Appointments round-up: February 2024

Accent Group

Sarah Ireland, executive director of strategy and growth at Accent Group, will take the reins as interim chief executive while the housing association searches for a permanent successor to Paul Dolan.

Ms Ireland joined Accent in 2018 and currently holds responsibility for Accent’s development, sales, homeownership and strategy functions.

She will work closely with Mr Dolan to ensure a seamless handover and will assume the position of interim chief at the end of April when Mr Dolan leaves before joining Riverside as chief executive in May.

Barcud Housing Association

Barcud Housing Association, which operates in rural Mid and West Wales, has hired Jason Jones as chief executive.

He is a property and regeneration specialist with more than 25 years of experience in the private and public sectors.

Mr Jones, who is a qualified chartered surveyor, started his career in estate management and property consultancy in the private sector before moving to local government in 2003.

In his previous roles at Ceredigion County Council and Carmarthenshire County Council, he gained experience in estate management, property project management, regeneration, digital and policy.

St Leger Homes of Doncaster

St Leger Homes, an ALMO for Doncaster Council, has appointed a new chief executive. Chris Margrave is currently director of property services at the provider, and he will move to his new leadership role on 6 May. He replaces Dave Richmond, who is retiring.

Mr Margrave has served in his current role since January 2021. He has more than 20 years of experience within property services, including previous positions as director of investment and director of assets at WDH.

Hexagon Housing Association

Ali-Jarar Shah has joined London-based housing association Hexagon as its new finance and IT director. He replaces Izzet Dizdar who left the organisation last year for personal reasons, following a family bereavement.

Mr Shah, who started in January, was most recently director of finance at Teachers’ Housing Association. He has previously worked at organisations including Catalyst and Buckinghamshire Housing Association, within the auditing field at one of the ‘big four’ accountancy firms, and at the Regulator of Social Housing. He is also currently chair of the audit and risk committee at Innisfree Housing Association.

Housing 21

Retirement living and extra-care provider Housing 21 has appointed Gurpreet Dehal from outside of the sector to become its new chair of the board.

Mr Dehal, who is currently chair at the University of Derby, has experience across a range of non-executive appointments spanning government departments, higher education, infrastructure and financial services.

He has held non-executive roles in defence for nearly nine years and in January 2024 he became an independent member of the RICS Governing Council. Mr Dehal’s executive experience was in financial risk management and investment banking global operations.

Moat Homes

Mary Gibbons has stepped down as chief executive of Moat Homes after almost two years in charge.

Moat Homes announced that she is no longer CEO with “immediate effect” and that the process to recruit a replacement would “begin shortly”. Ms Gibbons joined the 21,000-home South East landlord in April 2022.

She previously served as chief executive at CHP and Hundred Houses Society and has also served on the boards of several providers. Earlier in her career she spent almost a decade at Swan Housing Association. Ms Gibbons is currently a board member of HACT.

Mount Green

David Hunter will step down as chair of Mount Green’s board after nearly four years in the role, following the completion of the merger with Stonewater, which Mr Hunter led for Mount Green.

He will remain on the board until September 2024, enabling the landlord to ensure a smooth transition as it appoints a new chair.