Lewis Goodall
Journalist and Presenter, LBC and The News Agents podcast

Lewis Goodall is the Analysis and Investigations Editor at Global Radio, and the co-presenter of The News Agents podcast with Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel. He is an effective and engaging storyteller who has worked across the BBC producing and presenting documentaries and appearing on news output across the corporation’s platforms covering policy, government, and economics.

Heidi Allen
Board Member, CHS Group

Heidi is a Board member and the Governance Committee Chair of Cambridge Housing Society. Formerly the Member of Parliament for South Cambridgeshire and Deputy Chair of the DWP Select Committee, she was the lead campaigner on the Government benches, responsible for significant funding and structural improvements to Universal Credit. Heidi is also a Trustee of the charity Feeding Britain and a policy committee member for the Child Poverty Action Group.

Matthew Bailes
CEO, Paradigm Housing

Matthew Bailes became Chief Executive of Paradigm Housing Group in 2015. Paradigm is based in Buckinghamshire and owns over 13,500 homes, offering a wide range of tenures. Before then, he was Executive Director of Regulation at the HCA and the Tenant Services Authority where he oversaw the introduction of the new Regulatory Framework and major improvements in the Regulator’s capacity and operational approach. Prior to this, Matthew was Head of the Affordable Housing Division in the Communities and Local Government Department following a career in the civil service which included roles in corporate finance, policy on the Fire and Rescue Service, regional government, regeneration, and a spell in the Ministry of Defence.

Rose Bean
Director of Assets and Sustainability, Abri

Rose Bean is the Director of Asset Management and Regeneration at Abri a large provider in the South and South West of England, with over 15 years' experience within the social housing sector, Rose currently leads on the delivery of Abri's Asset Management Strategy maximising the value derived from a diverse portfolio and delivering low carbon projects. Within her current role Rose leads on Building Safety for the group, overseeing Landlord H&S compliance and implementing required changes in line with the emerging fire safety legislative environment.

She is also a Board member for 1625 Independent People who support 16-25 year olds who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Andy Bell
Chief Executive, Centre for Mental Health

Andy has been with Centre for Mental Health since 2002. He has worked for more than 25 years in the voluntary sector, striving for equality and social justice through research, communicating evidence, influencing policy, and informing debate. Andy was the driving force behind the Commission for Equality in Mental Health, funded by the Elliott Simmons Charitable Trust, established to investigate inequalities in mental health. The Commission's work culminated in a final report, Mental Health for All, which set out what a system for equality could look like across communities, local and national government. He is at the forefront of Equally Well UK, a collaborative to support the physical health of people with a mental illness. He plays a pivotal role in facilitating the Local Authority Mental Health Challenge which engages elected members across the country.

Gemma Bell
Partner, Devonshires

Gemma advises housing associations, charities and not-for-profit businesses on all areas of corporate and governance work including governance issues, regulatory and charity law requirements. She leads on corporate restructuring, stock transfers and shared services projects as well as group structures and mergers on behalf of the firm.

Sian Berry
Green London Assembly Member, Camden Borough Councillor

Sian was first elected as a Member of the London Assembly in 2016 and was then re-elected for a second term in 2021. Sian has worked on the Assembly to strengthen the rights of renters and people who live on estates, as well as helping to win new funding for youth services in London. She sits on the Housing, Planning & Regeneration and Transport Committees, and was Chair of Housing for 2021-22 and Transport in 2022-23. Sian has been a local councillor in the Highgate ward of Camden since 2014. She has also served two terms as co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, and stood as the Green Party candidate for Mayor of London in 2008, 2016 and 2021. On the last two occasions, she came third, achieving record votes for a Green candidate.

Clive Betts MP
Chair, Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee and Labour MP for Sheffield South East

Clive Betts MP began his political career in 1973 In June 2010 he was elected as Chair of the Department for Communities and Local Government Select Committee. Since becoming a Member of Parliament, Clive has been a key member on several Select Committees (Department for Environment, Transport and the Regions, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Department for Communities and Local Government.) His political interests include economic policy, local and regional government and housing. He is chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Arms Length Management Organisations. Clive is also chair of the Netherlands Group in Parliament.

Osama Bhutta
Director of Campaigns, Policy and Communications, Shelter

Glasgow-born Osama has won campaigns, persuaded audiences, influenced governments, and built growth in his work all around the world. He has previously been global director of marketing and communications at Amnesty International and Al Jazeera Media Network’s head of comms and international relations. He joined the fight for home in August 2021.

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 Booth
Social Affairs Correspondent, The Guardian

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.

Selvin Brown MBE
Director, Net Zero Buildings, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Nathaniel Braithwaite
Tenant, Network Homes

Alastair Campbell
Former Downing Street Director of Communications and Strategy

Alastair Campbell is a writer, communicator and strategist best known for his role as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy. Still active in politics and campaigns in Britain and overseas, he now splits his time between writing, speaking, broadcasting, charities and consultancy.

Dr Charlotte Carpenter
Executive Director, Growth and Business Development, Karbon Homes

Charlotte is responsible for Karbon’s development programme of over 700 new homes a year, the investment plans for Karbon’s existing 30,000 properties, and also leads the strategy and insight, and communication and business development teams. She has a passion for housing’s role in the economic and social regeneration of the North East and Yorkshire. This was borne from senior roles with One NorthEast and The Northern Way - a precursor to the Northern Powerhouse. Charlotte began her career in the Civil Service and holds a CaCHE Fellowship exploring the role that housing associations can play in the Foundation Economies of ‘Left Behind Places’.

