Craig Thornton
Risk and Assurance Director, Sovereign Network Group

Craig is Risk and Assurance Director for Sovereign Network Group where he is focused on building the organisation’s resilience. He is also a Board and ARC member of Amplius. Craig has been in the sector for four years, following a 20+ year career in professional services and telecoms.

Kate Atherton
Policy Officer, National Housing Federation

Kate is a Policy Officer at the National Housing Federation, working on decarbonisation, energy efficiency, and supporting work more broadly on the quality of homes. She has previously worked in the New Zealand civil service across housing and public health, with a focus on financing for social housing and the relationship between social housing and health, as well as working more broadly on infrastructure funding and financing arrangements.

Mark Atkinson
Director, National Audit Support – Methodology, Crowe UK LLP

Sophie Atkinson
Director of Governance, GreenSquareAccord

Sophie is Executive Director of Governance at GreenSquareAccord. She is a qualified solicitor and chartered company secretary, who has worked in the sector for over 15 years. Previously Director of Governance and Compliance at Catalyst Housing (now Peabody), Sophie has also worked for Sanctuary Group and the Homes and Communities Agency (now the Regulator of Social Housing). At GreenSquareAccord she has responsibility for governance, risk and assurance, health and safety, and data protection.

Stephen Batley
Assistant Director of Business Improvement

Stephen Batley, Assistant Director of Business Improvement at Together Housing Group (THG), has over thirty years’ experience in social housing and is a Chartered Member of the CIH. He has led major transformations, including the creation of a new Customer Contact Centre and improvements in service delivery through technology. For nine years, Stephen has directed the Group’s Business Improvement strategy, focusing on data quality, governance, and cultivating a ‘data culture.’ In 2025, THG’s team won the Housing Digital – Housing Technology Award for ‘Best use of Automation or AI’ by blending advanced data science and traditional housing management to prevent tenancy failure

Paul Bayly
Head of Governance and Compliance, National Housing Federation

Paul is the Governance and Compliance Manager for the Federation. He looks after the Federation’s internal risk and assurance processes and is responsible for advising members on governance matters. Paul also assists organisations looking to adopt the Federation’s Model Rules for Registered Societies.

Richard Blakeway
Housing Ombudsman, Housing Ombudsman Service

Richard was appointed as Housing Ombudsman from 1 September 2019. He has extensive experience in the housing sector, with previous roles including Deputy Mayor of London for Housing, chair of the Homes for London board, and a non-executive director of Homes England. During his eight years at the Greater London Authority, Richard was responsible for housing investment and land regeneration programmes. He also led the creation of the first team at City Hall to address rough sleeping, commissioning around £10 million of services each year, as well as the first Social Impact Bond on homelessness.

Richard is a former board member of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has been an election observer in Somaliland and the Ukraine.  He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and sits on the Administrative Justice Council. Richard is also a former chair of the Ombudsman Association and is a board member of the British Library.

Bethan Buck
External Affairs Manager, National Housing Federation

John Butler
Assistant Manager, Buzzacott

John joined Buzzacott in May 2024 from the National Housing Federation where he was its Finance Policy lead. John brings considerable experience and expertise in all aspects of social housing finance to Buzzacott having worked alongside registered providers identifying potential financial issues and optimising their operating environments. He was the secretariat of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) Working Party, the National Housing Federation representative on the Social Housing Pension Scheme’s Employee Group and previously a member of the Sustainability Reporting Standard’s ESG Steering Group. John also has strong relationships with investors, banks, regulators, credit rating agencies, politicians and government departments helping to set policy and promote best practices in accounting, tax, treasury, corporate finance, pensions, risk management, financial regulation and compliance. John provides audit and advisory services to housing associations as well as a range of charities and educational institutions. He works with our specialist charity tax and VAT teams to provide his clients with joined-up advice from a single point of contact.

Mairead Carroll
Senior Specialist Property, RICS

Daz Chauhan
Director, Knowledge Industries

With over two decades of experience, Daz helps organisations in the housing, finance, and education sectors unlock the full power of their data. He works directly with executives, senior leaders and technical teams to develop and execute a complete data strategy—from ensuring data quality and governance to implementing self-service analytics and developing a strong data culture. Daz's work helps teams make smarter, faster decisions across the business.

