Mark Easton
Home Editor, BBC

Mark is the BBC’s home editor. His writing won a Royal Statistical Society award for excellence and was a finalist in the online journalism awards in San Francisco. His ambition is to try to chronicle the story of changing Britain, and for Arsenal to win some silverware. Before becoming BBC News home editor in 2004, Mark was home and social affairs editor at Channel Four News and political editor at Five News. He is married with four children.

Lucy Adams
Chief Executive, Disruptive HR

Sean Anstee
Group Chair, Trafford Housing Trust

Sean Anstee is the Chief Executive of Telcom Infrastructure, part of Telcom Group, an innovative technology company, growing in Manchester. He was Leader of Trafford Council between 2014-18 and Vice Chairman of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, with portfolio responsibility for Skills, Employment and a Digital City Region. He is a board member of Trafford Housing Trust and is a keen marathon runner.

Antonia Bance
Head of Campaigns, Communications and Digital, Trades Union Congress

Helen Barnard
Director, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Helen is responsible for driving forward JRF’s strategy to inspire action to solve UK poverty. She oversees JRF’s evidence and impact, economics, policy and partnerships, advocacy and public engagement, and external affairs across the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Helen has worked across policy and analysis at JRF, most recently leading the policy and partnerships team to develop new solutions to solve poverty and prior to that, building the first iteration of JRF’s monitoring and analysis team, examining the key social, economic and public policy trends and changes affecting people and places in poverty.

Torsten Bell
Chief Executive, Resolution Foundation

Torsten Bell is the Director of the Resolution Foundation, a think tank that combines analytical rigour with policy prescriptions to improve the living standards of those in Britain on low to middle incomes. With a background in economic policy, his focuses include inequality, the labour market, tax and benefits, housing and wealth. Prior to leading the Resolution Foundation, Torsten was Director of Policy for the Labour Party. He has also worked in HM Treasury, as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers during the financial crisis and as a civil servant.

Siân Berry
Co-leader, The Green Party

Siân Berry is the Green Party’s co-leader and was elected as a Member of the London Assembly in May 2016.

Siân is passionate about securing council housing, properly affordable rents and making sure residents have a say over what happens to their homes. She believes Londoners should be secure in their homes and feel that they are part of a community that they can enjoy, shape, and design – and afford to live in. Siân supports private renters, estate residents and campaigns and communities across London.

Lord Richard Best
Chair, Affordable Housing Commission

Lord Best is an independent in the House of Lords. He is a past chief executive of the National Housing Federation and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. He was President of the Local Government Association for nine years, Chair of Hanover Housing Association and of The Property Ombudsman, for eight years. He is currently Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Housing and Care for Older People and of the Commissions on Affordable Housing organised by the Centre for Social Justice and the Smith Institute. He chaired the MHCLG’s Regulation of Property Agents Working Group. Lord Best has successfully piloted five Private Members Bills through the House of Lords, the last being the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018.

Richard Blakeway
Housing Ombudsman, 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.

David Bogle
Chief Executive, Hightown Housing Association

David has been Chief Executive at Hightown for over 20 years. He previously worked for Anchor HA and three London local authorities.

Hightown is a traditional housing association operating mainly in Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. Hightown has an active development programme, which has delivered over 1,000 new affordable homes in the last two years and will provide a further 1,000 affordable homes in 2019/20 and 2020/21. Hightown has a housing stock of over 6,500 homes, provides care and supported housing in around 80 projects and has an annual turnover of £80 million.

David is heavily involved with the Homes for Cathy group of 85 housing associations campaigning for more homes and support for homeless people. The Homes for Cathy Group has worked with Crisis to develop nine Commitments, which challenge housing associations to review and improve their contribution to ending homelessness.

Rachel Byrne
Executive Director – New Models of Care, Chartered Institute of Housing

Hayley Charlesworth
Founder, Harry’s Pals

Yvonne Davies
Managing Director, Scrutiny and Empowerment Partners

Yvonne Davies is the HDN Associate and the facilitator of the HDN national programmes on:

• Achieving Board Diversity

• Board Excellence Programme

Yvonne delivers equality health checks, Diversity Needs Assessment Accreditation for HDN.