Andrew Carter
Chief Executive, Centre for Cities

Andrew has over 20 years' experience working on urban economic policy working for public and private development agencies, consultants and research institutes. He has also spent time in the US as part of the Churchill Foundation’s Fellowship Programme reviewing urban economic development policy and practice in American cities including New York, Washington DC, Boston and Chicago. He is a regular media contributor and chairs and speaks at conferences across the UK and Europe on a wide range of urban and economic issues.

Yvonne Castle
Group Chief Executive, Johnnie Johnson Housing and Vice-Chair, Greater Manchester Housing Providers

Yvonne has worked in social housing for many years with significant experience in providing executive leadership for a range of housing associations nationally. Yvonne became Group Chief Executive of Johnnie Johnson Housing back in May 2017, after initially joining the organisation in July 2015. As well as being Vice-Chair of GMHP (Greater Manchester Housing Providers), Yvonne is active in leading on the GMHP Armed Forces workstream, linking to Johnnie Johnson’s RAF heritage. She also leads on the GMHP Technology Enabled Care workstream. Yvonne is the Chair of the National Housing Federation’s Older Persons Housing Group, Chair of the West Yorkshire Dementia Task Force, and is a Board Member with the Northern Housing Consortium. Yvonne is incredibly passionate about Johnnie Johnson Housing’s focus on independent living, which enables their customers to ‘live longer, live better’ which simply means helping people age well and live more independently for longer in their own homes. Her commitment to customers loving where they live and colleagues loving where they work have hugely contributed to the ongoing success of their transformational change programme that focuses on doing best, what matters most for customers.

Joanna Charlton
Communication Lead, PlaceShapers

Daz Chauhan
Principal Data Consultant, Housemark

Daz has over 20 years’ of operational and strategic experience in the housing, finance and education sectors. Since joining Housemark, Daz has worked in partnership with executive teams and senior leaders across several organisations in the sector, providing guidance, expertise and recommendations for the implementation of a data strategy, encompassing data governance and quality, technical skills and architecture, the deployment of self-service analytics and improving data culture.

Dr Neil Churchill OBE
Director for Experience, Participation and Equalities, NHS England

 Neil joined the NHS after a 25-year career in the voluntary sector. His work includes understanding people's experiences of the NHS, involving people and communities in decision-making and leading change to improve the quality and equality of care. He has a particular focus on strengthening partnerships with unpaid carers, volunteers and the voluntary sector. Neil has previously been a Non-Executive Director for the NHS in the South of England, is a member of the Strategy Board for the Beryl Institute and Chair of Care for the Carers in East Sussex. He is himself an unpaid carer.

Ozzie Clarke-Binns
Board Member, A2Dominion, Trustee, RNIB and Board Advisor, Entelechy Academy

Ozzie has spent years as an independent consultant for various organisations including the London 2012 Organising Committee and Business in the Community. At 13, he became the youngest ever independent advisor on youth and policing policy for London working with the Metropolitan Police. More recently, Ozzie in in his second term as a Trustee for the Royal National Institute of Blind People, having joined the board in 2017. Then, in 2018, he successfully co-led the bid for London to host the 10th anniversary One Young World Summit in 2019.

Sandra Coleing
Assistant Chief Executive, Stockport Homes

Sandra has worked in the social housing sector for 30 years, and in Stockport since 1999. Sandra supports a wide range of initiatives across Greater Manchester, ensuring a collaborative approach between housing providers to maximise opportunities for customer and communities – including Athena, where she is the vice chair. With SHG, Sandra is responsible for IT, performance, governance and regulation and is focussed on delivering excellence to support our growth and she ensures we are delivering our ambitions to transform lives.

Martin Collett
Chief Executive, English Rural

Martin has been working in the rural housing sector for around 20 years. He is a Corporate Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, graduate of the University of London and former Chair of the Rural Housing Alliance. Martin is also a Trustee for the rural community business charity the Plunkett Foundation, a Director of the Rural Services Network, and a Trustee of the LGBT+ youth homelessness charity the Albert Kennedy Trust.

Cllr Asher Craig
Deputy Mayor (Children, Education & Equalities), Bristol City Council

Victor da Cunha
Group Chief Executive, Curo

Victor is currently Group Chief Executive with Curo Group and has also worked with Brent Council, East Thames Housing Group and Estuary Housing Association. Currently he is a Non-Executive Director of T3 a For Profit Registered Provider, which is regenerating Elephant and Castle. He Chairs the NHF's Member EDI Group. Victor has worked in Social Housing for over 30 years and believes that a home is one of the essential building blocks for a successful life and is driven by a desire to ensure that everyone in society has a right to expect and have access to a safe, healthy, affordable and warm home. He feels lucky to be able to do something which he finds personally rewarding and makes a positive difference to so many people’s lives.

Aisha Cuthbert
Head of External Affairs, Riverside

Aisha has worked in the social housing sector for over a decade in a variety of different marketing & communications roles. Currently Aisha is Head of External Affairs at Riverside, one of the largest housing associations in England and the largest provider of care & support services. She is responsible for influencing, public policy, media and corporate communications for the Group. Aisha is the Chair of the NHF’s National Communications and Influencing Group, which helps the NHF produce and refine key sector messages for the public, customers and politicians. Aisha is also an elected councillor for a London local authority and has recently been appointed the executive member for the environment, responsible for waste, recycling, parks, carbon management and air quality. A former national synchronised swimmer, she represented Team GB Masters at the 2017 FINA (International Swimming Federation) World Masters Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

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

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

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

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

Councillor Shaun Davies
Chair, Local Government Association

Cllr Shaun Davies has been a Labour Councillor at Telford and Wrekin Council since 2011 and was elected Leader of the Council in 2016. It was under his leadership that the Labour Party won a key by-election in a long-standing Conservative ward, allowing Telford and Wrekin Council to become Labour-led once again.