Helen Collins
Head of Business Development, National Housing Federation

Helen joined the NHF in December 2009, holding several positions in the member relations and business development teams, and playing a pivotal role in the NHF’s member survey and strategy. Helen has over 20 years leadership and management experience, bringing together people and ideas. In her current role as Head of Business Development she has strategic oversight of the NHF’s business development activities, and works closely with colleagues, commercial partners, and stakeholders to provide value and benefits for NHF members. Helen previously worked as a practice manager of a private healthcare clinic and has been chair of a school charity since October 2020.

Emma Comer
Consultant-Projects, Triathlon Homes

Emma has worked in housing for 20 years. Early on she started working in service charge teams and moved quickly into managing service charge teams initially in supported housing and then for social and leasehold tenures.  Emma has combined this experience with leading homeownership teams as well as service charges teams across all tenures.  Her work as a consultant allows her to use her experience to stabilise services, design effective operating models and ensure organisations are communicating effectively with tenants and leaseholders and providing assurance that landlords are managing services well and holding external organisations that provide services to account.

Steve Cross
Technical Director, PIB Group

Steve Cross, Group Technical Director at PIB Group, first started in Commercial Insurance Broking more than 30 years ago, and has specialised in Tech, Media and Cyber risks for more than 20 years.

In the last few years Steve has been collaborating closely with STORM Guidance, the UK’s leading provider in Cyber incident response and risk management services for the insurance market, to develop low-cost tools with the capability to test and assess an organisation’s cyber posture and resilience to attack.

Charlie Culshaw
Interim Director of Housing Management, Customer Services, L&Q

Kate Dodsworth
Chief of Regulatory Engagement, Regulator of Social Housing

Kate started her career in housing 30 years ago in homelessness, working with rough sleepers in Birmingham and later managing homeless hostels in Brighton. After completing a Masters degree in Housing, she worked at the National Housing Federation for 10 years; latterly as Assistant Director covering London, the South East and East of England. She was Executive Director of People and Communications at Amicus Horizon and, post-merger, as Optivo.

Kate was Chief Executive of Gateway Housing Association for three years until starting as Director of Consumer Regulation at the Regulator for Social Housing in July 2021. In 2023, she was appointed Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH. Kate was an external examiner for Westminster University until 2019 and a co-founder of the charity, Leadership2025, which aims to increase representation of black housing professionals in senior roles and address structural inequality.

Guv Dhaliwal
Chief Information Officer, Amplius

With a wealth of experience in IT leadership across retail, healthcare, and consumer goods, Guv joined the sector and Longhurst Group in 2023 as Chief Information Officer. In December 2024, Longhurst Group merged with Grand Union Housing Group to form Amplius, where Guv continues his role leading technology, data, and business transformation as Amplius moves towards a more insight-driven, innovative future.

Nicholas Doyle
Co-founder and Director, Chirpy Heat

Andreea Fard
Head of Digital, Data & Technology, Community Gateway Housing

Katie Finch
Director of Assurance and Business Services, Citizen Housing

Katie has spent over 15 years in housing developing and leading corporate services functions. Katie is Citizen’s Director of Assurance and Business Service with responsibility for Governance and Regulation; this involves working closely with Board and Committee members and ensuring our decision making meets the highest standards. During 2025 Katie has led the organisation through its inspection process with the RSH.

Sarah-Jane Gay
Head of Building and Fire Safety Programmes, National Housing Federation

Cara Green
External Affairs Manager, National Housing Federation

Cara Green is External Affairs Manager at the National Housing Federation. With a background in communications, strategy and digital innovations, she works closely with members to drive meaningful change with a powerful mission: ensuring everyone has access to a safe, affordable home.

Dawn Grocott
Leasehold Manager, Torus

Dawn has worked in Social Housing for 24 years and is experienced in all aspects of Leasehold Management, Shared Ownership and Service Charge administration. Currently working as Leasehold Manager for Torus 62 Ltd, Dawn also chairs the Affordable Home Ownership Group (North & Wales).

