Mark Easton
Home Editor, BBC

Mark is an award-winning broadcaster and writer who appears regularly on television, radio and online. His latest book ‘Islands: Searching for Truth on the Shoreline’ was published in 2022. Mark’s has won several awards for his television documentaries and news reports, including Royal Statistical Society awards for statistical excellence in 2009 and 2010. His BBC blog was a finalist at the prestigious international Online Journalism Awards in San Francisco. Mark’s role is to provide expert analysis and broad perspective on the issues and stories affecting modern Britain, chronicling the impact of rapid demographic, technological, economic and global change. A well-known facilitator and speaker within the housing sector, Mark presented the Radio 4 programme ‘Housing: Where Will We Live?’. Before taking up his current post in 2004, Mark was Home and Social Affairs Editor at Channel 4 Television and Political Editor at Channel 5 television.

Victor Andrews
Chair, Tenant Advisory Panel

Vic believes passionately in voicing the concerns of those people, that for many and various reasons, feel unable to represent themselves. He has also been a Governor of a large Primary school Trust in a deprived area of Essex.

Since becoming a member of his Landlords Tenant Executive Committee, Vic has been a Group Board Observer, and a member of two of his Landlord’s Governance Committees.

As well as a passion for improving the lives of people generally and specifically regarding their right to a safe, affordable place to call their home, within safe neighbourhoods, Vic now welcomes the wider opportunity as Chair of the National Housing Federation Tenants Advisory Panel (TAP), to use his skills and experience to help Social Housing Tenants and Landlords to work collaboratively to achieve better outcomes.

Daisy Armstrong
Resident Board Member and Chair, Southern Housing and G15 Group

Daisy has lifelong experience of living in social housing and knows the benefits it can bring from her great-grandfathers housed in ‘Homes for Heroes’ in West London. She is a qualified teacher, specialising in IT and design and technology, with 17 years’ experience of school governance; eight years as Chair of Governors.

Daisy is involved in raising the resident and disabled person’s voice as resident board member with Southern Housing, and additional roles as EDI lead, Residents Services Committee member and link board member on a regional resident’s panel. As Chair of the G15 Residents’ Group, Daisy leads the forum in informing, influencing, and celebrating the socially housed residents voice at leadership policy level.

Cllr Arooj Shah
Leader, Oldham Council

Baroness Taylor of Stevenage
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Roli Barker
Chair, Jigsaw Homes Group

Roli is the Group Chair of Jigsaw Homes Group and a trustee at The Lowry. She is currently a Director at the Big Life Group and has extensive experience of designing and delivering a diverse range of projects for corporate and non-profit organisations. Her previous roles have included leading a project to transform the private rented sector in Greater Manchester for Shelter, community engagement for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and fundraising initiatives for arts organisations.

Lord Gavin Barwell
Non-executive Director, Clarion Housing Group

Gavin Barwell served as Downing Street Chief of Staff from June 2017 to July 2019. As the Prime Minister’s most senior political adviser, he was intimately involved in the negotiation of Theresa May’s Brexit deal, as well as the development of key domestic policies like the UK’s commitment to net zero carbon emissions.

He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Croydon Central and as a Government Minister (initially a Whip and then Minister for Housing & Planning and Minister for London). He now runs NorthStar, a business he co-founded which provides advice to businesses on UK and geopolitics.

Dr Henrietta Blackmore
Director, Habitat for Humanity GB

Dr Henrietta Blackmore is the National Director of Habitat for Humanity Great Britain (HfHGB). She leads HfHGB’s work fighting poverty and homelessness in Great Britain and around the world. Henrietta brings diverse experience to her role, having worked in the community and international development sector for 20 years. This includes ten years at Save the Children in senior leadership roles with responsibilities for the delivery of global humanitarian and development programmes, strategic partnerships, fundraising, operations, organisational strategy development, people and culture. In addition to her work at HfHGB, Henrietta is a trustee of UnLtd, a member of the Grants Sub-Committee at Amnesty International UK, and holds a PhD from the University of Oxford.