Councillor Shaun Davies helped the council secure one of the largest recent Direct Foreign Investments into the UK, which created local jobs in the rapidly growing technology industry. He also oversaw the transformation of the council’s Children’s Services from ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Outstanding’. His ‘inspirational’ leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic meant Cllr Davies was a finalist for the LGIU Council Leader of the Year in 2021.

Shaun became LGA Labour Group Leader and the LGA Senior Vice-Chair in June 2022 and was elected as LGA Chair in July 2023

Ruth Davison
Chief Executive, Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association

Ruth is Chief Executive of Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association (ISHA), a small, community housing association that aims to make a big different in North and North East London. The organisation leads the North River Alliance, a consortium of small associations, which has built 3,300 homes ‘north of the river’ in the past 15 years. It also recently led a successful Social Housing Decarbonisation Funding Wave 2 bid on behalf of 12 organisations, securing £2.6m. She has previously worked in both national and regional local government and health roles, at the Audit Commission, a university, and representing the incredible contribution of housing associations during a 12-year stint at the NHF. She started her career as a local reporter.

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.

Danny Dorling
Professor of Geography,, University of Oxford

Danny Dorling is a Professor who works in the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford. He works on issues of equality, employment, education, housing, and health.

In 2020 with Yale University Press he published “Slowdown: The End of the Great Acceleration—and Why It’s Good for the Planet, the Economy, and Our Lives; and in paperback in 20201, jointly with Annika Koljonen (and Agenda Press): Finntopia: what we can learn from the world’s happiest country. He is a patron of the road crash charity RoadPeace, and of Heeley City Farm in Sheffield.

Professor Bobby Duffy
Professor of Public Policy and Director, The Policy Institute, King's College London

Bobby Duffy is Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute. He has worked across most public policy areas in his career of 30 years in policy research and evaluation, including being seconded to the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit. Bobby sits on several advisory boards including Chairing both the Campaign for Social Science and the CLOSER Advisory Board, is a member of the Executive of the Academy of Social Sciences, a trustee of British Future and the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) and a Senior Fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto.

Wendy Evans-Hendrick
Chief Executive Officer, Orwell Housing Association

With a background as a Town Planner, Wendy joined an expanding team at Orwell Housing Association in 1994 as Development Manager. New development opportunities saw the team grow and with the inclusion of the Property Services team Wendy became Director of Development and Property Services. In 2018 Wendy was promoted to Chief Executive and since then has steered the organisation through Covid and instigated transformation of the business which has resulted in a more forward looking, modern and agile business. Wendy is a member of Independent East which is a consortium of five medium sized Housing Associations based in East Anglia, Chair of Eastern Procurement Limited and a board member of Active Suffolk. Wendy is also Managing Director of Orwell Homes Limited, a development subsidiary of Orwell Housing Association.

Henry Fairnington
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Anchor

Jesse Fajemisin
Director of Business Operations, Mount Green and Chair of the NHF’s Smaller Housing Association Network, Mount Green and NHF’s Smaller Housing Association Network

Jesse has over 12 years’ experience in housing, most of which has been in the G15, and in positions of leadership. At Sapphire Independent Housing, he is the executive lead for housing, leasehold and asset management services. He is the Chair of the NHF's National Smaller Housing Association Network and is a national representative on the Regulator of Social Housing's Small Provider Panel. He is also a Board Member for Gloucester City Homes, where he is the Vice Chair of their Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee too.

Fiona Fletcher-Smith
Chief Executive, L&Q and Chair G15

Fiona was appointed as L&Q’s Chief Executive in 2020. With almost 30 years’ experience in the housing sector, Fiona has worked in a variety of voluntary and public sector roles including advising homeless people in Dublin, housing management, development and regeneration, strategy and policy development. Fiona was previously L&Q’s Director of Development and Sales, spearheading a £5.1 billion development programme. Whilst in this role, Fiona led on our development and strategic land programmes, including landmark projects such as the 10,800-home Barking Riverside development. She also oversaw the group’s expansion beyond the South-East and delivered change programmes to improve both the efficiency and diversity of our Development and Sales function. Prior to joining L&Q, Fiona was Executive Director for Development, Enterprise and Environment at the Greater London Authority (GLA). As part of their senior management team, Fiona was responsible for overseeing the delivery and implementation of key strategies such as the London Plan and overseeing the operation of the Mayor’s powers in relation to significant planning applications in the capital. Fiona is the current chair of trustees at the Centre for London, helping the capital’s think tank to meet their charitable objectives. Fiona is also Chair of the G15 group of London’s leading not-for-profit housing associations. Its members provide more than 715,000 homes across the country, including around one in ten homes for Londoners.

Robert Ford
Professor of Political Science, University of Manchester

Robert Ford is Professor of Political Science at the University of Manchester and co-author of the award winning book "Brexitland", which analyses the identity conflicts reshaping British politics. His previous books include "The British General Election of 2019", "Sex, Lies and Politics" and "Revolt on the Right". Professor Ford is part of the BBC elections analysis team which conducts the general election exit polls and provides live analysis of local and national election results. He regularly comments on public opinion, elections and politics and for a range of media outlets.

Peter Freeman CBE
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.