Emily Harbottle
CEO and Founder, Cascade Risk

Emily Harbottle is the founder of Cascade Risk Management and creator of Cascade, a digital safety case platform designed to bring structure, accountability and efficiency to building safety case management. A former British Army helicopter pilot, instructor and regulator, Emily developed her expertise in system safety while serving with the Military Aviation Authority. After leaving the military, she consulted internationally on safety management systems for the aviation sector and later expanded into healthcare, nuclear, maritime and housing. She holds a PGCert in Safety and Human Factors in Aviation and is a Member of IIRSM. With Cascade, Emily is applying her cross-sector experience to help housing providers move beyond static documents to live, collaborative and compliant safety case management.

Frances Herity
Director of Risk and Assurance, The Guinness Partnership

Frances is the Director of Risk and Assurance at the Guinness Partnership with responsibility for delivering the risk and assurance framework, and supporting controls compliance activity, and leading the data assurance team. Prior to joining Guinness, Frances worked for KPMG in the public sector audit and assurance team, as well at other housing associations and ALMOs where she started her career as a Housing Officer.

Nick Jackson
Executive Director of Business Services and Development, Plymouth Community Homes

With 25 years in Social Housing, Nick brings expertise in finance, governance and risk, D&IT, procurement and development. He values teamwork to drive innovation and enable social housing to flourish. He was at the Regulator when rent restructuring began and has navigated Plymouth Community Homes through 15 years of shifting government policies which stopped convergence at PCH and saw high numbers of homes converted to affordable rent. Nick chairs the SW Finance Directors group which includes attendees from SE and South Wales.

Sarah Johnson
Director of Governance and Legal, WHG

Sarah has worked in social housing since 1996, specialising in key areas of housing management before moving into governance and risk in 2018. Her diverse experience includes roles in a housing action trust, community/resident-led associations, a housing law firm, and as a freelance housing law trainer. In her current role as Director of Governance and Legal, she supports Board and Committees, with a focus on risk, and leads on governance, legal, insurance, internal audit, and strategic risk management. In the past two years has developed and implementing risk management software. She holds a Law degree (LLB Hons), a Postgraduate Diploma in Housing and is a Chartered Member of the CIH. She also has Board member experience and is currently an independent member of Cannock Chase District Council’s Housing Board.

Dilys Jones
Assistant Director Affordable Housing Growth, Homes England

Sade Koiki
Member of the Board and Chair, Audit and Risk Committee and Member, Remuneration and Nominations Committee, Poplar HARCA

Sade grew up on the Lansbury West estate and has lived in the area for over fifteen years. After graduating from the University of Manchester with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, followed by law school, Sade moved into the legal finance sector. Currently Sade is a Revenue Controller at a global law firm and in her spare time, volunteers as a mentor to secondary school children as she enjoys working with younger generations to understand their experiences and gain fresh perspectives on our local environment.

Ashwin Kumar
Professor of Social Policy and Director of Research and Policy, Manchester Metropolitan University and Institute for Public Policy Research

Ashwin Kumar is Professor of Social Policy at Manchester Metropolitan University and Director of Research and Policy at the Institute for Public Policy Research. He has previously worked as Chief Economist of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Senior Economic Adviser at the Department for Work and Pensions, and as an economic adviser to Gordon Brown.

Jonathan Layzell
Chief Executive, Stonewater

Jonathan Layzell was appointed Chief Executive of Stonewater in June 2025. A respected sector leader with over 20 years’ experience, Jonathan brings deep expertise in affordable housing, customer service transformation, and strategic growth. Before becoming CEO, Jonathan led Stonewater’s national housebuilding programme—delivering more than 1,000 new homes every year—and spearheaded major mergers and acquisitions. He also held interim responsibility for the Customer Directorate, supporting services for over 93,000 customers. Jonathan has led nationally significant bids, including securing over £500 million in funding for Stonewater from Homes England, and has pioneered initiatives in sustainability, public art, and community investment.

Julie Lennon
Senior Manager, Chartered Internal Auditor and Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist, Beevers and Stuthers.

Julie is a Counter Fraud Lead with over 17 years of experience in internal audit and fraud investigation across housing, charities, local government, NHS, education, and the private sector. A Chartered Internal Auditor and Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist, Julie brings technical expertise in fraud detection, evidence collation, and regulatory compliance. At Beever and Struthers, Julie leads strategic fraud prevention initiatives, drawing on her background in managing large housing audit portfolios and conducting complex investigations across a range of industries. Her work has supported disciplinary actions, employment tribunals, and criminal prosecutions in collaboration with law enforcement agencies.

