Pamela Leonce
Chair, Inquilab

Pamela is an experienced housing professional with over 30 years’ experience in the sector. She has extensive governance and leadership experience having been Executive Director in housing, health, social care and the criminal justice sector. She is CEO of Stowhill Consultancy, Chair of Inquilab Housing Association, and an independent diversity advisor to the executive search firm, Saxton Bampfylde. Her previous roles include, Sustainably Advisor to the Mayor of London and Board Member of Barclays Foundation.

Wayne Morris
Group Chair, Abri

An experienced housing professional, Wayne has spent nearly 25 years working at Chief Executive level within major housing associations across the South West, notably Spectrum Housing Group (2007-13) before it merged with Sovereign Housing Association in 2016. Wayne previously held the role of Vice-Chair of the Yarlington Housing Group Board and chaired the Remuneration & Nominations Committee. He is a corporate member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Jo Allen
Head of Member Relations, National Housing Federation

Jo Allen is Head of Member Relations at the National Housing Federation where she has worked since 2015. Prior to joining the Federation, she worked in policy and public affairs roles in local government, the banking sector and the British Embassy in Madrid.

Mike Amesbury MP
Shadow Minister for Building Safety and Homelessness

Mike Amesbury is the Labour MP for Weaver Vale, and has been an MP continuously since 8 June 2017. He currently undertakes the role of Shadow Minister (Levelling Up, Housing, Communities and Local Government).

Michael Appleby
Managing Director, Altair

Michael Appleby is the Managing Director of Altair Consulting. He has overall responsibility for Altair’s broad range of Consulting services provided to clients in the housing, local authority and related sectors, in the UK and Internationally.

Michael has worked with boards and executive teams in the housing sector for nearly 20 years. Michael now primarily works with clients on horizon scanning, transformation, strategy, strategic HR, technology and regulation activities.

Michael also takes a lead on Altair thought leadership activities. This has included projects such as; Future Gazing Future Shaping 2025 series, research into alleviating poverty in social housing and identifying ways to improve the supply of affordable housing in London through collaboration between LAs and RPs. Michael was also co-author of Altair’s review of the near failure of Cosmopolitan and he also co-authored previous NHF guidance on board remuneration in the sector.

With a strong interest in the way the sector is governed and how services are delivered to customers. Michael is also now involved in working to identify how artificial intelligence and other modern technologies can be used to navigate current challenges in the sector and improve the way organisations operate.

Samia Badani
Notting Dale Residents Advisory Board

Ed Barber
External Affairs Manager, National Housing Federation

Ed's responsibilities include managing the NHF's relationship with London housing associations, co-leading its offer for smaller members and leading on member engagement for the NHF's welfare reform work. Previously, Ed worked in the NHF's policy team on finance, supply and rents, which cut across affordability and affordable home ownership topics.

Roli Barker
Incoming Chair, Jigsaw Homes Group

Roli is an experienced project manager who has worked on a range of projects from international corporate events, to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Roli is currently working on the design, implementation and delivery of a £1.2 million project to transform Greater Manchester’s private rented sector.

During her career, Roli has been able to develop a range of skills, including working with local communities, developing relationships with key stakeholders and fundraising. Roli is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Institute of Fundraising.

John Biggs
Board Member, Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association

John joined the Board in September 2022. He was the Executive Mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets from 2014 to 2022 and a former London Assembly member. For several years, John was also an active social housing resident in his local residents’ association.

John shares ISHA's frustration with the current climate of ‘unaffordable affordability’ and believes we must challenge this in our policies, particularly in the current cost-of-living crisis. John also believes that by working with residents, and other partners, ISHA can help address the problems of inequality that place people in positions of financial or other vulnerability.

London has given John and his family great opportunities and he wants to give back to future generations.