John Ghader
Chief Executive Officer, Prima Group

John has worked in the housing sector for over 35 years, both within local authorities and housing associations, with 20 of those years gained at senior and executive levels. John also spent some time working for the Audit Commission (Lead Housing Inspector) and the Regulator (RSH) (Senior Regulation Manager). John is currently CEO of Prima Group, a medium sized association operating across the Liverpool City Region. John has overall responsibility for delivering the Group’s Corporate Strategy, is accountable for Prima Housing and Prima Commercial and developing external partnerships. John is also an Executive Member of Prima’s Commercial and Group Boards, has been an RSH NED appointee and holds a NED role within the ‘for-profit sector.

Clare Gilligan
Head of Strategy, Orbit

Tracey Gore
Director, Steve Biko Housing Association

James Green
Director of Social Innovation and Community Empowerment, Eastlight Homes

James is responsible for empowering communities to be the best they can be. He leads our Community Investment Team and is responsible for our innovative Community Empowerment Strategy. He took up this new role at Eastlight in 2020 after driving innovation and sector wide collaboration as Futures Programme Director at the National Housing Federation (NHF).

Emma Haddad
Chief Executive, St Mungo’s

Emma joined St Mungo’s as its Chief Executive in November 2022. Prior to this Emma worked in central Government for almost two decades. Most recently she was the Director General for Asylum and Protection in the Home Office, where she was responsible for running the UK’s asylum system and refugee resettlement programmes. Previously Emma led delivery of child maintenance, pensions and working age benefits in the Department for Work and Pensions. Emma has a doctorate in international relations from the London School of Economics.

Martyn Hale
Neighbourhoods Director, Trent and Dove

Martyn has more than 36 years’ experience in housing, most recently as Director of Care and Support at Midlands-based Citizen Housing. A keen rugby fan, Martyn is vice chair of the National Housing Federation’s Care and Support Group and a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Professional Standards Committee.

Isabel Hardman
Political Journalist and Assistant Editor, The Spectator

Isabel Hardman is an English journalist, and is currently the assistant editor of the Spectator where she writes and edits the popular Coffee House blog. She is also a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. Her career in journalism began as senior reporter on Inside Housing, the trade title covering social housing issues. Soon Isabel went on to become became assistant news editor at Politics Home. Isabel Hardman was named as Journalist of the Year at the Political Studies Association annual awards in 2015. She has also made many guest appearances on BBC television programmes including Question Time, This Week and The Andrew Marr Show and is the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The Week in Westminster and is an accomplished speaker and highly informed panel moderator.

Phil Hope
Trustee, Brunelcare

Phil Hope is a former Minister of State for Care Services in which role he led the development of the white paper ‘Building a National Care Service’ and the first National Dementia Strategy. Phil is a trustee and Senior Independent Director of Brunelcare, a charity providing high quality housing, care and support for older people in the South West. Phil is a commissioner and lead author of the report of the Health Devolution Commission ‘Building Back Health and Prosperity’ and is co-chair of the Future Social Care Coalition that campaigns for better pay and conditions of work for care workers. Phil is visiting professor at the Institute for Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London. He is an independent consultant and advises public, private and voluntary sector organisations on a range of health and social care challenges and opportunities including developing Integrated Care Systems, Primary Care Networks and place-based partnerships; the design and delivery of personalised integrated care systems and services; and navigating the system of health and care policy making within government.

Elly Hoult
Chief Operating Officer, Peabody Trust

Elly has over 22 years' experience in the housing sector, working her way up from supported housing officer to executive level roles. Elly was previously the Group Director, Assets and Sustainability at Notting Hill Genesis.  Her earlier roles were Programme Director, leading the integration programme for Notting Hill and Genesis, and Director of Business Improvement as well as a range of roles at Orbit and A2 Dominion.  Elly is a Board Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, sits on the National Housing Federation’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group and is a member of the Green Spaces Advisory Board.

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.

Dame Meg Hillier MP
Hackney South and Shoreditch and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee

Meg Hillier is the Member of Parliament for Hackney South and Shoreditch and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee since 2015. The cross-party committee scrutinises the value for money of public spending and holds the Government to account for the delivery of public services. First elected in 2005, Meg has been a junior Home Office Minister and Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Alison Inman
Board Member, Saffron Housing Trust

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.

Peter Jackson
Chief Data and Technology Officer, Outra

Peter Jackson joined Outra as Chief Data and Product Officer. Peter, a director at data consultancy Carruthers & Jackson, also previously worked as Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Exasol. Peter is regarded as a data evangelist, a hands-on, practical leader who has served in several senior data positions. He has delivered data transformations, developed data teams and operational models, and has an immaculate track record of innovation and leadership working with diverse enterprises.

Stacy Johnson MBE
Associate Professor, University of Nottingham

Stacy Johnson, an Associate Professor in the School of Health Sciences, University of Nottingham, is an emerging international thought leader in critical inclusive leadership. She is founder and Chief Scientific Officer of The Reverse Mentoring Practice Ltd (RMP) a University of Nottingham spin out company that applies her groundbreaking reverse mentoring framework to deliver high impact reverse mentoring programmes that improve the cultural humility of leaders and influencers. Stacy is in demand as a consultant, advisor and speaker on equality, diversity and inclusion, leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship in business, Higher Education and the health and social care sectors.

Chris Jones
Chief Executive Officer, HomeLINK

Chris cofounded HomeLINK in 2018 with previous careers spanning technology strategy, advisory, and commercialisation. He started his career as a management consultant in the energy sector but directly prior to joining HomeLINK was the Operations Director at a high-growth A.I. company where responsibilities included product development, sales, and marketing.