Monika Liskiewitz
Director of Financial Resources, Accent Group

Dan McCann
Data Specialist, Internal Auditor and Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist, Beevers and Stuthers

Daniel is an Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist with 14 years of experience across internal audit, fraud investigation, data analytics, and financial systems transformation. He has worked extensively with local government, housing, charities, healthcare, and private sector organisations, bringing a proven track record in governance and risk management. At Beever and Struthers, Daniel leads high-profile audit and fraud engagements, applying data-driven methodologies to strengthen controls and support client assurance. He has played a central role in strategic initiatives including COVID-19 grant funding verification, large-scale system implementations, and the development of a new benchmarking tool known as HIVE.

Fiona McGregor
Chief Executive, Regulator of Social Housing

Fiona became Chief Executive of the standalone Regulator of Social Housing in October 2018 having been Director of Regulation at the Homes and Communities Agency from November 2015. The Regulator is responsible for the regulation of registered social housing providers. Previously, as Director of Programmes, she was responsible for HCA’s Affordable Housing and Help to Buy programmes. Fiona has over 25 years housing experience, covering development investment, programme delivery and policy development. She has worked at the HCA since it launched in 2008, before which she was Deputy Director of Investment at the Housing Corporation, and prior to that, Head of Development at London & Quadrant.

Mary Mercer
Business Continuity & Emergency Response Lead, Riverside Group

Rhys Moore
Executive Director of Public Impact, National Housing Federation

Rhys started with the NHF in October 2018, as Executive Director of Public Impact. Rhys oversees our policy, external affairs and communications work. Previously he was Director of the Living Wage Foundation where he worked with government, business and civil society to build a national movement of responsible employers. Before that, he helped to establish the London Community Foundation, which supports grassroots community groups in the capital. Rhys is a board member of the Carers Trust.

Bali Nahal
Assistant Director of Customer Services, Estuary

Rosie Nightingale
Head of Internal Audit, Bromford Flagship

Rosie is Group Director of Internal Audit at Bromford Flagship. Rosie set up the co-source internal audit function at Bromford Housing Group two years ago before their merger with Flagship Housing Group. Rosie and her team are passionate about influencing meaningful change through assurance and insight - delivering professional and efficient internal audit. She is a chartered and certified internal auditor with over 11 years experience across internal audit, assurance, risk and advisory services. She joined Bromford from PwC having held roles prior to this within central government and B2B finance. Rosie set up the Aspire Network for internal auditors early in their career and has previously been a Director on the Council for the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors.

Sandra Nwajiaku
Board member, Sapphire Independent Housing

A finance professional with 20+ years’ experience across retail, transport, and property. Formerly Lead Business Partner at The Crown Estate’s Marine Portfolio, I partnered with senior leadership to shape strategy, influence decisions, and deliver change. Currently, I serve as a Non-Executive Director at Sapphire Independent Housing, supporting vulnerable communities in London and Hertfordshire. As a member of the Finance and Risk Committee, I ensure strong governance and financial stewardship. I am particularly passionate about social and affordable housing, inclusive community initiatives, and using finance to strengthen resilience.

Carolina Padovezi de Oliveira
Corporate Project Manager, Manningham

Carolina Padovezi De Oliveira is the Head of Corporate Services at Manningham Housing Association and Chair of the Housing AI Group. With a strong background in marketing, communications, and digital transformation, she leads innovative projects that integrate artificial intelligence into housing operations. Carolina holds a Master’s in AI and some more in the oven. Carolina was recently named one of the Top 30 Housing Champions and Inside Housing’s 40 Under 40. She is passionate about leveraging emerging technologies to improve services, empower teams, and create more efficient, inclusive housing systems.

Kitesh Patel
Director of Risk, Places for People

Kitesh is Director of Risk at Places for People, and has responsibility for Risk Management, Internal Controls Business Continuity and Financial Compliance. Kitesh is an experienced leader with a strong track record in audit, risk management, governance and compliance. Prior to joining Places for People, he worked for Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and has significant experience of audit in local government. Alongside the day job Kitesh is an independent member of the Joint Audit and Risk Panel for Leicestershire Police and Independent member of the Audit and Risk Committee at the Acis Group.