Richard Blakeway
Housing Ombudsman

Richard was appointed as Housing Ombudsman from 1 September 2019. He has extensive experience in the housing sector, with previous roles including Deputy Mayor of London for Housing, chair of the Homes for London board and non-executive director of Homes England. During his eight years at the Greater London Authority, Richard was responsible for a major investment programme, overseeing the delivery of 100,000 affordable homes and regeneration plans for 670 hectares of land owned by the authority. Richard led the creation of the first team at City Hall to address rough sleeping, commissioning around £10 million of services each year, as well as the first Social Impact Bond on homelessness.

Robert Colvile
Director, Centre for Policy Studies

Robert Colvile is Director of the CPS and Editor-in-Chief of CapX, as well as a columnist for The Sunday Times. In December 2019 he took a leave of absence to work as one of the authors of the Conservative Party’s election manifesto, which also contained a range of policies advocated by the CPS. He was previously head of comment at the Daily and Sunday Telegraph and news director at BuzzFeed UK, as well as an editor, columnist and leader writer with the Telegraph. His critically acclaimed book ‘The Great Acceleration: How the World is Getting Faster, Faster’ was published by Bloomsbury in 2016, and he was for many years a Research Fellow at the CPS alongside his journalism work. Since 2021 he has been an advisor to the JCB Group, and is also an expert member of the Government’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group.

David Cleary
Managing Director and Head of Housing, 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 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 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.

David is ACIB qualified and has a first class honours degree in Financial Services from The University of Manchester.

Natalie Daniels
Assistant Director of Housing, Greater London Authority

Natalie is a passionate influencer of change in the built environment both in terms of policy and practice, with over 9 years of experience as a senior leader, and an expertise in housing. Specialising in urban development and investment, with professional training in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. Operating in 4 continents and over 15 countries, Natalie has delivered major regeneration projects focussed on sustainable placemaking to ensure more equitable cities. Committed to bringing lessons from around the world back to serve London, Natalie is leading the implementation of the GLA’s affordable housing programmes. Her personal awards, scholarships, and recognition in global housing awards evidence her commitment to excellence.

An experienced board member, Natalie is passionate about equity, fairness, and justice. As a university lecturer in design and an advisor on design review panels, Natalie provides constructive strategic advice and analysis of schematics and design, and its impacts on diverse user groups.

Davinder Dhillon
Board Member, MTVH

Davinder Dhillon brings strong financial expertise to the Board, with significant experience in advising organisations on strategic and capital-raising opportunities. He is also passionate about sustainability and social impact and in his consulting career advises clients on their sustainability and social strategies. At MTVH he is the Board champion for sustainability.

He spent the first decade of his career as an investment banker at a number of city institutions. His principal focus during that time was on advising corporate and financial institution clients about debt and equity market solutions, and mergers and acquisitions. Now, as a strategy consultant he advises leading financial institutions and corporations globally on sustainability and their broader strategic agendas.

Mike Dunn
Board Member, Places for People

Michael is currently a Non-Executive Director, Audit Chair and Senior Independent Director of Storm Housing Group and of London & Continental Railways Limited (LCR Properties) which works between the public and private sectors to develop housing projects with transport elements. He is also Non-Executive Director: Audit and Risk for the Crown Prosecution Service. He has previously served as Non-Executive and Chair of Audit and Risk on the board of the G15 Housing Association Metropolitan Thames Valley and as Non-Executive Chair of Metworks.

Michael joined the board of Places for People Group in January 2022.

Candida Dutiro
Chair of Resident Governance Committee, Red Kite Community Housing

Candida Dutiro is the Chairperson for Resident Representative Team (RRT) at Red Kite Community Housing, providing strategic leadership and direction to RRT. As RRT Chair, she works with staff, other committees and the Board to ensure effective reporting on tenant perspectives to positively influence Red Kite’s key decisions.

As well as volunteering for Red Kite Housing, she is an Eye clinician and a Trainee Leadership Board member at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (BHT) where she has worked for 14 years. At BHT, Candida was nominated for a Safeguarding Reporting Excellence award, audited and implemented effective approaches for resolving hospital non-attendance rates, maximising service delivery standards for patients and potential Trust funds.

Candida is a qualified MSc Clinical Leadership with experience working in various public sector roles, and has seen firsthand how continuous learning in a diverse, inclusive environment leads not only to greater productivity and engagement but also increased professional and personal well-being.

