South West England landlord appoints first deputy chief executive

An executive director of homes and an executive director of people and neighbourhoods have been appointed, with public announcements due to be made when they join, a spokesperson confirmed to Social Housing.

Two Rivers currently only has two people on its executive team – Ms Dover and chief executive Hayley Selway, who replaced the long-serving Garry King in January this year. 

Suzanne Hemingway, the group’s director of operations, left in November 2022 after 16 months in the role.

She was replaced by former Adra and Monmouthshire Housing executive, Ian Atkinson, last June. However, he stayed with Two Rivers for only seven months, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

To add to its senior team, Two Rivers has also appointed an assistant director of governance, with an announcement due soon, the spokesperson said.

The group, which currently has a G1/V1 rating with the regulator, will also be getting a new chair in October.

Ted Pearce, a former Orbit director who has been on Two Rivers’ board since 2019, was named as chair designate in May. He will replace Yvonne Leishman, a former chair of the Chartered Institute of Housing and consultancy HouseMark. 

In April, Two Rivers was among eight social landlords featured in a Housing Ombudsman report on learnings from severe maladministration cases. 

In its last reported full year to the end of March 2023, the group reported a broadly flat surplus of £2.9m on turnover of £28.3m.