Kevin Brady
Chair, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing

Kevin has held senior positions across local, regional and central government including spells with the Department for Education and Skills, Government Office for the North West and as Deputy Chief Executive, Salford City Council. He has worked as an independent consultant across the public and private sectors. Kevin has extensive board level experience across the public, private, not for profit and higher education sectors and which included chairing a large charity. Kevin is a non-executive director with Together Housing Group Common Board, an independent member of Yorkshire Housing Audit and Risk Committee and serves as an independent member of Transport for the North Audit and Governance Committee. He is a resident of Rochdale.

Monica Burns
Board Member, Tyne Housing

Monica held a senior role in the National Housing Federation, helping to shape National housing policy – a position she held for 15 years. Monica has achieved a lot throughout the 30 years experience she’s gained working in social housing, including carrying out research into rural homelessness with Northumbria University and working with local authorities and voluntary sectors. She has experience working with large national housing associations, specialist housing associations and rural housing associations.

Aisha Butera
Non-Executive Director, Muir Group

Aisha has worked in social housing policy and engagement for 10-years and is currently a Board Member at Muir Group Housing Association. As a Social Value Consultant for AtkinsRéalis, Aisha utilises data triangulation and engagement to explore how best to support and advocate for the interest of residents and their communities. This includes understanding household makeup, equality data and existing needs when drafting housing offers, wellbeing strategies and influencing programme timelines for large regeneration and retrofit schemes. When it comes to affordable housing programmes, Aisha emphasises the importance of data and engagement through neighbourhood briefs, to ensure future homes are fit for purpose.

Anne Chapman
Non-Executive Director, Porchlight

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.

Chris Cheshire
Chair, Watford Community Housing

Asha Cleavely
Board Member, Saffron Housing

Maeve Collier
Director of ICT and Change, Beyond Housing

Caroline Corby
Chair, Peabody

Caroline Corby worked in the City for 13 years, specialising in private equity. During this period she served as a non-executive director on a number of private sector boards across a range of industries. After taking a career break to raise her three daughters, Caroline joined the board of London Probation Trust in 2007 and subsequently became Chair. She has since undertaken a number of board appointments in the public and housing sector.

From 2020 to 2024, Caroline was chair of One Housing Group. One Housing merged with Riverside and Caroline became vice-chair of the merged group. She therefore has extensive experience in social housing, care and support and regulatory standards. Caroline became chair of Peabody in April 2024. Her focus is on scrutinising performance, championing equality, diversity and inclusion and driving continuous improvement as Peabody negotiates the ongoing challenges of the social housing sector.

As well as her role at Peabody, Caroline is Chair of the Parole Board for England and Wales (which determines whether the most serious and complex prisoners can be released back into the community) and the Professional Standards Authority (which oversees the regulation of all health workers in the UK and social workers in England) and she is a non-executive director of the Security Industry Authority.

Emily Cox
Chair, Gentoo

Councillor Nasrine Djemai
London Borough of Camden

Kate Dodsworth
Chief of Regulatory Engagement, Regulator of Social Housing

Kate started her housing career in homelessness before moving to the National Housing Federation where she was Assistant Director covering London the South East and East of England. She moved to Amicus Horizon in 2013, sitting on the Executive team for five years during which it became Optivo. Kate took on the role of Chief Executive at Gateway Housing Association in 2018. She is also one of the founding members of Leadership 2025, which was set up to address diversity gaps in housing leadership, and is a trustee of the charity that is taking this work forward.

Mike Emmerich
Chair, Torus

As Chair of the Board, Mike oversees and ensures high standards of governance, and provides appropriate levels of challenge and support to the Executive Team. Mike is an entrepreneur. He combines senior leadership experience across the public and private sectors with his extensive strategy and economics knowledge. He has applied this to start ups in the private, public, academic, and not-for-profit sectors for over twenty years. He is also an experienced national-level Non-Executive Director in the education, health, heritage, real estate, and culture sectors. As the Founding Director of Metro Dynamics, a specialised consultancy for local authorities, Mike plays a significant role on many major projects including the devolution deals in the West Midlands and North East which give more local responsibility for housing and infrastructure. He has also spent significant time working with local authorities and combined authorities within the Liverpool and Greater Manchester City Regions.

Karin Erlander
Director International Public Finance Ratings, S&P Global Ratings

Karin Erlander is a Director and the Lead Analyst within the International Public Finance team covering the public and not-for-profit sectors, focusing on universities, housing associations and local governments across the UK and the Netherlands.