Nicola Ebdon
Assistant Director of Governance and Regulation, Lincolnshire Housing Partnership

Nicola Ebdon has over 20 years’ experience of working as a qualified senior corporate governance professional in charity, regulatory, professional body and trade union services within the housing, health, communications and financial sectors. Her experience spans compliance, equality, diversity and inclusion, strategy development, corporate planning, risk management, project management and corporate performance management. She has also been a Data Protection Officer, with expertise in data protection for over 6 years.

Her approach has a focus on achieving the right outcomes and using effective behaviours to ensure good governance and she actively champions continuous improvement, and equality, diversity and inclusion. She joined the housing sector in 2021, with a remit over governance including board and committee support, regulatory assurance, legal and data protection.

Jacqueline Esimaje-Heath
Board Member, Yorkshire Housing

Jacqui is an architecturally-trained real estate director who’s worked in the private and public sectors. She’s currently a regional development director at the charitable housing association L & Q. During her career she’s been responsible for residential property development, housing and management consultancy, regeneration, private sector renewal and residential sales and marketing.

She’s an experienced non-exec director, with over 20 years’ experience in providing strategic leadership in the not-for-profit sector. She’s also mentored people at both non-exec and operational levels.

Jacqui is also Chair of the Growth and Investment Committee.

Jane Everton
Board Member, Newlon Housing Trust

Jane is a Board member of Newlon Housing Trust and Chair of Outward, a care and support charity within the Newlon Group, and is a Board member of the Northern Housing Consortium. She was previously Deputy Director of Social Housing in the Department for Levelling Up, Homes and Communities responsible for national policy on the social housing, including the Social Housing White Paper and the Social Housing Regulation Bill until April 2022. She has held senior roles in government on the private rented sector & leasehold, planning, community cohesion and faith, and in supported housing and homelessness. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts as well as Chair of Blackheath Choir. Her professional and voluntary work has included roles in local government, housing associations, housing charities and being a school governor. She was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2015.

Rt Revd Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani
The Bishop of Chelmsford

The Rt Revd Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani is the national Lead Bishop for housing. In this role, Bishop Guli leads efforts to implement the recommendations of the Coming Home Report, the report of the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community.

Ewan Fulford
Policy Assistant, National Housing Federation

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.

Tara Gbolade
Board Member, UK Green Building Council

RIBA Rising Star winner Tara Gbolade is co-founder of award-winning Gbolade Design Studio. Her practice specialises in residential and mixed-use developments for public and private sector clients, making ‘everyday places for people extraordinary’ by focusing on place-making. They achieve this through their ethos of being; Design-led, Commercially viable, Innovative, and Sustainable (social, environmental, and economic).

As an Architect and Passivhaus designer, Tara works with the Harlow & Gilston Garden Town on their Sustainability Guidance and Checklist which will be used to ensure high quality sustainable design and performance of future buildings, developments, and communities across the garden town.

Julia Goldsworthy
Trustee, Crisis

Julia has been a trustee since July 2017.

In September 2017, she was appointed Director of Strategy for the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). Prior to this, she spent three years at PwC as a Senior Adviser.

A former MP and Treasury Special Adviser in the coalition government, Julia has more than a decade of experience in developing and implementing policy across a wide range of departments and subject areas, operating at senior levels in Government and the UK Parliament.

In addition to her role at the WMCA, Julia also chairs the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s Brexit Advisory Commission for Public Services - a group established to convene a sector-wide response to Brexit. She is also an associate of the Institute for Government.

Kathleen Harris-Leighton
Board Member, PA Housing

My name is Kathleen Harris-Leighton and I am currently in my third year as a serving Resident Board Member and Safeguarding Champion for PA Housing. I sit on the Finance, Risk and Audit & Customer Committees. I am passionate about the Customer Voice and I am the link between the board and communities/residents. I am a Community Leader, Therapist, Consultant and Business Women. I am dedicated in supporting and empowering all communities, and that includes underpinning Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in everything I do and say. I am an enthusiastic professional and I sit on numerous steering groups and committees. Cultural competency is essential in today’s global world and I am a proven leader and committed to encouraging cultural understanding.

