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.

Jo Allen
Head of Member Relations, National Housing Federation

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

Billy Brown
Board Member, Chair of our Resident Strategy Group, TPAS, Southern Housing

Billy is a tenant with Southern Housing, one of the largest housing providers in the country, with over 77,000 homes across London, the Southeast, the Isle of Wight, and the Midlands. Billy Chairs their Resident Strategy Group and is a Board member of TPAS.

He also manages the UK and IE supply chain team for Bosch Siemens Hausgeräte, Responsible for the delivery of approximately 3m units of major and small domestic appliances to around 3k customers annually across four household brands, contributing to an annual turnover of €15.9 billion.

“The social housing movement and business model is a force for good and something truly inspiring to me. I am passionate about preserving and championing the cause for future generations and closing the gap in standards and opportunities between people on lower incomes and the disparity between the social and private sectors, which is why I want to be an advocate for the sector and the people inside it.”

Sharon Brown
Director of Assurance, Great Places Housing Group

Justin Bryant
Company Secretary, The Community Housing Group

Arun Chauhan
Specialist Fraud Solicitor and Director, Tenet Law

Arun is an accomplished lawyer specialising in disputes and investigations.  He has managed multiple successful litigation claims recovering loss from financial fraud for housing associations for over 15 years in these types of cases as well as advising clients in the sector on fraud prevention policy. In 2016 he founded award winning law firm Tenet, is a regular speaker and trainer on counter fraud issues in the sector and wider as well as an expert for the BBC.

Michael Chinn
Acting Chief Executive & Executive Director - Finance & Governance, Saxon Weald

Michael joined Saxon Weald in March 2020. Before moving into the housing sector, he trained in Practice Accountancy. Michael was previously Deputy Finance Director of a medium sized housing association in West London and then Director of Finance and Resources at a Croydon association. Michael has served as a board member of other housing associations and is currently a board member of Eldon Housing in South London.

Asha Cleavely
Board Member, Saffron Housing

Asha Cleavely is the Global Chief Administrative Officer, HR at HSBC, with over two decades of leadership in financial services. Ash specialises in strategy, operations, and business transformation, and has a proven track record of enabling global brands to achieve their strategic vision. He also serves as a Non-Executive Director for Saffron Housing Trust and chairs Crimson Development Homes Ltd, driving scaled property development and improving community and tenant outcomes. His NED work reflects a deep commitment to driving innovation, inclusivity, and excellence in housing, creating a meaningful, lasting impact for communities and the housing sector overall.

David Done OBE
Chair, Gateway Housing Association

With over 40 years of experience in the housing sector, David’s held senior leadership position including CEO, NED and Board Chair across not-for-profits, local authorities, and commercial companies. He founded and led RHP for 23 years, driving innovation, digital transformation, and a strong workplace culture while maintaining top regulatory and credit ratings. Currently, he’s Chair of the Board at Gateway Housing Association and provides board level advice to various charities and commercial organisations.

Gavin Cansfield
Chief Executive, Moat

Gavin has over 30 years’ experience working in housing, developing and delivering support services for homeless people, general needs housing, specialist housing for older people and inner-city regeneration. He has a strong commitment to housing, its ability to transform people’s lives and provide a platform from which people can achieve their potential.

Bernadette Conroy
Chair, Board, Regulator of Social Housing

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

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

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

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

Arturo Dell
Consultant, Azeus Convene

Arturo Dell is a leading data governance expert in the Housing Sector. With over 20 years of experience working with local government and housing associations, he has been at the forefront of development within the community.

Karen Doran
Director of Regulatory Engagement, Regulator of Social Housing

Karen is part of the senior leadership team at the Social Housing Regulator. Prior to joining the regulator at the end of 2013, Karen worked at CIH and for the Council of Mortgage Lenders leading work on affordable housing lending as chair to the panel of social housing lenders. With previous experience in housing in a LA and HA context as well as in central and regional government in policy and operational roles, Karen has a range of perspectives and insight into the housing sector.

Branwen Evans
Group Director Sustainability and Policy, Places for People

As a former civil servant, with more than 20 years’ experience in and around housing and social policy, I am committed to making a positive contribution to society and creating the conditions for brilliant, sustainable and inclusive places. Working at Places for People, I am focused on research, insight and collaboration to enable us to change lives every day through homes and thriving communities.

Stephen Flounders
Executive Director of Regulatory & Business Services, Gentoo

Stephen is the Executive Director of Regulatory and Business Services at Gentoo Group, where he oversees Gentoo’s approach to risk and assurance, governance, fire and building safety, IT and digital transformation, and business improvement and change. Stephen was Gentoo’s executive lead during its Routine Planned Inspection, which took place over the spring and summer of 2024. Prior to joining Gentoo in 2019, Stephen was a health and safety consultant, advising several housing associations in London and the South, and worked for large organisations in the professional services sector, including EY and KPMG.