Based in London, Karin joined S&P in 2007 as an analyst in the Utilities team, covering a portfolio of Nordic, U.K, & Ireland and Netherland-based issuers for six years, followed by three years in Consumer Products & Health Care. Prior to joining S&P, Karin worked at SEB Merchant Banking.

Karin has a BSc in Business Administration majoring in Finance from the University of Stockholm, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Economics from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Karin is fluent in Swedish and English.

Peter Freeman
Chair, Homes England

After qualifying as a lawyer, Peter formed the Argent Group of property companies with his brother in 1981. Argent is particularly known for major mixed-use projects like Brindleyplace in Birmingham, and King’s Cross and Brent Cross Town in London. Peter has also been a non-executive director on several other property companies and a trustee of a number of charities connected with education, combating intolerance, and public performance art. He was shortlisted for the Wolfson Economic Prize on delivering garden cities in 2014 and was until October 2020 Chair of Mayfield Market Towns Ltd. Peter was the principal author of the 2020 Housing Sprint Report and became Chair of Homes England in October 2020.

Noa Fux
Director and Lead Analyst, International Public Finance, S&P Global Ratings

Noa Fux is a Director and a Lead Analyst in the International Public Finance team at S&P Global Ratings, covering public and not-for-profit sectors, focusing on housing associations, universities, and local governments across the UK. Based in London, Noa joined S&P in 2015 as an analyst in the Tel Aviv office, moving to Frankfurt in 2018, covering local and regional governments as well as social housing providers in Israel and Central Eastern Europe. Prior to joining S&P Global Ratings, Noa worked as a senior economist at the economic research department for the Manufacturer’s Association of Israel. Noa holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Bachelor degree in Bachelor of Science Agriculture, Agricultural Economics and Management, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Callum Gillespie
Chair, NCHA

Matthew Harrison
Chair, South Yorkshire Housing Association

Matthew joined South Yorkshire Housing Association as Chair in November 2023. His executive career prior to this was spent largely with Manchester based Great Places Housing Group, who he joined in 1993 as Director of Development. Whilst in this role he led the organisation through award winning developments before being appointed as Chief Executive in April 2013. He has vast experience in development and urban regeneration and has led on many iconic developments and projects that supported the growth of the business before stepping down in June 2024.

Whilst at Great Places Matthew undertook a variety of roles including Chairing Hive Homes, an innovative joint venture and the South Yorkshire Housing Partnership. He has also been a Director of Forge New Homes, Inspiral Oldham PFI, the Oldham / Rochdale Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder and the Sheffield Local Housing Company, as well as being the Vice Chair of both the Greater Manchester Housing and Planning Commission and the Greater Manchester Truly Affordable Net Zero Housing Task Force. He has also been a member of the Sheffield Housing Growth Board.

In addition to these roles Matthew has also served as a non-executive Director at Halton Housing and is currently a non-executive Director for This City, Manchester City Council’s innovative residential development company.

Junior Hemans
Former Chair, Tuntum

In 1990 Junior joined The Housing Corporation, as a Regulation Officer. Junior was involved in several high-profile investigations. Junior was one of the first appointees to the Stock Transfer Unit, that focussed on delivering the many local authority stock transfers. He delivered several ground-breaking transfers. In 2001, Junior joined pwc as a public sector consultant, working on a variety of housing assignments, production of two good practice guides to business planning on behalf of The Housing Corporation and the Sector Skills Council; secondment to Homes & Communities on their housing kickstart programme. Other public sector work included assessments of the Building Schools for the future applications. In 1995 he wrote a business plan to acquire investment properties, prior to Buy to Let mortgages. In 1998 he identified a business opportunity to teach children in care, Together with business partners, formed Education Plus and provided teachers to children care homes, took over management of two failing out-sourced schools and improved their Ofsted ratings. They were nominated for several national awards.

Junior left pwc in 2011 and has now developed a portfolio of work for himself. He continues to buy renovate and sell properties; he is chair of Tuntum Housing, a former board member of Ashram Housing, a Non-Executive Director of Walsall Healthcare Hospital and a former NED of Royal Wolverhampton Hospital, he is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton Business School.

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.

Zoe Hingston
Non-Executive Director, Home Group

Zoë is a senior leader with extensive leadership and management experience across multiple sectors including as a former Police Inspector.  As a Non-Executive Director for Home Group, one of the largest UK providers of social housing and care services, she advises on strategic and operational matters related to people, governance, risk and project management and uses her voice to ensure that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) remains at the heart of all decision making.