Matthew Harrison
Chair, South Yorkshire Housing Association

Matthew joined Great Places in 1993 and led the organisation through award winning development 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 have supported the growth of the business. He has also played a central role in a number of mergers, most recently leading Great Places’ merger with Equity Housing Group in April 2020.

Matthew has also been involved with a Local Strategic Partnership, has been a PFI Company Board Member; and has supported the National Housing Federation in a variety of ways.

A collaborator at heart, Matthew is currently an active member of the Greater Manchester Housing Partnership; a Board member of the Sheffield Housing Company and Halton Housing. He is also Chair of Hive Homes, the innovative house-building joint venture, led by Greater Manchester housing providers; and a Board member of its Sheffield equivalent, Forge New Homes.

Kate Henderson
Chief Executive, National Housing Federation

Kate Henderson 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.

James Heneghan
Landlords Operations Committee, Torus

My name is James Heneghan I am an involved tenant from Torus Housing.

I have been an involved tenant for approximately 20 years. I got involved to contribute something useful to my community. Prior to this my career was in nursing care, as a care assistant and sales and marketing.

Since becoming involved I have been a Scrutiny Panel Member, a member of the Community Investment Fund (CIF) Panel, and am now a member of the Landlord Operations Committee (LOC). I most recently represented Torus at a conference in London on Customers in the Boardroom.

Natalia Hill
Chair, Customer Experience Committee,, whg Housing Association

Natalia was appointed to the whg Board in November 2020. She is also Chair of whg’s Customer Services Oversight Committee Experience Committee, and is the appointed Board Champion for Complaints.

After working in business management, Natalia embarked upon a career change to bring together her passions for people development, business and law. She has worked at the University of Wolverhampton since 2015 where she is currently a Principal Lecturer and Head of Access and Widening Participation, having previously been Faculty Registrar and Head of Corporate Governance. She is responsible for overseeing the management of recruitment and delivery of key academic courses in the School of Nursing, ensuring opportunities are available to all.

Natalia has extensive experience working in a regulated environment and understands the complexities of adhering to multiple requirements and different types of legislation. Natalia is Chair of a Women’s Staff Network and is working towards achieving a PhD in Social Work and Social Care focussing on the transferable skills of single mothers. Natalia has lived experience of social housing and spends time coaching whg customers.

Victoria Hills
Chief Executive, Royal Town Planning Institute

Victoria Hills is Chief Executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute with over 25 years in senior roles in planning, transport, organisational leadership, and development. Working for all three Mayors of London, she latterly led the UK’s largest regeneration project at Old Oak, setting up the Old Oak and Park Royal Mayoral Development Corporation.

Using the convening role of the Royal Town Planning Institute, she makes the case for resourcing planning and advocating the important role of putting planning at the heart of government delivery for the quality places that people want to live in. She is driving forward delivery of the RTPI’s Corporate Strategy for the 27,000-member strong RTPI, focussing on raising the profile of planning, elevating the value of professionalism, and promoting a more diverse and inclusive profession to ensure genuine representation of society. Victoria has overseen a membership growth trajectory including an 8% growth in members since appointment in 2018.

Victoria is a Board Member of the Government’s Office for Place Advisory Board and sits on the Advisory Board of Black Professionals In Construction (BPIC), and the Advisory Board of the Greener Transport Council. Victoria also is a Commissioner on the Essex Climate Action Commission and chairs its Net Zero Innovation Network. Outside of work, Victoria volunteers as a safeguarding assistant to her children’s rugby team and enjoys trying to keep fit.

Paul Hocker
Customer Influence Committee, Eastlight Community Homes

Paul has worked with children and young people for over 35 years. He was Director for London Play, creating ideas and fruitful partnerships to help enhance London childhoods.

A qualified trainer, Paul has lectured in play and playwork for the University of East London. He was Chair of the International Play Association for England for 5 years, and in 2012, the Mayor of London appointed Paul a ‘London Leader’.