Vimal Gaglani
Director of Treasury and Financial Planning, Abri

Vimal is a Finance and Treasury professional, with over 20 years’ experience in several sectors including, large listed multinational groups, the non-for-profit sector and audit practices. Vimal Joined Radian Group in 2015, as their Head of Treasury & Finance Risk and following merger, is currently, Director of Treasury and Financial Planning at Abri Group. Vimal is also a board member and member of the Audit, Finance & Risk committee at Ability Housing Association, who specialise in the provision of housing, care and support services to people with physical and learning disabilities with the overall vision to help their customers to live more independently.

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.

Dr Karl George MBE
Chief Executive, The Governance Forum

Karl George is a thought leader, author and internationally established consultant in governance. He is Managing Director of the governance forum (tgf), creator of The Governance Framework and the Effective Board Member Programmes. He works with boards and senior executives in the private, public and voluntary sectors and has over twenty five years’ combined experience in accountancy, business and strategic development. Karl is a Fellow both of the global accounting body ACCA and of international body for governance practitioners ICSA: The Chartered Governance Institute. He has developed a unique governance framework and kitemark that was endorsed by the late Sir Adrian Cadbury. Karl is the author of the tgf Governance Code – principles of governance for organisations of all sizes, sectors and geographical jurisdictions and the RACE Equality Code 2020. On publication , The Effective Board Member immediately went to number one in the Best Sellers list for Management and Leadership on Amazon Kindle.

Dan Hawthorn
Executive Director, Housing & Social Investment, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

Dan has twenty years’ local government experience, for London boroughs and two Mayors of London, and currently leads Kensington and Chelsea’s work on housing and property. This includes building the borough’s first new council homes in a generation; the development of a new ‘social investment’ approach to municipal assets; and the wider transformation of services, strategy and culture following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Before that, Dan was Director of Housing, Regeneration and Planning at Haringey Council; Head of the London 2012 team at the Greater London Authority; and former Mayor Ken Livingstone’s senior advisor on planning and development.

Victoria Jardine
Partner, Anthony Collins

In her role as partner and Head of Housing Governance at Anthony Collins, Victoria specialises in advising on corporate structures, governance and stakeholder relations, as well as supporting boards and executive teams on the delivery of their strategic plans including mergers and acquisitions, group restructuring, joint ventures and collaborations. Victoria heads our market-leading Legal Compliance work supporting housing providers to comply with “all relevant law”. She is also a national expert on regulatory compliance and breaches, and has written our Transparency Toolkit which provides guidance to housing providers on dealing with regulatory breaches and self-referrals.

Mushtaq Khan
Chief Executive, Housing Diversity Network

Mushtaq has had a long and varied career in the housing and regeneration fields, and was most recently the Director of Commercial Partnerships at a large housing association. He is particularly interested in inclusive growth and ensuring that local people and local economies benefit from public and private sector interventions

Rose Klemperer
Partner, Bevan Brittan

Rose primarily advises registered providers of social housing (RPs), community-led housing providers and third sector organisations on a wide range of corporate, governance and regulatory matters. Her work ranges from incorporation of RPs through to mergers (including transfer of engagements and amalgamations) and corporate re-structures. As well as supporting clients with their day-to-day governance and company secretarial needs, she also provides regulatory and legal compliance training and guidance to both boards and executive teams on a variety of topics. Rose’s work includes advising on strategic governance arrangements, the set-up of diversified structures, project management, charity law, general company law, co-operative and community benefit society law and advice around governance best practice.

Rose is the Senior Independent Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee at The Pioneer Group. She is also a co-founder and board member of Women in Social Housing Midlands (WISH Midlands), a membership-based organisation which organises professional and personal development events for people in all parts of the social housing sector.

Amanda Leonard
Housemark

Lisa Maunder
Director of Legal and Governance, LiveWest

Lisa is a Chartered Company Secretary and Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute. Lisa specialises in governance, risk and regulation in social housing. Her 20 years in the sector have seen her take the helm of a variety of front and back office teams including business intelligence, legal, risk and audit, customer insight, communications, complaints and resident involvement. A proven leader, presenter, recruiter and mentor, Lisa has a passion for building stronger and more diverse boards.

Lorraine Mealings
Chief Executive Officer  , Bournemouth Churches Housing Association

Lorraine has worked in housing for over 25 years, most recently leading BCHA as their Chief Executive. BCHA is a charitable Housing Association providing 1,400 homes along the south coast, the majority of which are supported housing for customers with multiple and complex needs. BCHA also delivers a wide range of non accommodation based support services in areas such as modern slavery and mental health.

Prior to this, Lorraine was the Director of Housing for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, which involved leading the transition of housing services from 4 separate Councils into one new merged Local Authority. The Directorate commissioned and directly delivered homelessness services, managed Council housing, led a new build and acquisition programme, delivered in-house repairs and ran telecare services across the geography. Her career has involved working for a number of Local Authorities from the South to the North East, working for a Registered Provider in Birmingham and working in regeneration and research across the Midlands and Newcastle upon Tyne.