Yvonne is a Board Member both at Cobalt Housing, and Steve Biko HA. Yvonne is a former Housing Association Managing Director, with 38 years’ experience of working in Housing and communities and the former Head of Housing and Economic Development at the Audit Commission in the North of England. She has been self-employed since 2011.

Her expertise and business is built around governance, equalities, strategic and policy review, building outcome focused strong resident voices, complaints mediation and building capacity with Boards, residents, communities.

Thangam Debbonnaire
Shadow Housing Minister, Labour Party

Thangam Debbonaire became the Member of Parliament for the Bristol West constituency in May 2015, transforming a Lib-Dem majority of 11,366 into a Labour one of 5,673. In the June 2017 general election, she increased that majority substantially, to 37,336. Her vote tally of 47,213 was the second highest in the UK, and her increase in vote share of 30.3% was the biggest in the country. She won the seat again in the December 2019 election with a vote of 47,028 – the highest of any constituency in the UK.

Sasha Deepwell
Chief Executive, Irwell Valley

Sasha is a senior housing executive with a track record of transformational leadership that has made a real difference for customers. She joined Irwell Valley Homes in 2017 as Chief Executive. Prior to her current role, she has held senior positions in housing and led many award-winning development and regeneration partnerships. Her non-Executive roles include: Board member of North West Housing Services (the UK’s largest mutual services agency for housing co-operatives and community led housing) and Chair of the Centre for Women’s Justice, a national human rights charity.

Paul Dennett
City Mayor, Salford City Council

Paul Dennett was born in Warrington and brought up by a working-class family.

It was this background which had a huge impact on his politics, where money was tight and the stress of debt was always in the background. Families helped each other and he developed a lifelong appreciation for the public sector - healthcare, education and the ‘blue light’ services.

He attended Park Road Primary School and went on to Great Sankey High School in Warrington before moving to the University of Ulster and the Manchester Universities.

As a teenager he helped out in his parent’s pub changing barrels, lugging crates and talking to the regulars. After that he worked in customer services in a BT call centre, completed his degree and then lectured in Business at Manchester Metropolitan Business School.

Paul proudly served the people of Langworthy as local councillor before he became the second directly-elected City Mayor on Friday 6 May 2016.

His interests include cooking, visiting the galleries in Salford and Manchester and travelling when possible.

Steve Douglas
Chief Executive, St. Mungo's

Steve Douglas CBE joined St Mungo’s as Chief Executive on 1 July 2020 after most recently serving as Group Chief Executive Officer with Aquila Services, a consultancy group advising housing associations as well as central and local government. Prior to that he held Chief Executive and senior level positions in a number of housing related roles. He has been Chief Executive of the Housing Corporation, and corporate director of Neighbourhoods and Regeneration for the London Borough of Hackney. Steve has also held a wide range of non-executive roles. Most recently he has been Chair of One Housing Group and chair of Commonweal, the social justice housing charity.

He is also a member of the NHF Governance Code review advisory group.

Julie Doyle
Chief Executive, Longhurst Group

Maxine Espley
Executive Director of Care & Support, Accord Housing Association

Maxine Espley is Executive Director of Care & Support at Accord Housing Association. Accord is one of the largest non-profit housing and social care providers in the Midlands. The Care & Support team, led by Maxine, delivers over 2.5million hours of care and support services to customers every year.

Maxine is also a current Board member of the National Care Forum, a membership body for not for profit care support providers.

Before joining Accord in 2015, Maxine was the Managing Director of Community and Mental Health Services for a Primary Care Trust and more latterly, Director of Planning and Contracting for a large Acute and Community NHS Trust where she led strategy, growth, service transformation and contracting.

Ben Everitt MP
Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group for Housing Market and Housing Delivery

Ben Everitt is the Conservative MP for Milton Keynes North and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Housing Market & Housing Delivery.