He has written on the subject of play for academic publications, authored short stories and published a dictionary about the language of the Beatles.

Paul is an Eastlight resident and member of the housing association’s resident-led Customer Influence Committee. In his role, Paul helps to support the Board so that Eastlight residents influence and scrutinise decision-making.

Laurence Hodgson
Policy Advisor – Building Safety Regulator, Health and Safety Executive

Laurence is a civil servant with experience working across government in various roles including in Department for Transport, Department for Work and Pensions, and Department of Health.

He has been a policy advisor working in HSE since 2018, previously on the EU Exit process for chemicals regulation, and since 2021 on the Building Safety regime. He is the policy lead in HSE for the ‘in occupation’ phase of the Act (Part 4).

Angela Holden
Assistant Director of Consumer Regulation, Regulator of Social Housing

Graham Hishmurgh
Managing Director, Altair

Graham is responsible for the co-ordination and development of our services to local authority clients, including their local housing companies and arms’ length management organisations (ALMOs).

He has worked in housing for 30 years in both the public and private sectors advising all types of organisations: local authorities; housing associations; profit making providers and their funders; charities; and commercial developers.

Katie Hipkiss
Research Lead, National Housing Federation

Alison Inman
Board Member, Saffron Housing

Alison Inman is a board member at Tpas and Past President of the Chartered Institute of Housing. She sits on the boards of two housing associations and is Co-founder of SHOUT, the social housing campaign group.

Penny Jones
Ethical Governance Lead, Zurich Insurance

Luke Jno-Baptiste
Board Member, Mosscare St Vincent’s

Luke is a Chartered Housing Professional with over 10 years’ experience within the sector. He is currently the Housing Management Services Manager at Riverside Housing Group, delivering a nationwide service.

Previously, Luke was a Senior Community Engagement Officer at Community Gateway Association (CGA), where his team gained national awards for tenant engagement.

Luke built his understanding of communities and the importance of housing while studying a BaHons in Criminology and Criminal Justice and a Post Graduate Certificate in Housing Studies with Distinction. Luke is also a qualified Project Manager and Workplace Coach.

Luke has a range of committee experience including, completing a 2-year Non-Executive Director Traineeship at Progress Housing Group, a graduate of HDN’s Board Excellence Programme, Trustee at Talk, Listen Change and informal roles on the Chartered Institute of Housing NW and Resident Involvement Networking Group.

Luke is a member of the Housing Diversity Network BAME Action Learning Set and uses his experiences in equality and inclusion across the sector by delivering talks across the country on driving Board Diversity. Luke has an in-depth understanding of the benefits of social housing and homelessness prevention through his lived experience and uses this to ensure customer needs are heard and acted upon at a strategic level.

Mike Kirk
Group Chair, Hyde Group

Rabina Khan
Writer and former councillor and special advisor; author, My Hair Is Pink Under This Veil

Rabina Khan is one of the most influential hijab-wearing politicians in London, serving as a Liberal Democrat councillor in the Borough of Tower Hamlets and advisor to Lib Dem Peers in the House of Lords. Born in Bangladesh and raised in Rochester, she is known for her passionate support of causes such as stopping youth knife crime and building more social housing. Her decade in politics has been both controversial and turbulent, but, as she says, defining who you are is about how well you rise when you fall. Rabina has served on housing boards including London Legacy Development Corporation in her work to tackle national housing issues. She has worked to connect people and communities and in 2014 she won the European Diversity awards.

Julie Layton
Chief Executive, Advance

Julie was appointed as Chief Executive of Advance in 2015, having worked for the organisation for a number of years as Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive.

Julie is a qualified accountant and a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing. She has extensive experience in the social housing sector. She is a strategic, visionary leader who is passionate about improving the lives of vulnerable people and believes the non-profit sector has a big part to play in delivering change. Her philosophy is to embed a collaborative and open culture within the organisation and to inspire and empower people to perform well.

Julie has developed partnership working initiatives to ensure Advance can work with others to provide more high quality support options to customers to enable them to live the lives they choose.