Sarah Jones
Chief Executive, Anchor

Sarah joined Anchor as Finance Director in September 2014. She has held a variety of senior finance roles across large corporate and private equity businesses, including being Chief Financial Officer of Spicers Ltd, Director of Finance - UK & Republic of Ireland at Carpetright Plc, and senior roles at HMV and The Burton Group/Arcadia.

Sarah is a Trustee of Arthritis Action, a UK charity helping people with arthritis improve their quality of life, and a Non-Executive Director and Chair of Audit & Risk for Chelmer Housing Partnership, a charitable housing association based in Essex.

Tabitha Kassem
Head of Governance, Heylo Housing

Zabina Kauser
Financial Inclusion Team Leader, Anchor

Anita Khan
Chief Executive, Tower Hamlets Community Housing

As executive director of customer service at settle, Anita is responsible for the landlord service, repairs and asset management for the 9000+ properties the housing association manages across Hertfordshire and in Bedfordshire. As a member of settle’s executive team, Anita also has oversight of the organisation’s strategic direction, governance and driving business improvements to enhance the colleague and customer experience. Anita joined settle in 2016 as director of housing. She has worked in social housing since 2012 when she joined Home Group, having previously worked in senior roles in the youth voluntary sector.

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.

Christine Kiwanuka
Mental Health Liaison Team Leader, Network Homes

Sade Koiki
Member of the Board and Chair, Audit and Risk Committee and Member, Remuneration and Nominations Committee, Poplar HARCA

Sade grew up on the Lansbury West estate and has lived in the area for over fifteen years. After graduating from the University of Manchester with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, followed by law school, Sade moved into the legal finance sector. Currently Sade is a Revenue Controller at a global law firm and in her spare time, volunteers as a mentor to secondary school children as she enjoys working with younger generations to understand their experiences and gain fresh perspectives on our local environment.

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.

Polly Mackenzie
Chief Social Purpose Officer, University of the Arts London and Commissioner, UK Urban Future Commission

Polly joined UAL in 2022. Prior to joining the University, she was Chief Executive of Demos, the UK’s leading social value think tank, bringing citizen voice and lived experience into public policy discussions. Polly's previous roles include founding CEO of the Money & Mental Health Policy Institute, founding CEO of the Women’s Equality Party, and Policy Director to the Deputy Prime Minister from 2010 to 2015.

Steve Mackenzie
Member, Heartwarming Homes Tenant Advisory Group

Steve is retired and a tenant of Yorkshire Housing, living in South Yorkshire. He is member of Yorkshire Housing’s Customer Voice and Review Committeeand is their Climate Change Champion and Chair of a tenants’ group that work with YH on their Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Homes strategy. Steve is also a member of the Heartwarming Homes tenant advisory group. Previously, Steve was a member of the Northern Housing Consortium’s Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Change Jury.

Rachel Maclean MP
Minister of State, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Rachel Maclean was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 7 February 2023. She was previously Minister of State at Ministry of Justice between 7 September and 28 October 2022. She was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Home Office between 17 September 2021 and 6 July 2022, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport between 14 February 2020 and 16 September 2021. She was elected Conservative MP for Redditch in 2017.

Khalid Mair
Chair, Imani Housing Co-operative

Khalid Mair is a Founder member of - Imani Housing Coop Ltd (54 Homes) a Black-led fully mutual coop operating in Wandsworth for over 35 years. Khalid also provides Executive Support for BME London Landlords a collaboration of 13 BME led Housing Associations in London. Khalid's work goes back over 40 year's, working with a number of organisation's and settings where the customers were social housing tenants and people of colour. As a lifelong carer for a family member diagnosed with a mental health condition, Khalid brings to this session his experience of living with mental health as a carer and his views around creating solutions to the challenges that social landlords face within their organisations and amongst the residents and communities they serve.

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.

Sem Moema
Chair, London Labour Housing Group and Chair, Housing Committee, Greater London Authority

First elected in 2006, Sem has served as a councillor in London Borough of Hackney for over eight years. She is the Mayoral Advisor for the Private Rented Sector and Affordability, leading on licensing and enforcement for the borough’s 34,000 privately rented household; campaigning for rent controls and supporting tenants and leaseholders affected by fire safety and cladding issues. Sem’s professional experience included working with trade unions, supporting their campaigning and policy development on housing; parliamentary lobbying on equalities in the workplace (women, disabled people, Black workers); and self-employment. Sem has also worked with councils across England on Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and the implications of devolution. Sem also has experience in the housing sector, working for a G15 housing association, as well as the youth and voluntary sectors, having worked for The Scout Association and international development charity VSO. She is chair of the London Labour Housing Group.

Linda Moir
Former Virgin Atlantic director of customer service and head of event services, London Olympics

From Virgin Atlantic’s award winning service to the exemplary front of house service at the London 2012’s Olympic and Paralympic Games, Linda has been responsible for famously outstanding operations in HR and customer service management. Linda’s career took off with British Airways, where she worked in HR for air traffic control before rising to HR Director of National Air Traffic Services. In her time spent at the UK’s largest airline, Linda experienced an environment of significant changes as the company transitioned from public to private ownership. When it was announced that London would host the 2012 Olympic Games, Linda knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that she had to be involved. She developed the powerful ‘blended team’ approach, combining professional stewards with volunteer ‘Games Makers’; consequently, the tarnished reputation of the British service industry was profusely redeemed through a three-year programme of engagement, and the Games Makers became one of the most iconic and memorable symbols of the games. Linda’s unparalleled success in HR and customer service management serves as a inspiring model of performance delivered through people.