Ralph Facey
Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships and Projects, Abri

Ralph has over 15 years Executive Director experience in a wide variety of roles, following a housing management and regeneration career in local government in Portsmouth, Birmingham, Southampton and then as Chief Housing Officer at Gosport, leading the service through a period of successful and significant change. Following several Executive Director roles for the Swaythling Housing Society, Ralph was appointed as Radian’s Group Director of Housing and Customer Services in December 2009, and became Executive Director of Partnerships & Projects in June 2018. Following the formation of Abri, Ralph was appointed as Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships & Projects for the new organisation, and in November 2020 was appointed as Executive Director of Operations, leading Abri’s housing management, repairs and maintenance and community investment services.

Luchia Fitzgerald
Chair of the Residents Scrutiny panel, Irwell Valley Homes

James Frayne
Founding Partner, Public First

James Frayne is a Founding Partner at Public First. James has spent his entire career working in communications and opinion research and leads on Public First’s campaign and qualitative research work. For agencies in London and New York City, he has worked for many of the world’s leading brands and in 2013 wrote a guide to corporate communications: Meet the People, published by Harriman House. James has specialised in researching and communicating with working class and lower middle class audiences, writing a regular column “Far from Notting Hill” on the Conservative Home website and authoring the report which coined the “Just About Managing” term. He was Director of Communications for the Department for Education between 2011 and 2012, having begun his career in politics – for example, working on the successful North East Says No campaign against a Regional Assembly, where he was Campaign Director. James is a Certified Member of the Market Research Society and managed the research for The Times’ Election in One Room project in the 2019 election.

James Green
Community Investment Director, Eastlight Homes

David Hannon
Development Director, Rooftop Housing Group

Kate Henderson
Chief Executive, National Housing Federation

Kate Henderson is Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, the voice of housing associations in England. Our members provide 2.7 million homes for nearly six million people and each year they invest in a diverse range of neighbourhood projects that help create strong, vibrant communities.

Prior to joining the Federation in October 2018 Kate was Chief Executive of the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA). During her decade at the TCPA Kate raised the Association’s profile through a range of campaigns and policy initiatives, most notably around Garden Cities, local authority innovation, affordable housing, health, poverty and climate change.

Kate has been involved in a number of government panels and independent commissions including the Lyons Housing Review. She is a visiting professor at the Bartlett School of Planning at University College London, a Board member of the International Federation of Housing & Planning, and has co-authored various books including ‘The Art of Building a Garden City’ published by RIBA Publishing and winner of the National Urban Design Book Award 2018.

Lindsay Herbert
Author, Digital Transformation

Lindsay Herbert is the author of Digital Transformation, a Bloomsbury business book that has received international praise for its practical framework on how to drive major change through innovation at enterprise scale. Lindsay is also an IBM Inventor and the Chief Innovation Officer for IBM Garage GBS where she advises the leaders of major companies on how to further their innovation agendas, as well as creating breakthrough technologies for IBM itself. Her most recent invention is the IBM Instant Checkout, a revolutionary innovation for retail. This ground-breaking technology has resulted in international media coverage, including BBC World News and a segment on BBC Click.

Lindsay is also a Governor for the Museum of London, appointed by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to help inform the Museum’s own digital transformation journey. She also co-chairs the BIMA Technology Council. Lindsay’s core message is that real digital transformation is about learning to become more adaptive to change itself. Success comes from the ability to react to the small and early signs of change, leveraging data, technology and new ways of working along the way. In her talks, Lindsay’s innovation lessons are brought to life with her own insider experiences, as well as inspiring stories from company leaders around the world. Audiences leave empowered and ready to drive real innovations in their own organisations.

Paul Johnson
Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)

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

Lord Bob Kerslake
Chair, Peabody Trust and Peabody South East

Lord Kerslake is Chair of Peabody, London Collective Investment Vehicle (London CIV), and the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS). In addition to this, he is and is president of the Local Government Association, became Chair of Sheffield Theatres in late 2015 and was appointed as chair of the Board of Governors for Sheffield Hallam University in October 2016. In 2017, Lord Kerslake was appointed as Chair of Be First, a regeneration company established by Barking and Dagenham Council.

