Appointments round-up: October 2023

Eastlight Community Homes

 

Eastlight Community Homes, which manages around 12,500 social homes in the East of England, has appointed David Mullen as finance director.

 

Mr Mullen, who has more than 13 years of experience in the housing sector, was previously assistant director of resources at Thrive Homes, and group financial controller at Settle prior to that. He has also worked at Peabody, Circle and Wheatley Group.

 

Mr Mullen has replaced John Crowther, who has now completed his interim role at Eastlight and will be considering another interim finance director role after a short break.

 

HSPG

 

Property investment firm HSPG, the owner of for-profit Park Properties Housing Association (PPHA), has hired long-serving former Places for People director Wendy Pretten as group housing and support director.

 

Ms Pretten, who spent 13 years at Places for People, has joined PPHA’s board as an executive director. She will be overseeing landlord services, customer experience and engagement, regulation, and governance at the Manchester-based provider.

 

PPHA, which has around 500 homes, was registered with the Regulator of Social Housing in 2018 and in 2020 was acquired by HSPG.

 

St Leger Homes

 

Dave Richmond is stepping down and retiring as chief executive of ALMO St Leger Homes after three-and-a-half years.

 

Mr Richmond, who joined St Leger in October 2020 after about 30 years working in local government, will leave next May.

 

The ALMO, which manages homes for Doncaster Council, has begun searching for his replacement.

 

Clarion

 

Clarion has appointed Jeremy Newman, the former boss of accountancy firm BDO, to its group board to help oversee its governance on financial management. 

 

He has joined as a non-executive director and from December will also become chair of the 125,000-home landlord’s audit and risk committee.

 

Mr Newman spent around 33 years at BDO in various positions up until 2011. He has previously chaired the now-defunct Audit Commission and the government’s Single Source Regulations Office. 

 

Aster

 

Aster Group has appointed current board member Stephen Trusler as its chair to replace Mike Biles, who has stood down at the end of his four-year term.

 

Mr Trusler, who takes over as chair on 3 November, has previously chaired Aster’s remunerations and nominations committee. The 36,000-home landlord has also hired Mehul Desai as a non-executive director. He is currently chief of staff to HSBC’s UK chief operating officer.

Manningham Housing Association

 

Manningham Housing Association has promoted Rupert Pometsey from vice-chair to chair of the board to replace Barrington Billings, who will step down in December after around six years in the role. 

 

Mr Pometsey, a chartered architect, is also currently chair of the Bradford-based association’s growth and assets committee. His executive career has included an eight-year stint at Incommunities.

 

Legal & General Affordable Homes

 

Legal & General Affordable Homes (LGAH) has appointed former Peabody vice-chair Ian Peters as its new chair as part of a refresh of its board.

 

Mr Peters, a former boss of British Gas, will replace current chair Ian Graham in January.

 

LGAH has also appointed Kevin Gould as chair of its risk and audit committee with immediate effect, taking over from Karen Wilson. Mr Gould has more than 30 years’ experience in financial services and consulting is chair of audit and risk committee for Grand Union Housing Group.

 

Meanwhile, Kathryn Davis joins as an independent non-executive director with immediate effect. She has 26 years of experience at city law firm Slaughter and May and was previously a non-executive director and chair of the treasury committee at G15 landlord Metropolitan Thames Valley.

 

Homes England

 

Jackie Jacob, Homes England’s director of affordable housing grants, will retire in December following a 32-year career with the agency and its predecessor organisations.

 

The government agency said that she had “stewarded more than £20bn in grant funding over the last 15 years”. Homes England has begun recruitment for a replacement, with the salary for the role between £110,500 and £149,500. 

 

Housing 21

 

Housing 21 has named Michael McDonagh, chief executive of PA Housing, as its interim chair.

 

Mr McDonagh, who became permanent boss of PA Housing in February, was previously deputy chair at the extra-care specialist.

 

He replaces Stephen Hughes, who has stepped down as Housing 21’s chair having served a maximum term of nine years on the group’s board. He had been chair for five years.

 

Housing 21 said it anticipates a new chair being in place by next March, the end of its financial year.