Zoë continues to lead on EDI work at Newcastle University having done so previously at Newcastle United Football Club and at Northumbria Police where she worked both regionally and nationally around retention, representation and progression for staff and officers.

Keryn Jalli
Non-Executive Director, Jigsaw Homes

Paul Johnson
Chief Economist, Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)

Paul has been Director of the IFS since January 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London. Paul has worked and published extensively on the economics of public policy, with a particular focus on income distribution, public finances, pensions, tax, social security, education and climate change. He was awarded a CBE for services to the social sciences and economics in 2018. As well as a previous period of work at the IFS his career has included spells at HM Treasury, the Department for Education and the FSA. Between 2004 and 2007 he was deputy head of the Government Economic Service. Paul is currently also a member of the committee on climate change and the Banking Standards Board. He was an editor of the Mirrlees Review of the UK tax system.

Ruth Johnston
Head of Communications and Marketing, National Housing Federation

Ronak Kantaria
Non-Executive Director, Two Saints HA

Ronak is a qualified accountant with over 22 years’ experience in the property sector. With a dynamic and adaptable approach, focussing on a people-focussed methodology that facilitates a culture of honesty and transparency. Ronak deploys a deeply collaborative and democratic business style and a capacity to establish long-standing business relationships, with an influential approach to engage stakeholder at all levels, with a desire to provide constructive challenge to a board and to make impact within those organisations. Ronak, is now a portfolio NED with a number of NED roles within and outside the sector as well as his own consultancy.

Tariq Khazi
Trustee, New Economics Foundation and Group Treasurer, Peabody

Tariq Kazi is a former board member and finance committee chair of Stonewater and external advisor to the Treasury Committee of Bromford. He is currently Deputy President of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and Trustee of New Economics Foundation. In his full-time role Tariq is Group Treasurer of Peabody. Tariq holds professional qualifications in accountancy and treasury.

Mike Kirk
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.

Nora Law
NED, Chrysalis

Nora Law is a Non-Executive Director with Chrysalis Supported Association, an organisation that provides social housing, accommodation and support to vulnerable adults across the UK. With over 20 years' experience in health and social care, she is passionate about driving meaningful change by helping organisations improve the experience they offer and acts as the Tenant voice at Board level. As founder of Chrysalis CX, a customer experience consultancy, Nora has extensive experience across multiple sectors in regulatory environments working with organisations in innovation and change management to meet evolving customer needs and expectations.

Hattie Llewelyn-Davies
Chair, Eastlight Community Homes

Hattie was the driving force behind the merger between Colne Housing – where she was Chair – and Greenfields Community Housing to create Eastlight Community Homes in July 2020. Awarded an OBE for her services to homeless people in 2004, Hattie’s career began in housing and homelessness and has since expanded to health, compliance, and financial services across public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Her governance expertise benefit many housing providers in her role as Chair of BuildEast’s East of England Chairs Group. She is also Chair of The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust.

Fiona MacGregor
Chief Executive, Regulator of Social Housing

Fiona became Chief Executive of the standalone Regulator of Social Housing in October 2018 having been Director of Regulation at the Homes and Communities Agency from November 2015. The Regulator is responsible for the regulation of registered social housing providers. Previously, as Director of Programmes, she was responsible for HCA’s Affordable Housing and Help to Buy programmes. Fiona has over 25 years housing experience, covering development investment, programme delivery and policy development. She has worked at the HCA since it launched in 2008, before which she was Deputy Director of Investment at the Housing Corporation, and prior to that, Head of Development at London & Quadrant.

Paul Massara
Chair, Sovereign

Paul holds a number of Non- Executive roles including the Chair of Sovereign Housing, Chair of Utonomy, and Board Advisor to a number of energytech start-ups. In addition to these roles he is also member of the Committee on Fuel Poverty at BEIS. He also works with Said Business School, Oxford University, on their Creative Destruction Lab.

Prior to his current roles he was CEO of RWE npower and served on the Executive Committee of RWE AG as well as being the Country Chair for RWE in the UK responsible for all Government and policy issues. As member of the RWE Retail Board, he was responsible for coordinating 23 million B2C customers and led the digitalization of RWE in the UK and Europe.

