SPRINGHOUSING - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Audit & Assurance Committee Member
Chartered professional, with over 20 years' experience within the Asset Management/Property Management sector. Qualified to ILM Level 5 in Leadership and Management, proficient in asset management and associated disciplines including asset optimisation/portfolio management, capital investment projects, contract management, building safety, environment, repairs, maintenance and facilities management (FM).
A Member of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and an Associate Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), with a Bachelor's Degree focused in Building Surveying/Construction Management from Coventry University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Director of Operations for GreenSquareAccord
Ben has more than 16 years' experience working in the housing and not-for-profit sector, beginning his career as a Project Worker supporting individuals exiting the criminal justice system.
Ben spent the last 10 years as a Senior Leader, delivering specialised Support and Housing services across England to a wide range of vulnerable client groups at risk of homelessness. Ben was Director of Housing at St Basils, working in partnership with local authorities and commissioning bodies across the Midlands to develop sustainable housing pathways for young people that shifts delivery beyond crisis intervention, towards upstream, preventative services.
Ben is now Director of Operations for GreenSquareAccord that recently completed a merger to form 25,000-home housing and care organisation
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Trustees
Darren has more than 20 years' experience in B2B marketing of IT products and services and specialises in helping SME develop and grow their businesses. He is currently Head of Marketing for Syscomm, a Managed Services IT company in Coventry. Prior to that he was working as a Visiting Lecturer at Birmingham City University, teaching Strategy, Marketing, and Leadership courses at Undergraduate and Master's level. He is an entrepreneur, opening a small chain of coffee shops across Worcestershire. He is also Chair of Radio Lollipop Birmingham. Originally from Canada, Darren came to undertake a MBA at the London Business School, plays ice hockey, and occasionally manages to pluck a few notes on his double bass
Hannah has worked in the commercial property industry for 16 years, moving to a non-equity director level at the age of 30 and moving on to set up Pi SQ, an independent commercial furniture consultancy in 2020.
From the age of 28 Hannah began to involve herself in voluntary committee and or board member roles within areas she felt passionate about such as homelessness & inclusivity.
Hannah's other voluntary roles include Diversity & Inclusion trustee for the well-known charity LoveBrum. Hannah was also the Vice-chair of a young professional board, and is currently the incoming Chair for the Association of Women in Property for the Midlands & involved in various activities for Lets Feed Brum, a small volunteer-led charity.
.Hannah is very passionate about social mobility and having a fair society for all and is looking forward to using her understanding and knowledge in this area to help Spring as it navigates its way through an increasingly challenging time for all.
Job Titles:
- Group Chief Executive
- Member of the Senior Team
Janette has over 20 years' experience of working within health and social care. She has held numerous roles and worked across a variety of disciplines from older people, young people, domestic abuse, mental health, homelessness, marketing, performance, contracts, and new business.
In 2014 she took the position of Director of Care and Social Business at Black Country Housing Group. She had responsibility for BCHG's residential care business, domiciliary care service, supported living service, sheltered accommodation, young persons' service, and social business activities. Key achievements include establishing its residential care business from scratch resulting in two care homes. Janette oversaw the growth of the Supported Living Service, increasing the number of residents supported by 50%, and providing stability and sustainment for the Employment Services.
Janette joined Spring in October 2017 and is responsible for all of the support services which include homeless, offenders young people and refugee resettlement
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair of the Board of Trustees
- Head of User Journey for UnLtd
Louise is the Head of User Journey for UnLtd, a foundation that finds, funds and supports social entrepreneurs with over 15 years in the sector supporting and appraising social business'. Louise is now responsible for the organisations strategy to deliver market-leading through continuous improvement focussed on equitable award making, inclusive practice and improving user experience. She also runs a consultancy on service design and innovation practice working with housing partners. Her previous work and board appointments include working in homelessness in charitable and local authority settings and on the board of housing association and local authority. Louise is passionate about inclusive practice, trauma-informed approaches and amplifying the voices of those who are most marginalised by society.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair
- Founder of the Social Housing Round Table
Matthew Baird is the Founder of The Social Housing Round Table, has been an independent Social Housing Recruiter for over a decade, and is actively involved in Social Housing in the role of Chair of the Birmingham-based Supported Exempt Accommodation Forum.
He set up his own business in February 2021 having got frustrated with recruitment being solely about money for agencies. During a recent piece of work, he was coined "The Ethical Recruiter" and it's a mantra he takes very seriously when aiding with roles from Officer to senior Executive.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Partner at Law Firm Shakespeare Martineau
Natalie is a Partner at law firm Shakespeare Martineau, specialising in property finance securitisation for registered providers within the social housing sector. She has worked within this sector for the past 15 years and brings experience of advising RP's on treasury strategy, understanding funder requirements and maximising the value of social housing assets as well as an excellent understanding of the regulatory sphere in which housing providers operate.
Natalie also volunteers as a mentor for the social mobility fund mentoring young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to gain skills and contacts to help them achieve professional qualifications.