Fi Mercer
Chief Executive, GovernWith

Fi Mercer is a leading voice in contemporary governance and the Founder/CEO of GovernWith. With a career dedicated to enhancing Contemporary Governance practices, Fi empowers governing leaders and whole organisations to govern more strategically and sustainably in our modern times.

Janani Paramsothy
Associate Director, Newbridge Advisors LLP

Janani is Head of ESG and Sustainability at Newbridge Financial Advisors. She was previously Head of ESG and Sustainability for Places for People Group where she had set up the ESG function, publishing an ESG strategy and introducing extensive ESG reporting. She was also the founder and chair of the social housing ESG working group. Prior to Places for People, Janani spent nearly 10 years in central Government, having worked across health, constitutional and housing policy.

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.

Maureen Robinson
Non-Executive Director, Selwood Housing

Maureen has a wealth of experience within the public and not for profit sectors. Until 2024 she worked as an independent advocate, supporting people to uphold their rights.

She is an experienced NED which has included senior roles on the boards of several housing associations across the south and west. She is currently serving as a Board member of Selwood Housing based in Wiltshire. She also has lived experience is living with disability following a Stroke in 2024.

Kam Salhan
Governance and Quality Manager, Ashley Community and Housing

Victoria Shannon
External Affairs Manager, National Housing Federation

Catherine Simpson
Senior Associate, Anthony Collins

Catherine is a Senior Associate in Anthony Collins; Housing Governance Team, specialising in advising housing providers nationally on governance, corporate and regulatory matters, in the differing English and Welsh contexts. She advises housing provider boards and executive teams on group structures, rule amendments, mergers, group rationalisations and restructuring, conversions, incorporating and winding up organisations, compliance with constitutional and statutory obligations, vires, charity, and regulatory requirements (including interaction with the regulators in England and Wales).

Catherine Slater
Company Secretary & Head of Governance, Legal and Compliance, Trent and Dove Housing

Catherine (or “Cat” as she is also known) has worked in the social housing sector for 12 years; first at Bromford Housing Group and currently at Trent & Dove Housing in Burton, where she is the Company Secretary and Head of Governance and Legal. Prior to that, Cat worked for a multi-national PLC and for a private developer. Cat is legally trained and has spent much of her career in governance and company secretarial practice, where she has supported boards, committees and executive teams to lead effective organisations.

The teams that Cat leads are responsible for board, committee and subsidiary governance, risk management, internal control and assurance, in-house legal services and data protection. Cat is a strong advocate for ‘democratising’ and ‘demystifying’ governance and assurance and is a keen supporter of raising the profile of customer influence and engagement to continuously improve insight and services.

Joanne Tilley
Executive Director – Corporate Services, EMH Group

Jo has been at emh since 2004. A Chartered Member of the CIH, she started her career in housing management, and has also worked in research, strategy, information services, and care and support. As Executive Director Corporate Services, she now oversees governance, people, learning and development, health and safety, and communications services. Jo has an MBA from Birmingham Business School and is one of the three Co-Chairs of the NHF’s Governance Forum.

Kelsey Walker
Director, Housing Consultancy, Savills

Kelsey is responsible for governance, risk and regulation services within the Savills Affordable Housing Consultancy team.

Kelsey joined Savills from the Regulator of Social Housing where as Assistant Director Regulatory Operations, she was accountable for compliant grading decisions.

She authored the NHF Risk and Assurance: A Guide for Boards published in June 2021, and was previously Business Assurance Director for a London housing Association.

Bethany Weaver
Deputy Company Secretary, Aspire Housing

Beth is Deputy Company Secretary at Aspire Housing, a housing provider in Newcastle-under-Lyme with circa 8,500 properties. Beth started her career in housing working at a homeless charity managing the voids and occupancy for circa 100 bed spaces of supported accommodation across shared housing, private fostering placements and ex-offenders hostels. Beth carried out assessments of suitability, risk and mitigations for all potential residents and provided specialised support to ex-offenders, assisting them with their housing needs once their custodial sentence was completed. This provided Beth with a deep insight into the important role that social housing can play in that context and more broadly.

After a period managing her own franchise of a national health and wellbeing organisation and project managing a team delivering live health and wellbeing shows nationally, Beth returned to social housing in 2020. As part of her current role, Beth helps to support governance, legal and regulatory compliance, Business Continuity, risk management, data protection, as well as support to the Board and Committees. Beth is passionate about EDI and chairs Aspire’s EDI forum.

Piers Williamson
Chair, Sustainability for Housing

Piers Williamson was appointed the chair of Sustainability for Housing (SfH) in September 2024. Piers stepped down as chief executive of The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) in 2024, the leading bond aggregator for the social housing sector, after 22 years in charge. During his time at THFC, the group’s loan book grew to more than £8bn and the organisation created its sustainable bond framework as well as THFC Sustainable Finance, a vehicle aimed at helping housing associations tackle net zero targets. The aggregator also became the first lender in the sector to publish an ESG report.