Before joining RWE npower, he held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility with Centrica plc, Direct Energy North America, in Toronto. His tenure there culminated in his role as President of Canadian Operations and serving as a Member of the North American Board and the North America Executive Committee. His leadership enhanced the Company’s growth from $700,000MM to $2.7Bn, and from 600 to 3,000 employees.

He is Chair of Medicinema, a charity focused on enhancing patient wellbeing by building cinemas in hospitals. He was voted Top 40 Under 40 in Canada in 2004 and was Chair of the Toronto Board of Trade.

Rhys Moore
Executive Director of Public Impact, National Housing Federation

Rhys started with the NHF in October 2018, as Executive Director of Public Impact. Rhys oversees our policy, external affairs and communications work. Previously he was Director of the Living Wage Foundation where he worked with government, business and civil society to build a national movement of responsible employers. Before that, he helped to establish the London Community Foundation, which supports grassroots community groups in the capital. Rhys is a board member of the Carers Trust.

Charlaine Nkum
Vice Chair Resident Strategy Group, Vice Chair Resident Strategy Group

Hakeem Osinaike
Strategic Director of Housing, Southwark Council

Hakeem Osinaike joined Southwark Council in March 2024 as Strategic Director of Housing. Previously he was Director of Housing in Brent and Director of Housing Management in Barking & Dagenham. Hakeem has also worked in housing at four more London councils; Greenwich, Lewisham, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Croydon, as well as working before at Southwark. During his earlier time at Southwark (2000 and 2003), Hakeem worked in Homelessness, Housing Management and Housing Needs, gaining a good understanding of some of the borough’s needs and requirements. Hakeem has a Masters degree in Housing and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Birmingham. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Annie Owens
Policy Leader, National Housing Federation

Annie Owens is Policy Leader for the quality of existing homes at the National Housing Federation (NHF). She leads on the NHF’s policy work in areas such as the Decent Homes Standard, Awaab’s Law, and broader asset management. Before joining the NHF, Annie worked in the policy team at the Chartered Institute of Housing, and managed the policy and research team in the consultancy Campbell Tickell.

Rajiv Peter
BM, Golding Homes

Rajiv Peter, an accomplished tech leader, brings extensive board and executive experience across sectors. Currently CIO at Notting Hill Genesis, he has led cloud transformations and pioneered the use of AI, IoT, and cybersecurity solutions to keep organizations innovative and secure. With over 15 years of leadership in scaling tech start-ups, he also holds non-executive roles, including Chairman of an international software startup and board member of a charity. Early in his career, Rajiv worked on national digital projects in government, shaping digital standards for English local authorities. He consistently leverages his expertise to challenge the status quo and drive impactful business solutions.

Sarah Pierman
Chief Executive, Dynamic Boards

Sarah is Non-Executive Director of Home Instead and Mutual Vision, Entrepreneur and Founder of Dynamic Boards.

Sarah began her career meeting and evaluating over 250 mid-market businesses to assess whether RBS, and latterly Praesidian Capital, should invest. Since 2015, she has worked in tech start-ups, both as a consultant, adviser, and founder. Alongside this, she has worked as a Non-Executive Director on the board of a specialist bank, a home care franchise business, and a banking software provider. Sarah launched DynamicBoards.co.uk in 2020 to shake up the NED advertising market and make it easy (and free!) for people to find and apply for NED roles. She is on a mission to make UK boards the most dynamic in the world.

Maggie Porteous
Board Member, Abri

Maggie is an experienced non executive and is the Senior Independent Director on the Abri Group Board, chairs their South East Regional Board and also sits on the Abri People and Culture Committee. Maggie is also a non executive Board member for the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and was until last year the Chair of the John Lewis Foundation. Maggie spent 31 years working in John Lewis department stores culminating in leading the 24,000 Partners in 51 shops as the John Lewis Director of Shop Trade.

Heena Prajapat
BM, Platform

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

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.

Maggie Shannon
BM, Progress Housing

With an extensive professional background in social housing, Maggie holds non-executive roles at both Progress Housing Group and South Liverpool Homes. As chair of the Group Governance Committee at Progress, she has championed the development of a diverse and skilled board. Through her business, Skyline Management Consulting, Maggie works with housing organisations, charities, and hospices, helping them to develop the skills, confidence, relationships, and ability to make a positive difference. Known for her warm and friendly approach, she’s a great listener who quickly gets to the heart of any situation, helping to create strong relationships.