A former Head of the Civil Service, Lord Kerslake led the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) from November 2010, stepping down in February 2015. Prior to this, he was the first Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency.

Before joining the Civil Service Lord Kerslake received a knighthood for his services to local government, spending eight years serving the London Borough of Hounslow and then a further 11 years leading Sheffield Council. In early 2015, he was made a life peer, taking the title Baron Kerslake, of Endcliffe in the City of Sheffield.

Ben Laryea
Chair, BME London and Leadership 2025

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.

Melissa Mean
Director, We Can Make

For over fifteen years Melissa Mean has worked across the arts, urbanism and public participation. She is Head of Arts at Knowle West Media Centre, a digital arts centre in Bristol leading a wide range of co-creation projects that mix art, tech and community to explore better ways we can live together. She leads We Can Make, a citizen-led housing programme, which creates affordable housing at the point of need. We Can Make was selected as one of The Observer’s 2018 New Radicals, a biannual showcase of individuals and organisations changing the UK for the better. In her spare time, she is chair of the Redcliffe Forum, a community group working on a £100m project to reclaim a dual carriage-way in Bristol and turn it into something more useful instead. Previously she ran the Cities Programme at the think tank Demos, working with cities across the UK and internationally, including Glasgow, London, Helsinki and Barcelona.

Charlotte Murray
Director of Care, Health & Wellbeing, South Yorkshire Housing Association

Polly Neate
Chief Executive, Shelter

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

Jahanara Rajkoomar
Director of Community Investment, Metropolitan Thames Valley

Jahanara is the Director of Community Investment at MTVH with an excellent track record of delivering strategic and innovative social solutions that positively benefit the business and its customers.

Making a difference to people who are socially disadvantaged or excluded is her primary motivator and has defined her career to date. She has over 20 years’ experience in social welfare work having started at the Citizens Advice Service whilst studying Law. This influenced her career direction to focus on addressing social disadvantage in the voluntary sector, moving over to housing after the 2008 financial crash. This still remains a motivator and passion; trying to make a difference to people in a way that is meaningful to them. She brought this commitment into the housing sector over 10 years in a variety of roles and has used her experience and knowledge to influence how housing can play a role in enabling customers to be better tenants and take control of their lives.

Vic Rayner
Executive Director, National Care Forum

Vic Rayner is Executive Director of the National Care Forum, joining the organisation in 2016. As Executive Director she is the chair of the government Strategic Advisory Forum on the social care workforce, co-chair of the National Social Care Advisory Group on social care and technology and sits on a range of government and national specialist groups with a focus on the social care workforce, digital transformation, new models of care and regulation.

Vic is a regular national and international speaker, and has extensive knowledge and expertise across a wide range of care, support, housing and social policy agendas. Prior to joining the NCF, she was the CEO of Sitra, a leading national membership body championing excellence in housing, health, care and support.

Vic is a trustee of Hestia, a leading London charity providing care and support as well as The Care Workers Charity. Vic was previously the independent Chair of the Brighton and Hove Fairness Commission, tackling inequalities and promoting social justice within the locality.

Vic has an MBA (Distinction), MA and BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

Orna Rosenfeld
Urban Strategist, Global Advisor on Housing, Research Scientist and Author

Dr. Orna Rosenfeld is passionate about housing and inclusive urban development. Her work covers 56 countries, where she advises governments, selected cities and leaders of international organizations such as the European Commission, UNECE, the World Bank and the Council of Europe Development Bank, among others. As a Doctor of science, she combines expertise from a number of disciplines: city planning, architectural engineering and socio-political research, to advance housing knowledge, investment and policy in pursuit of inclusive urban futures.

