interim position is expected to last up to 18 months and will provide stability and momentum to Homes England while it continues to play a vital role in delivering this government’s housing agenda and moves to a regional and place-based operating model to deliver successful placemaking and align with the government’s wider devolution agenda.

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.

Matthew Scott
Policy Manager (net zero and sustainability), Chartered Institute of Housing

Matthew Scott is policy manager for net zero, sustainability, and climate resilience at the Chartered Institute of Housing. He holds a PhD from Newcastle University, and has written and spoken widely about the implications of climate change and extreme weather for social housing providers in the UK. He is also a regular contributor to the UK Housing Review and continues to work with academic colleagues to develop new research into the links between housing, energy, and climate policy.

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.

Jacqueline Starr
Chair, LiveWest

Jacqueline (Jac) joined the LiveWest Customer Services Committee in 2019 and she is now Chair of the LiveWest Board.  Jac is the current Chief Executive Officer for the Rail Delivery Group (RDG).  Previous roles have included Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Customer at RDG, Director of Experience at Barclays and Head of Experience at O2.

Jean Templeton
Chief Executive, St Basils

Jean has been Chief Executive of St Basils since 2000. St Basils is a registered Housing Association and Charity providing a range of accommodation and support for young people aged 16-25 who are homeless or at risk in Birmingham and West Midlands including young people leaving care and those who are care experienced. They have taken a whole organisation approach to becoming a Psychologically Informed Environment since 2011. Jean is Chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Homelessness Taskforce and Chair of West Midlands Homelessness and Health Network and is a member of the Government’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Expert Group.

Jerome Tsui
Non-Executive Director, Jigsaw Homes

Jerome is Founding Director of 1828, a design and advisory practice helping organisations embed inclusive design, accessibility, constructive dialogue, mediation and governance resilience. Jerome is passionate about advancing equity and strengthening inclusive communities. A former Certified Information Systems Auditor with EY and KPMG, he has advised international organisations on governance, information risk, and cyber security. He is a Trustee of the Chartered Institute of Housing, a Non-Executive Director of Jigsaw Homes, and an Independent Member of Citizens Advice’s Equity Advisory Group.

Jonathan Walters
Deputy 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.

Claire Warren
Chief Executive, Pickering and Ferens Homes

Claire has a career in social housing spanning over 30 years. She is an experienced leader and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing. Claire joined PFH in 2013 and since then it has been her mission for PFH to stay true to our values, be more than ‘just a landlord’ and to deliver exceptional homes and services to people living in our local communities, in their later life. They deserve the best. Claire’s role is to support the Charity’s governing board, to support the achievement of PFH’s Corporate and Financial Plans and take overall responsibility for the organisation’s compliance requirements.