In 2017 Julie was appointed to the Board of the Association of Mental Health Providers and is keen to take an active role in shaping the future of the Association and the mental health sector.

Victoria Moffett
Head of Building and Fire Safety Programmes, National Housing Federation

Victoria leads the National Housing Federation’s building safety work, which focusses on supporting housing associations in their work to remediate buildings, shaping and preparing for the new regulatory system and developing long-term cultural change around safety. Victoria comes from a communications, policy and public affairs background, with experience in both housing and the charity sectors.

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.

Gary Moreton
Chair, WHG

Gary was appointed Chair of whg’s Board in July 2022.

Gary, previously a chartered accountant and audit partner at RSM, joined the Board in July 2019 and was elected Deputy Chair in June 2020. He has more than 25 years’ experience working in our sector and previously led RSM’s social housing work nationally. He has worked with housing associations on various regulatory, risk and governance matters including preparations for in-depth assessments carried out by the Regulator of Social Housing.

Gary is now a financial consultant to a Midlands property development company and is a member of the Audit Committee at Orbit. His wealth of experience, firm belief in our mission and commitment to continuous improvement will support our current and future ambitions.

Gary is also a member of whg’s Governance and Remuneration Committee.

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.

Alison Navarro
Board Member, Steve Biko Housing Association

Polly Neate
Chief Executive, Shelter

Polly Neate CBE is CEO of Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity. She is a prominent commentator in the media and on platforms as diverse as the Oxford Union and the first Women’s March London, on housing, social justice, leadership and feminism. She was previously CEO of Women’s Aid and, before that, Executive Director at Action for Children. She is a trustee of Agenda, the alliance for women and girls at risk and of the Young Women’s Trust. She was awarded Best Charity CEO on Social Media in 2019 and can be followed on Twitter @pollyn1 and Instagram @pollyatshelter. Polly was awarded a CBE in the 2020 New Year Honours List.

Emily Orme
Board Member, Women’s Pioneer Housing

Emily is a qualified barrister specialising in housing, local government, and property law for 13 years. She was previously recommended in the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners and is author of a number of publications from books to blogs about the legal framework that surrounds social housing. She therefore brings considerable expertise and specialist knowledge of housing law, social housing regulation and housing management to the Board. In 2016, Emily decided to leave the Bar and embarked on a career in housing management. She has established herself as a talented and innovative senior leader in the social housing sector, speaking regularly at seminars and conferences about the challenges facing the sector. She has built a strong reputation for creating positive change and cultural transformation. Emily also has previous Board experience with Zebra Housing Association, a smaller provider with circa 130 homes in central London. She is currently the Chair at Zebra, but has also acted as Chair of Audit and Risk Committee, and Vice Chair of the Board.

Emily is delighted to be able to bring her skills and experience to the WPH Board. Her values are strongly aligned with WPH and she is passionate about promoting supportive environments for women, not just in housing but in all walks of life.

Sheá Panayi
Risk Consultant, Zurich Insurance

Sarah Parker
Fire Safety Manager, Peaks and Plains Housing Trust

Keiran Pedley
Director of Politics, Ipsos

Keiran Pedley, the esteemed Director of Politics at Ipsos, is a foremost authority on politics, public opinion, and societal trends, having graduated from the London School of Economics in 2007. With a career spanning various polling firms, Keiran joined Ipsos in 2019, where he played a pivotal role in accurately predicting the outcomes of the 2019 European and General Elections. Beyond politics and elections, he has spearheaded research on public attitudes towards the Covid-19 pandemic, the escalating cost of living, international conflicts, and a myriad of societal issues, navigating through the tenures of several new Prime Ministers.

Frequently sought after by both broadcast and print media, Keiran provides his expert insights on politics and public affairs. He contributes a monthly column to The Evening Standard and is a regular contributor to The I Newspaper. Actively engaged on Twitter, Keiran boasts a significant following, including leading political editors, academics, and senior members of the Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet.