Kevin Ruth
Deputy Chief Executive, Together Housing Group

Sarah Sands
Chair, Bright Blue

Joe Shalam
Head of Financial Inclusion, Centre for Social Justice

Joe Shalam joined the CSJ’s policy team in 2016. Over the last two years Joe has managed the CSJ Housing Commission, chaired by Lord Best, as the policy programme’s lead author and researcher. As of June 2019, Joe became head of the newly established Financial Inclusion Policy Unit, looking at the wide range of financial issues holding people back in Britain today.

Gavin Smart
Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Housing

Rachael Smart
Head of Housing Services (London & South East), PA Housing

Professor Dave Snowden
Chief Scientific Officer and Director, Cognitive Edge and the Centre for Applied Complexity at the University of Wales

Dave Snowden divides his time between two roles: founder Chief Scientific Officer of Cognitive Edge and the founder and Director of the Centre for Applied Complexity at the University of Wales. His work is international in nature and covers government and industry

looking at complex issues relating to strategy, organisational decision making and decision making. He has pioneered a science based approach to organisations drawing on anthropology, neuroscience and complex adaptive systems theory. He is a popular and passionate keynote speaker on a range of subjects, and is well known for his pragmatic cynicism and iconoclastic style.

Joanne Stewart
Executive Director for People, Optivo

Joanne is Optivo’s Executive Director for People. She has responsibility for developing and executing our people strategy.

Joanne joined Optivo in September 2019. She brings a wealth of people and organisation capability, along with cultural transformation experience gained in a range of senior leadership roles.

James Tickell
Partner, Campbell Tickell

James has been a Partner of Campbell Tickell since 2004. He has carried out a wide range of assignments throughout the UK and the Ireland, primarily for not-for-profit organisations and government agencies. His assignments have focused on governance, mergers, performance improvement, strategy and most recently organisational culture. Some more high profile work has involved helping clients through difficult or unexpected events.

Previously, James has worked as a Director at the Refugee Council, and then at the Housing Corporation, where he was Registrar - a senior post in the department responsible for the regulation of housing associations. Before moving to set up Campbell Tickell, he was Deputy Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation, a national campaigns and trade body.

James trained as an architect. He has served as a Board member of various charities and other organisations, including as a government appointee to the Board of an organisation in special measures. He was a trustee of Public Concern at Work, the whistleblowing charity, and also a non-executive Director of McCann Homes Ltd., a developer and housebuilder. He has published books on the Maya and Inca civilisations, as well as on housing-related subjects.

Mark Trewin
Mental Health Social Work Lead, Department of Health and Social Care

Christian Ulbrich
Global Chief Executive, JLL

Christian has overall responsibility for the company’s strategic direction and continued growth. He also serves as the chair of JLL’s Global Executive Board.

Alongside senior leadership, Christian is steering a strategy that positions JLL among the world’s leading companies. The vision calls for embracing market-leading digital solutions to help drive success for clients, employees and shareholders.

Christian has been in leadership roles at JLL for over a decade. He joined the company in 2005 as managing director for Germany. In 2009, he became CEO for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and a member of the GEB. Prior to that, Christian spent seven years as CEO of the Hamburg-based HIH group of companies, following 10 years in senior roles with German and international banks.

Sally-Anne Underhill
Head of Housing Services (Midlands), PA Housing

John Verge
Chief Executive, Golden Lane Housing

John is Chief Executive of Golden Lane Housing, and has worked for the UK learning disability housing association set up by Mencap for 20 years. During his time at Golden Lane Housing, the organisation has lead on innovative solutions for thousands of people with a learning disability and autism across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and won a variety of national awards for their social impact bonds and specialist services. John has a Masters in Housing Studies, MBA from Warwick Business School and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and Royal Society of Arts.

