Appointments round-up: June 2024

Crisis

 

Geeta Nanda, chief executive of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH), will join homelessness charity Crisis as a trustee at the start of September.

 

Ms Nanda, who is leaving MTVH in the autumn after 16 years in charge of the landlord in its various forms, is a former chair of the G15 and former board member of the National Housing Federation. She also sits on the advisory board for Homewards, the Prince of Wales’ initiative to tackle homelessness, as well as the government’s Older People’s Housing Taskforce.

 

Alastair Wilson, who has served as chief executive at the School for Social Entrepreneurs since 2004, has also joined the board of Crisis.

 

Buzzacott

 

Accountancy firm Buzzacott has appointed John Butler, the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) finance policy lead, to its social housing team.

 

Mr Butler has joined the firm as an assistant manager following more than 15 years at the NHF, including 13 as finance policy lead. He brings experience and knowledge on social housing finance, having worked alongside providers identifying potential financial issues and optimising their operating environments.

 

Mr Butler was the secretariat of the statement of recommended practice working party, the NHF representative on the Social Housing Pension Scheme’s employee group and previously a member of the Sustainability Reporting Standard’s ESG steering group.

 

The Barnet Group

 

The Barnet Group has promoted Elliott Sweetman to interim chief executive.

 

The group is a local authority trading company that is the parent of registered provider Opendoor Homes and Barnet Homes, an ALMO that manages social housing and homelessness services on behalf of the London Borough of Barnet.

 

Mr Sweetman has spent the past eight years at The Barnet Group, including as group director of operations and property and most recently as group director of development and property.

Home Group

 

Home Group, which manages around 56,000 homes across England and Scotland, has appointed four regional directors. The new roles are intended to increase engagement and interaction with customers and communities.

 

Three of these were internal promotions: (left to right) Andy Hall as director for the North East, Katherine Hernandez for Teesside and Yorkshire, and Lisa Russell for the North West.

 

Home Group has also hired Emma Solomons to be its director for the South. She has worked in housing for more than 25 years, including at A2Dominion, Southern Housing and most recently PA Housing. The provider is also in the process of recruiting a Midlands and central director.

 

Coastline Housing

 

Cornish social landlord Coastline Housing has hired Francesca Rhodes as chair to replace Steve Harrison when he retires in September.

 

Ms Rhodes’ 18-year career in social housing began at Sovereign Housing Group, where she led the corporate finance function. She currently runs a small specialist consultancy in the sector, using her governance, treasury and corporate finance knowledge.

 

Mayor of London’s development corporation

 

One of the mayor of London’s development corporations has appointed former Homes England projects director Marianne Brook as development director.

 

She joins the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, set up by the mayor in 2015 to secure the regeneration of the Old Oak opportunity area.

 

Ms Brook has more than 16 years’ experience delivering complex housing and development projects for clients including Berkeley Homes, TfL, National Grid Property and the NHS. She joins from Deloitte, where for three years she was seconded to Homes England, leading investment and land ownership agreements.

  

BuildEast

 

BuildEast, a sector group of 15 social landlords in the East of England, has hired Eastlight Community Homes chief executive Emma Palmer as chair.

 

She has replaced James Francis, chief executive of Saffron Housing Trust, who was chair since April 2022 when Ms Palmer became vice-chair.

 

Liverpool City Council

 

Liverpool City Council has appointed Andrew Leigh, former head of housing at Salford City Council, as director of housing.

 

At Salford City Council he led several projects such as establishing the council’s local housing company, including its subsidiary registered provider, and its £85m new build homes programme. He will join in September.