In the context of your event, Keiran brings an unparalleled expert perspective on the current landscape of British politics and society, offering valuable insights into the lead-up to the next General Election, its implications, and what lies ahead.

Reena Purchase
Chair, Arhag

Reena became Chair of the Board in September 2022.

She is an accomplished leader and senior manager in the charity and housing association sectors. This includes fifteen years leading and growing the Octavia Foundation, a registered charity supporting people affected by ill-health, social isolation, low income or unemployment. Reena is known for successfully developing strategy and increasing income through fundraising and from charity retail to grow organisations and reach more people. Her previous roles within the housing and charity sectors include Director, Octavia Foundation, Head of Corporate Services, Presentation Housing and Grants Manager/Assessor HACT working with Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need.

As well as being multi-lingual, Reena is a Fellow of Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and provides mindfulness training and coaching to individuals.

Reena is passionate about supporting migrants and refugees and adding value through the services Arhag provides. As well as leading Arhag’s strategy to be the go-to organisation for migrant and immigrant issues, her vision is to create a positive narrative around the huge contribution migrants and refugees make to our society.

Sue Ramsden
Board Member, Thames Reach Housing

Carol Rosati OBE
Senior Independent Director, Alliance Homes

Carol joined the board in 2020 to support organisational development and our design and transformation agenda. She is our Senior Independent Director and chair of the Remuneration, People and Culture Committee.

She is an experienced non-executive director and chair and sits on the board of Southern Housing and is also Chair of their People Committee. She is the chair and vice chair of the Nominations Committee for UN Women UK.

Carol has over 25 years of talent management and workforce development experience with broad commercial and financial acumen. She is the UK Diversity Equity and Inclusion Lead for GSK.

Carol was awarded an OBE in the Queen's 2015 Birthday Honours List for services to Women in Business.

Emma Richman
Director of Operations, Peaks & Plains Housing Trust

Emma is an award winning housing professional with a career in housing that spans over 27 years, she is currently the Director of Operations at Peaks and Plains Housing Trust and is also an Independent Non Exec at First Choice Homes Oldham. Emma is a qualified Architect and Building Surveyor and is currently a Trustee of the Pankhurst Centre in Manchester.

Emma is a previous Chair of the North West Branch of Women in Property and has been on their committee for the last 10 years. She also won Woman of the Year at the 2018 Woman in Housing Awards.

Paul Roberts
Board Members, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing

Paul joined the RBH Board in January 2023. He brings over 30 years of expertise in risk, governance, leadership, and strategy, including over a decade of housing sector experience in executive roles at the Guinness Partnership - most recently as Executive Director Guinness Property and Director of Social Investment. Paul currently acts as an independent consultant working with housing associations and charities to develop their approach to Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG), housing strategy and internal controls. He also serves as Non-executive Director Gloucester City Homes.

Graham Russell
Chair, Brunelcare

Graham Russell is former Chair of Elim Housing Association and currently Chair of both Brunelcare and Second Step, a mental health charity.

Prior to chairing Elim Housing and Second Step, Graham spent 10 years as an expert advisor to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), four years as executive director at the Commission for Rural Communities and a decade in a number of senior roles at Business in the Community, one of The Prince’s Charities.

Graham was appointed as a non-executive director of Gloucestershire Care Services in August 2016. He is now Vice-Chair of Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Tim Ryan
Board Member, Jigsaw Homes Group

Tim is director of Volute Ltd, a digital development agency which creates websites, apps and learning management systems for Universities, NHS and private sector organisations.

He is a Registered Architect and previously had a career in social housing property development.

Nicola Sawford
Chair, CHP

Nicola is a portfolio non-executive director with over 30 years of business experience. She is a qualified chartered accountant, and her senior executive experience covers all operational areas and a wide variety of organisations and sectors including professional services, technology, retail, media, financial services, regulation, housing, property and charities.

Along with her role as Chair at CHP, she is Chair at Milton Keynes Development Partnership, a NED at the FSB, and on the advisory boards of the Managing Partners Forum and Fifth Day.

Kanika Selvan
Board Member, Incommunities

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.