Patrick Vernon
Social Commentator, campaigner and cultural historian, Social Commentator, campaigner and cultural historian

Associate Director for Connected Communities for the Centre for Ageing Better. He is also a Clore and Winston Churchill Fellow, Fellow of Goodenough College, Fellow at Imperial War Museum, Fellow of Royal Historical Society and former associate fellow for the department of history of medicine at Warwick University. Patrick is also Independent Adviser on Equality and Diversity for Lambeth Council. He was the first director of Black Thrive a mental-health multi-agency tackling mental health in Lambeth, former non-executive director of Camden and Islington Mental Health Foundation Trust, Health Partnership Coordinator for National Housing Federation, former Director of Afiya Trust, Chair of Westminster Race Equality Partnership, Committee member of Healthwatch England, NHS England Equality Diversity Council, Director of Brent Health Action Zone and Regional director for MIND. Patrick is a former Councillor in Hackney from 2006-2014. Patrick is currently chair of Citizenship Partnership for HSIB and Non-Executive Director for Hertfordshire NHS Trust.

Patrick is also founder of Every Generation Media and 100 Great Black Britons, which develops education programmes, publications and films on cultural heritage and family history. Patrick was made Pioneer of the Nation for Cultural History by the Queen in 2003.He is a leading expert on African and Caribbean genealogy in the UK. Patrick was a leading campaigner for a national Windrush Day for the last 10 years. He also played key role in campaigning for the Windrush Generation in helping to expose the scandal with over 180,000 people signing his petition for an amnesty for the children of the Windrush Generation in 2018. He also launched the Windrush Justice Fund with JCWI to support grass roots and community organisations help victims resolve their legal status and claim government compensation scheme.

Patrick was awarded an OBE in 2012 for his work on tackling health inequalities and ethnic minority communities. In 2018 he received an honorary PhD from Wolverhampton University and was selected as one of the 1000 Progressive Londoner by the Evening Standard. In 2019 he was awarded lifetime achievement award for campaigning and advocacy work by the SMK Foundation. In 2020 Patrick was selected by British Vogue as of Britain’s top 20 campaigners and was included in the 2020 Power list of 100 influential Black People in Britain

Rosanna Vitiello
Urban Strategist and Co-founder, The Place Bureau

Rosanna Vitiello is a globally renowned urban strategist, cultural researcher and creative director. Co-founder of

The Place Bureau. Consulting creative director on place projects at Bruce Mau Design. Trustee of The Participatory City Foundation. Research associate at Central Saint Martins within the Socially Responsive Design and Innovation Unit.

Nick Walkley
Chief Executive, Homes England

Nick is Chief Executive of Homes England, having become Chief Executive of its predecessor body in March 2017. He leads the work to create the new organisation, focused on disrupting the land and residential funding market to increase and accelerate the supply of new homes. Recent highlights include the launch of the first PRS Real Estate Investment Trust and Homes England winning Residential Financier of the Year at the RESI Awards.

Nicks has had a senior career in Local Government, including Chief Executive roles at two London Boroughs as well as a range of sector roles at national level. He was rated 4th most influential in the LGC 100 and is an Inside Housing IH50 influencer.

Nigel Wilson
Chief Executive, Gentoo Group

Nigel is the Chief Executive Officer of Gentoo Group, joining the Sunderland-based housing association in January 2019 from Wythenshawe Community Housing Group in Manchester, where he previously held the role of Chief Executive Officer for six years. Prior to this Nigel was Chief Executive of Parkway Green Housing Trust for 6 years.

Sara Woodall
Executive Director of Homes & Communities, Accord Housing Association

Sara Woodall is Executive Director of Homes & Communities at Accord Housing Association. She is responsible for all of the housing management, maintenance, special initiatives and community engagement for Accord general needs and sheltered housing tenants.

Sara started her career in housing after completing a law degree. She is passionate about affordable housing and building stronger communities. Sara is the Chair of the Birmingham Social Housing Partnership (BSHP) and sits on Walsall’s Homeless Steering Group, Walsall Housing Partnership and Walsall Economic Board

Boris Worrall
Chief Executive, Rooftop Housing Group

Boris is Group Chief Executive of Rooftop Housing, which provides 6,500 affordable homes in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Boris has been involved in housing for 10 years and is a regular blogger on policy, politics and business transformation. He began his career as a journalist before working for the Home Office. Boris enjoys surfing, yoga and keeping chickens.