Sonia Sodha
Chief Leader Writer and Columnist, The Observer

Sonia Sodha is chief leader writer and columnist at the Observer. She also makes documentaries on economic and social issues for R4 and appears regularly on the BBC, Sky News and C4 as a political commentator. Prior to her career in journalism, Sonia spent ten years working in policy and politics: initially for the think tanks IPPR & Demos, where she led programmes of work on education and social policy; then as a senior policy adviser to Ed Miliband; and then in a series of strategic roles for charities including Which?, the Dartington Social Research Unit and Generation Change.

Lara Sonola
Board Member, Octavia

Lara is a former programme director and senior manager who has worked in integrated care systems, regulatory policy, leadership development and talent management in the NHS; and system oversight and accountability at the Department for Health and Social Care, before moving into chief of staff roles at NHS England. She oversaw the transition of North Central London Clinical Commissioning Group to NCL Integrated Care Board between August 2021 and December 2022.

Prior to joining the NHS, Lara was a senior researcher at The King's Fund where she worked for five years focusing on integrated care, shifting care into community settings, reconfiguring clinical services and quality governance. She has a MSc in Public Health (specialising in Health Services Research) and a BSc in Biomedical Science.

Lara has been Joint Chair of the Board of Trustees at Age UK Wandsworth for five years and is also a trustee of Helpforce, a charity which seeks to accelerate the growth and impact of volunteering in health and care.

Her areas of interests include trustee development and mentoring, leadership development, change management, systems working and stakeholder engagement.

Ellie Southwood
Chair, Habinteg

Emily Spurrell
Merseyside Police & Crime Commissioner, Merseyside Police

Emily is in her second term as Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Merseyside. She was first elected in May 2021 and re-elected in May 2024 with 61.7% of the public vote. As PCC, Emily has prioritised preventing crime, tackling Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG), improving police scrutiny and transparency, and supporting victims of crime. These are encapsulated in Emily’s Police and Crime Plan for the region, which focuses on three key pillars:

• Fighting Crime; Proactive Policing.
• Supporting Victims; Safer Communities.
• Driving Change; Prevent Offending.

Emily was elected as Chair of the Association of PCCs (APCC) in September 2024. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Independent Custody Visiting Association (ICVA).

Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
Chief Executive, New Economics Foundation

Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah has been Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation since January 2024. Danny's previous roles include CEO of Oxfam GB, Secretary General of CIVICUS, Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Interim Director of the Commonwealth Foundation and various posts at the Institute for Public Policy Research. He is a Trustee of the Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation and has previously been a Trustee of the Baring Foundation, Comic Relief, Disasters Emergency Committee and Praxis Community Projects.

He has been a member of two United Nations High Level Panels, on digital co-operation and humanitarian finance. He is the author of "Power to the People: Use your voice, Change the world" (Headline Press, 2024).

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.

Rory Weal
Chair, Rural Homelessness Counts Coalition

Rory Weal is the founding co-chair of the Rural Homelessness Counts coalition, which brings together a wide range of charities, housing association, and representative bodies with the goal of ending homelessness in rural communities. Rory has worked for UK charities and housing associations in the fields of poverty, mental health, and housing to build long-term solutions to social injustice. Rory is a Churchill Fellow and Thouron Scholar, having spent time in the United States studying international approaches to tackling poverty and homelessness.

Steve Williams
Board Member, Beyond Housing

Steve has served on the Board of Beyond Housing for five years and chairs the Governance Committee. Beyond have some 30,000 customers and 15,000 homes across North Yorkshire and Teesside. He also serves as a Trustee of a charity providing services to people with complex needs. Steve’s full-time career was as an IT Director and specialist in mergers and acquisitions in public and private sectors. Steve is a drummer and a triathlete and lives in the North-East of England.

Rachel Williamson
Head of Policy and External Affairs, Chartered Institute of Housing

Rachael Williamson is head of policy and external affairs at the Chartered Institute of Housing, where she’s worked since 2021. Prior to this she worked for the civil service for over ten years in senior policy roles across a number of government departments (Ministry of Housing, Cabinet Office, Defra), as well as for Citizens Advice, where she is now a Trustee.