Job Titles:
- Audit & Assurance Committee Member
Job Titles:
- Director of Business Development
- Member of the Senior Team
Rachel has a track record working as a development and governance professional within the housing and not-for-profit sectors helping not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises to scope and develop ideas for projects which focus on addressing inequalities and disadvantage, with a specific focus on marginalised communities and homelessness.
She facilitates robust partnerships across the third sector helping organisations to create innovative and substantive projects that increase opportunities and enhance the experiences and learning of those delivering and benefiting from the projects. With over 20 years' experience in the West Midlands, her areas of work include health and well-being, life skills and employability, heritage, arts and culture, community asset transfers and enhancement of statutory service provision.
Her breadth of experience in strategic, operational and cross-sector scenarios enables her to create practical solutions both as an individual and in partnership with others.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Team
- Director of Housing & Customer Services
Raj has over 11 years' experience in the social housing sector offering expertise in an array of fields.
He is a dynamic and passionate professional with experience of managing diverse housing options in both the general needs and care and support sectors, including overseeing a large portfolio of properties of 3000+ units spread across the West and East Midlands.
A well-respected specialist with a strong knowledge base in housing management services, specialising in customer satisfaction, tenancy agreements, repairs and maintenance, voids and lettings, support and assessment, leasehold and private rented sector service management, supported housing accommodation projects (homelessness and mental ill health), older people, and call centre management. He also leads on the issues of welfare reform and data management for the association.
Rashid works as a Senior Commissioning Officer for Birmingham City Council and specialises in regeneration, environmental protection and the strategic commissioning and delivery of services and projects to vulnerable communities. He was the Strategic lead for developing four local district housing plans in Birmingham and has been responsible for managing local and European wide projects supporting the reduction of homelessness and environmental objectives. Rashid joined Spring to serve the goals of the organisation in providing good quality, affordable decent homes to vulnerable communities in housing need.
Sarah has 20 years' experience in human resources working in the IT, distribution, housing and care & support sectors.
Sarah was the Group HR Manager for Specialist Computer Centres for 11 years where she was responsible for employee relations, administration, remuneration & benefits, and TUPE. During her time at SCC she supported the successful transfer of over 1500 employees under the TUPE regulations, either as a result of company acquisition or service provision change. She also introduced a new HR and payroll system.
Sarah also worked for Trident Reach and Trident Housing Association as an HR Specialist. Her experience at Reach included dealing with technical employee relations cases including dismissal cases, appeals, contract renegotiations, and tribunals. She was also responsible for the successful TUPE transfers (in and out) of employees from various organisations involved with supporting people and care contracts in 2010 through to 2015.
Sarah is also a qualified Investors in People Internal Verifier and supported Reach in retaining its GOLD IIP accreditation in 2015.
Job Titles:
- Accountant
- Head of Finance
Simon is a qualified accountant (ACCA) and has worked in the not-for-profit sector for over 20 years.
He spent 13 years working in a variety of roles within the finance team of a Birmingham based housing association and has spent the last 6 years working in the finance team of the care & support charity which is a subsidiary of the main housing association.
His many roles within the finance teams include Finance Officer, Payroll Administration, Finance Manager and Head of Finance. He is also non-executive trustee of Churches Housing Association of Dudley District.
Job Titles:
- Best Practice Lead
- Non - Executive Director for Coventry Haven
Thea has over 12 years' experience in housing, homelessness and domestic abuse sectors and holds a BA (first class) and an MA (distinction) from the University of Birmingham. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow within the Housing and Communities Research Group at the University and a Certified Practitioner with the Chartered Institute of Housing.
Thea combines her extensive frontline experience with exceptional research, writing and public speaking skills in order to produce meaningful and useful research that has relevance and applicability at practice, policy and strategic levels. Thea's credibility as a professional, and her ability to engage stakeholders has allowed Spring to develop positive links and relationships with a varied range of individuals and groups.
Since joining Spring in January 2017 Thea has designed, researched and authored two pathbreaking reports on ‘exempt' accommodation. These reports have already had significant impact at practice, policy and strategic levels; both locally and nationally.
Thea is also a non-executive director for Coventry Haven, part of the Women's Aid network. She actively organises around women's' and girl's rights and is an anti-poverty campaigner.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- CEO of One Walsall
Vicky Hines is CEO of One Walsall, an infrastructure organisation supporting voluntary and community sector organisations across the Borough of Walsall. One Walsall helps new and existing organisations across the sector to build skills and capacity, develop their volunteering provision, access funding and to channel concerns from the sector with key partners & stakeholders. The work also involves developing effective partnerships and opportunities to collaborate.
She has worked across the West Midlands, starting her career at Wolverhampton City Council in the mid-1990s. She then worked across Worcestershire as an Investment & Regeneration Manager at Homes England previously the Homes & Communities Agency.
For the last decade, Vicky has worked at Shelter, the National Campaign for Homeless people and was the Strategic Lead for Birmingham, West Midlands. She has coordinated advice and support services, serving vulnerable clients experiencing poor housing, homelessness, debt, poor health and other challenges over the last 6 years.