Catherine Phillips
Assistant Director of Finance, Wythenshawe Community Housing Group

Catherine Phillips is the Assistant Director of Finance at Wythenshawe Community Housing Group (WCHG). She is responsible for finance, income recovery and financial inclusion teams. She started work in an accountancy practice auditing and supporting many not for profit organisations and housing associations. There followed a number of roles in the third and public sectors including a charity, an NGO, Register Providers and a university. Catherine has worked at 3 Registered providers, and been a Board member at another. Catherine has been at WCHG for the last few years. Catherine chairs the North West National Federation of Housing Finance Group and is FD for JV North, a partnership of 13 RPs to receive Homes England Funding. Catherine has a passion for making money go further for the customer and the organisation; therefore making good VFM decisions. As part of the new leadership team at WCHG, Catherine has enjoyed driving change and seeing results.”

Sue Ramsden
Policy Leader, National Housing Federation

Sue leads the Federation's policy work on housing management and supported housing.  She is a board member of Thamesreach Housing a small specialist homelessness provider in London.

Paul Roberts
Chair Audit Committee, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing

Paul brings over 30 years of cross sector expertise in risk, governance, leadership, finance and strategy, including over a decade of housing sector experience in executive roles with the Guinness Partnership. Paul is currently an independent consultant working with housing associations and charities to develop their approach to Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG), Diversity and Inclusion (with a focus on disability), housing strategy and internal controls (especially fraud). He is a Non-Executive Director, also serving as Senior Independent Director and Chair of a number of committees including Audit and Risk as well as Culture and Colleague, across 4 RP’s - Rochdale Boroughwide, Auxesia Homes, Gloucester City Homes and Plexus.

Helen Routledge
Director, Campbell Tickell

Sarah Seeger
Head of Consumer Regulation, Live West

Sarah Seeger is an experienced housing leader with a track record of driving innovation, inclusion, and customer-focused change in the social housing sector. Currently Head of Consumer Regulation & Policy at LiveWest, she recently led a major regulatory change programme. Many of her initiatives have been widely shared across the housing sector, and she has influenced policy at the highest levels, including Select Committee and national media. Sarah is passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion, and is valued for turning complex challenges into practical solutions.

Symon Sentain
Executive Director Property Services, Newlon HT

Dalbir Singh
Risk and Compliance Officer, WHG

Dalbir has over 20 years of public and private sector experience in internal audit and risk management, joining whg in his current role in June 2023. He supports and facilitates delivery of whg’s internal audit programme, and plans and delivers policy compliance reviews, reporting to Audit Committee on progress against recommendations. Dalbir also supports risk management across the business, particularly focusing on operational risk and the implementation of risk management software. Dal has a BSc (Hons) in Mathematical Business Analysis and a Postgraduate Diploma in Audit Management and Consultancy.

Alistair Smyth
Director of Policy and Research, National Housing Federation

Alistair has worked in the social housing sector for the last 16 years in a wide range of roles and organisations including a previous spell at the NHF from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant on a range of neighbourhood and community empowerment projects. He also spent three years working in a customer-facing role as a Neighbourhood Manager and as Assistant Head of Neighbourhoods for Peabody. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Policy Advisory Committee.

Ciaran Tully
External Affair Manager, National Housing Federation

Ciaran Tully is an External Affairs Manager at the National Housing Federation. He is the regional lead for North West and the member engagement lead for influencing.

Jonathan Walters
Deputy Chief Executive, Regulator of Social Housing

Having previously been at Ernst and Young working in social housing consultancy, Jonathan has been at the Regulator since 2004. He has worked across the organisation and has extensive experience in dealing with funders, government and housing associations.

John Wiss
Senior Risk Manager, Places for People

With 30 years of experience in assurance, audit, and risk management, John has held leading roles in shaping these functions within both the housing and health sectors.  John is currently Group Senior Manager for Risk Management at Places for People, a social enterprise that comprises market leading businesses in homes and communities, regeneration and development, investment management, property management, student accommodation and leisure.

John is driven by his passion for the future of social housing and has also contributed to the sector through previous roles as a non-executive audit committee member for both South Liverpool Homes and Weaverale Housing Trust.