Richard Moriarty
Former Chief Executive, Civil Aviation Authority

Richard has served as a main Board member of four different national regulatory authorities, including in his most recent role as CEO of the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority. He has extensive experience with how regulators and senior policymakers in Governments make decisions and develop their strategies. His regulatory experience covers aviation, aerospace, housing, water, energy, professional services and technology/communications.

Richard has worked for many years with senior executives, Boards, investors, Ministers and senior officials throughout his career. He has also served as a director of a private water company and wrote its business plan that persuaded the industry regulator to grant the company coveted fast-track status. His experience in regulated sectors covers economic regulation, competition, market entry and growth strategies in a wide range of regulated sectors. Richard is also currently the Senior Independent Director of a regulated social housing provider.

Cllr Anthony Okereke
Leader, Royal Borough of Greenwich

Ijay Onyechi
Assistant Director, Resident Services (East Region), Peabody and Vice Chair, EDI in Housing Member Group

Ijay Onyechi is Director of New Build and Customer Care at Peabody with over 10 years’ senior management experience within the social housing sector. She is Vice Chair of the NHF’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion member group and is passionate about social housing provision, diversity and inclusion.

Hugh Owen
Director of Strategy and Public Affairs, Riverside

Hugh Owen is currently Director of Strategy and Public Affairs at Riverside. Currently responsible for strategy, policy, communications and marketing at one of the country’s largest housing associations, Hugh has over 35 years’ experience in the sector. He has previously worked in area based regeneration and operations, developing a broad understanding of social housing and the context in which it operates. As one of the country’s leading providers of care and support, Hugh’s team has supported Riverside in making the case for a strong, sustainable supported housing offer.

Cara Pacitti
Senior Economist, Resolution Foundation

Cara joined Resolution Foundation in January 2023 to focus on housing, having previously worked at the Foundation from 2019 – 2021. Her previous roles have also included working on fiscal risks and sustainability at the Office for Budget Responsibility and in Markets & Banking at the Bank of England.

Matthew Pennycook MP
Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning

Matthew Pennycook is the Labour MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, and has been an MP continuously since 7 May 2015. He currently undertakes the role of Shadow Minister (Levelling Up, Housing, Communities and Local Government).

Mark Pragnell
Director, Pragmatix Advisory

Mark Pragnell is an economist and forecaster with 30 years’ experience of helping companies, trade associations and public bodies plan for the future, understand the implications of changing government policy, and make their case to investors, regulators and politicians. He is director of Pragmatix Advisory, a boutique research consultancy, having previously been director of strategy and consultancy at Capital Economics and managing director at Centre for Economics and Business Research. Mark has been lead author on a number of seminal studies into the economic value of social and affordable housing, and is a member of the boards of English Rural Housing Association and The Cambridgeshire Cottage Housing Society.

Bronwen Rapley
Chief Executive, Onward Homes

Since 2016, Bronwen has spearheaded the creation of Onward Homes from five separate housing associations, building a united organisation committed to the customers and communities it serves across the North West.

Under Bronwen’s leadership, Onward has achieved top governance (G1) and financial (V1) ratings from the Regulator and secured a top A1 (Stable) credit rating, ahead of a successful bond issue to support delivery of an ambitious Business Plan. Looking to the future, her priority for Onward is to work with customers to build thriving communities, supported by the security of good quality, green homes and places.

Bronwen has worked in housing and regeneration for 30 years, initially as a solicitor and then by delivering a number of large regeneration projects in the North West. Prior to joining Onward, Bronwen led the investigation and enforcement team at the Regulator of Social Housing.

Jamie Ratcliff
Executive Director of People, Partnerships and Sustainability, Network Homes

At Network Jamie has cross-cutting responsibility for human resources, learning and development, strategic asset management, sustainability, information technology, transformation, service improvement, external relations, resident engagement, marketing and communications, complaints, internal audit and special projects. He has nearly 20 years’ experience working at a senior level in housing at local, national and regional levels, including commencing the Stirling Prize winning Goldsmith St and being responsible for housing for the current and previous Mayors of London. He has overseen the completion of affordable homes for over 150,000 people, personally negotiated multi-billion-pound affordable housing settlements and successfully launched the UK’s first publicly available database of criminal landlords.

Catherine Raynsford
Director of Investment and Partnerships, The Hyde Group

Catherine is responsible for securing the investment and delivering the new partnership models that enable Hyde to grow its development pipeline. Since joining Hyde in 2020 she has led a team to identify, develop and enhance long-term relationships with a broad range of partners including institutional investors. The strategy aims to delivery meaningful additionality by working with culturally aligned partners and utilising Hyde’s established delivery and operational platforms to provide more high quality, sustainable affordable homes. Catherine joined Hyde following nine years at JLL, specialising in public private partnerships and working with public sector landowners to bring forward major development and regeneration projects. Catherine is a member of the BPF’s Affordable Housing Committee, the IPF Residential Special Interest Group, and was part of the Governance Steering Group that helped establish the Sustainability Reporting Standard.

Matt Rhodes
Director of Communications and Public Affairs, The Hyde Group

Matt is a communications and public affairs leader, with a background across party politics, local government, and social housing. As Director of Communications and Public Affairs for The Hyde Group, a not-for-profit provider of 50,000 affordable homes across London and the South East, he works with national and trade media, builds relationships to influence stakeholders, and develops the group’s policy positions. During his time at MTVH, another social housing provider, Matt coordinated the activities of the G15 group of leading housing associations that collectively provide over 770,000 homes across the country, working across the political spectrum and with senior government officials. Before moving into social housing, Matt worked for the Labour Party in various roles over more than 12 years.