Paul Smith
Chair, Weaver Vale Housing Trust

Paul has over 50 years' experience in Housing at all levels of management and is a Qualified Exec Coach. He has held various Governance roles within the Housing sector and has been Chair of Weaver Vale Housing Trust since 2019. Paul also chairs meetings of the NHF North West Chairs’ group.

Jane Tabor
Chair, Curo

Jane joined the Board in October 2022 and is a highly experienced Board member and Non-Executive Director. She has held Board and Committee positions in many sectors including further education, hospitality and sport and was previously a Non-Executive Director at housing associations Vivid Homes and First Wessex Housing. Most recently, she was a Non-Executive Director of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Jane had a long professional career as a Director and Business Leader at IBM, a global technology, services and solutions company. She has broad commercial experience, combining a people-centred focus and transformational attitude with sound governance to deliver strong organisational results.

Kieran Timmins
Chair, Cobalt Housing

Jonathan Walters
Deputy Chief Executive, Regulator of Social Housing

Katy Wilburn
Non-Executive Board Member, Thirteen Group

Katy has been a Non-Executive Director with Thirteen Group for the past 3 years. She has chaired Thirteen’s newly created Customer Committee for the past 18 months, ensuring the customer voice has a guiding role in all strategic decision making across the Group.

Katy has worked as a consultant in the social housing sector for the past 12 years, working directly with more than 60 registered social housing providers across the UK, supporting them to continually improve and enhance the services offered to tenants and residents. In her current substantive role at First Choice Homes Oldham, she leads the service transformation and business intelligence functions.

In her spare time, Katy is also a Non-Executive Director at Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust; a specialist mental health and learning disability NHS Trust. As an autism-parent, Katy strives to use her position to advocate for people with additional needs to have greater control and influence in shaping the services they receive.

Trevor Williams
Economist

Trevor Williams is the former Chief Economist at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, a position he held for well over 10 years. During this time he established a highly-regarded, award-winning, team of economists analysing global and domestic data to support clients ranging from financial institutions, large corporates to SMEs with bespoke insight.

He is a visiting Professor at the University of Derby, rotating Chairman of the Institute of Economic Affairs Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (SMPC) and author of Trading Economics: A Guide to Economic Statistics for Practitioners (with Victoria Turton).

Trevor also lectures at CASS business school and Cardiff University. He is on the editorial board of Economia and the Journal of Corporate Treasury Management. He previously lectured in Economics and Business Statistics, before working in the UK Government Economic Service (GES). He sits on various charities, including as Patron of Reach Society, Chairman of Ballet Black, and Through the Looking Glass.

He regularly writes articles for publications, such as Moneyfacts, Clear Path Analysis, and Economia to name a few. He appears in the financial press and on television to discuss and comment on economic issues.

Trevor now runs a consultancy which specialises in economic analysis encompassing ‘big data’ – the large information set being created from the 4^th industrial revolution sweeping the world – to better understand a fast changing global economy, and its political context: i.e. its political economy.

Nick Yandle
Board Member, Innisfree

Nick started his career in the social housing sector, completing Sanctuary Group’s Graduate Development Programme before going on to lead their public affairs and legal teams. He then spent three years at the National Housing Federation, leading their policy work on regeneration, asset management and building safety. Nick joined the Civil Service in 2019, first to the Infrastructure & Projects Authority in the Cabinet Office where he led work to improve the delivery of infrastructure in the UK, before joining HM Treasury as Head of Strategy in October 2022. Nick is a Board Member of Innisfree Housing Association and remains an active supporter of the social housing movement. He lives in South East London.

Gloria Yang
Executive Director of Finance, Moat

Gloria is the Executive Director of Finance at Moat Group and a Fellow of ACCA. Gloria chairs the Audit and Risk Committee at Phoenix Community Housing and is a member of Credit Committee at Morhomes plc. Gloria has held several executive, consultancy and non-executive roles in the social housing sector over the last 17 years, including at Origin, Clarion, East Thames, Affinity Sutton, Metropolitan Thames Valley and Wandle.