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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.