Dominic Ridley-Moy
Founder, The Behaviour Change Network

Dominic works with organisations to apply behaviour change principles to the challenges they face today from climate change through to taking healthier life choices, tackling debt and more. This includes helping organisations gain an in-depth appreciation of what drives human behaviour; the barriers that prevent people from taking action and how to bring predictability to what appears, on the surface, to be unpredictable human behaviour. Dominic offers training, workshops, consultancy and campaign management on all thing behaviour change. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), a chartered PR practitioner and co-chairs CIPR’s local public services group.

Sacha Romanovitch OBE
Chief Executive, Fair4all Finance and Levelling Up Advisory Council

Sacha is CEO of Fair4All Finance, which has been founded to increase the financial wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances through access to fair, affordable and appropriate financial products and services. Sacha is a member of the Levelling Up Advisory Council in which she provides advice to the government on policy development to deliver the levelling up agenda; in this she also leads the Social Infrastructure working group of the Council. She is a non-executive director of Leapfrog Investments.

Prior to this in 2015 she became the first female CEO of a major global accountancy firm when she took up leadership of Grant Thornton in the UK. Through a focus on a purpose led strategy the firm grew to over £500m income with over 5,000 UK employees. She was also a member of the global board of Grant Thornton, and led governance oversight of member firms in 140 countries employing over 50,000 around the world.

Elizabeth Rowland
Head of Partnership, Insights and Performance, Octavia and Co-Chair: DAHA London Regional Group /NHF Domestic Abuse Core Group Member

Catherine Ryder
Chief Executive, PlaceShapers

Catherine previously led the Federation’s work on the Social Housing Green Paper. Catherine has also worked as Advisor to the Chief Executive at the Federation and has spent some time working on economic development and housing at Coast to Capital – a Local Enterprise Partnership in Surrey and Sussex. Before joining the Federation Catherine worked at the Audit Commission as a Strategy Manager, leading the development of assessment frameworks for local government.

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

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

Sue Shirt
Executive Director, Customer Experience, Stonewater

Sue's role is to manage and influence the business from a customer’s perspective, challenging the way Stonewater work. Sue was awarded Woman of the Year: Tenant/Customer Focus in October 2019 at the Women in Housing awards.

Ryan Shorthouse
Founder and Chief Executive, Bright Blue

Ryan is the Founder and Chief Executive of Bright Blue. He became the Chief Executive at the start of 2014. Under his leadership, Bright Blue has grown significantly in size, reputation and impact. The organisation has been shortlisted for the 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 UK social policy think tank of the year and UK environment and energy think tank of the year in the prestigious annual Prospect Magazine awards.

Ryan is a writer, thinker and entrepreneur. He was named as ‘One to watch’ in 2015 by The Observer. His research focuses on education and social policy. Many of his policy ideas have been adopted by the UK Government over the past decade. He appears regularly in the national press and broadcast media.

Ryan was previously a Research Fellow for the think tank the Social Market Foundation and was part of the team that won Prospect Magazine’s Think Tank of the Year in 2012. At the SMF, he authored ten research papers and designed innovative policies on childcare, welfare, public service reform, higher education and health.

Helen Simpson OBE
Chair, York and North Yorkshire LEP

Helen is an experienced commercial leader who spent much of her executive career in senior management roles with BT in business development, strategy, partnerships, digital transformation & social responsibility. Helen also chairs the York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership as it prepares for the Mayoral Combined Authority and is a trustee of St Martins in the Fields Charity. Helen previously worked at Circle Housing and as a Board Member at Your Homes Newcastle.

Merron Simpson
Chief Executive, The Health Creation Alliance

Merron is a national and local advisor on people, places, health, housing, systems change. She has extensive senior-level experience often across professional domains. A former Head of Policy at the Chartered Institute of Housing, Merron has worked with local authorities, primary care networks, housing associations, Kings Fund, NHS England, NHS Property Services, Royal College of General Practitioners, Health Foundation, National Housing Federation, Local Government Association, Royal Town Planning Institute and others. She started her career clinical diagnostics R&D after studying biochemistry before changing direction, embarking on a Masters in Housing Studies. Merron’s passion is to bring congruence between policies, services and the reality of people’s and communities’ lives. She blends her influencing and thought leadership capabilities, cross-sector knowledge, experience working in complex environments and deep interest in people to shift power and drive tangible change.

Gavin Smart
Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Housing

Prior to becoming CEO Gavin served as both Deputy CEO and, before that, Director of Policy and Practice at the CIH. Before joining CIH Gavin worked at the National Housing Federation (NHF), latterly as Assistant Director for Research and Futures where he led the NHF’s research and analysis function, it’s future facing thinking and it’s policy work on finance and government investment. Gavin joined the NHF from a spell working for the UK civil service commissioning research and analysis into a variety of housing policy areas. He began his career as an academic researcher at the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol.

Alistair Smyth
Director of Policy and Research, National Housing Federation

Alistair joined the NHF in March 2023 on a 12-month secondment from The Guinness Partnership, where he held the role of Director of External Affairs and Social Investment. Alistair has worked in the social housing sector for the last 15 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.

Andy Street CBE
Mayor of the West Midlands

Andy Street was elected as the first Mayor of the West Midlands in 2017. Andy was re-elected to serve a second term as Mayor in 2021. The primary function of the role is to chair the West Midlands Combined Authority and brings with it significant powers over transport, housing, skills and jobs. Before becoming Mayor, Andy combined a career with John Lewis with a host of high-profile economic development roles, working with local and national government. He was the Chair of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership between 2011 and 2016. Additionally, he has been lead non-executive director for the Department for Communities and Local Government as well as a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group.

Deborah Stuart
Director of Wellbeing and Safeguarding, Grand Union Housing Group

Deborah’s role gives her responsibility for retirement living, extra care, day services, telecare, Life24 alarm and wellbeing visiting service, learning disability and mental health services, dementia care, domestic abuse refuges, financial wellbeing, community investment and safeguarding. Deborah began her career in supported housing working for Age Concern as a Resettlement Officer for older people with a learning disability. She then moved to Hightown Housing Association as Deputy Team Leader managing a 24-hour independent living service for people with a learning disability and from there to Aldwyck Housing Association where she held a variety of roles within the supported housing service. After more than nine years working for Aldwyck she moved to Macintyre Housing Association as Supported Housing Manager. In 2006 Deborah took on the role of Assistant Director of Housing and Support Services before taking on responsibility for supported housing in 2014.

Sue Sutton
Chief Executive Officer, Salix Homes

Sue has worked in the housing sector for over 20 years across the North West, with a background in community development, neighbourhood management, customer service and building safety. Sue has worked at Salix Homes since 2008 and is committed to increasing the supply of good quality affordable homes and working with partners across Greater Manchester to promote and create opportunities that address inequalities for local people.

Sharon Teape
Operations Manager, Anchor

Heather Thomas
Chief Executive, Sapphire Independent Housing

Heather is the Chief Executive of Sapphire Independent Housing, a smaller housing association based in North West London providing supported housing and general needs homes. Prior to this, Heather worked at executive director level at a number of registered providers. She is vice chair of the g320 group of smaller housing associations and is also the Chair of ccha, the local housing association in Croydon, South London. She is a corporate member of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has a Master’s in Organisational Behaviour.

Kathy Thomas
Communication Project Manager, Net Zero, Northern Housing Consortium

Kathy is leading on Heartwarming Homes, a joint NHC, Placeshapers and Tpas project to engage residents in energy efficiency improvements. She’s passionate about the difference the right communication can make to residents, as well as the advantages it has for landlords. Kathy’s worked in housing sector communications for the past 10 years.

Zoey Thomas
Area Manager, Anchor

Kate Turner
Founder and Director, Motivational Leadership

Kate is the founder and director of Motivational Leadership and best-selling author of CREATE Motivation. She regularly delivers keynote speeches, contributes to podcasts and runs masterclasses; all with the intention of helping people to understand what truly drives them. In her view, the key to unlocking leadership is through harnessing motivation. Kate has over 25 years’ experience of working alongside leaders and their teams, largely in the charity sector. Her clients include Alzheimer’s Society, RSPCA, SIgnhealth, Kernow CCG, DofE, Bargate Homes and the National Housing Federation.

Sarah Walter
Director, ICS Network

Sarah Walter has a background in health policy, working at the Department of Health and NHS England before joining the NHS Confederation. Sarah has operated in a number of roles at the Confed, including Director of Corporate Services, regional lead for the South West and currently Director of the Confed’s ICS Network. Sarah is passionate about women’s leadership and was previously Chair of the Confed’s Health and Care Women’s Leaders Network. She recently completed her Executive MBA at the University of Bath.

Mark Washer
Chief Executive, Sovereign

Mark joined Sovereign as Chief Executive Officer in June 2018, from his role as Chief Financial Officer at Clarion Housing Group. Mark has worked in the housing sector for 25 years and was, until recently, the Vice Chair of the National Housing Federation.

Tim Weightman
Chief Investment Officer and and Chair, Future Homes Consortium, Places for People

Tim joined Places for People in 1997 and has over 25 years’ experience in the affordable housing sector, including development, investment, strategic asset management and PRS. As Chief Investment Officer, Tim’s role is to ensure Places for People has detailed knowledge of its homes, places and communities, and to oversee the strategic management of £3.5bn of social housing and £0.5bn of PRS and student housing, all with a focus on delivering excellent customer experience, social impact and financial returns. Tim is also responsible for the Group’s repairs and maintenance service, managing a team of over 1,000 operatives and the delivery of 200,000 repairs per year. He also leads the Group’s response to the changing and complex operating environment, including addressing fire and building safety issues, delivering carbon net-zero and tackling the impact of climate change. Tim has a degree in Building Surveying and an MBA from Durham University. In January 2023 Tim was appointed as a Board Advisor at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, and he is also a member of their Audit Committee.

Neal Wylde
Member, Tenant Advisory Panel for Together with Tenants

Neal Wylde is 50 years old and has lived in rented accommodation for 32 years in both private and social housing. For the last seven years, Neal has been an involved tenant and has sat on a number of panels within social housing. He was chair of an investigative panel looking to improve poor performing areas and trying to make recommendations that would benefit both tenant and landlord. Neal is passionate about ensuring the needs of tenants with disabilities are always taken into account and are at the heart of housing association decision-making.

Dr Alan Whitehead MP
Shadow Energy Minister

Alan has been the Shadow Minister for Energy and the Green New Deal since April 2020 and served as the Shadow Energy and Climate Change Minister October 2016 – April 2020 and the Shadow DECC Minister for Generation and Transmission September 2015 – June 2016.

During his time in office he has championed the development of a new decarbonised energy landscape. He is frequently lauded by his fellow parliamentarians for his grasp of the complexities of this policy area.

Since becoming the Labour MP for Southampton Test in 1997 Alan has served on the Select Committees for Environment, Transport and the Regions; Energy and Climate Change and Environmental Audit. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Southampton University.