Housing Moves: our round-up of senior sector appointments in April 2026

Sharon Pearce has been named chief financial officer of The Hyde Group. This is a newly created role, but Ms Pearce is taking over from Rod Holdsworth, who stepped down as chief financial and resources officer after six years. This is a promotion for Ms Pearce, who has worked at Hyde for 19 years, most recently as commercial director.

Danielle Oum has started as chair of the housing association EMH, taking over from David Russell, who has served as chair since 2017. Ms Oum has extensive board experience in the housing and health sectors. She also chairs Tantum Housing Association, sits on the board of Fusion21 and was chair of the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Sovereign Network Group has also made three additions to its board: former housing minister Eddie Hughes, experienced housing chief executive Yvonne Arrowsmith, and Marcelle Moncrieffe-Newman, chief people officer at City St George’s, University of London.

A2Dominion has promoted Paul Jenkins from director of sustainability and portfolio management to asset director. He takes over from Conan McKinley, who has gone to Accent to take on the post of executive director of assets and compliance. A2Dominion has also hired Siobhan Weightman to be interim director of change – she joins from Vico Homes, where she was director of business intelligence and change. The role was previously held by another interim, David Fisher, who left in February.

Orbit has hired Neil Laird to be its technology and data director. Mr Laird has worked in a number of tech and data roles across different parts of the economy, including for Halfords and Serco. He replaces Andy Godber, who is retiring.

Warrington Housing Association has appointed Chris Twomey as its chief executive. Mr Twomey has been scooped up from West Lancashire Borough Council, where he was acting chief executive. He takes over after the retirement of David Cummins.

Chris Meadows has been promoted to development director of the housing association Hastoe. Mr Meadows was previously regional development and sales manager. He’ll be stepping into the shoes of Ulrike Maccariello, who is retiring after a 20-year career at the organisation.

Onward has appointed Sally Watts to a newly created role of director of leasehold and support housing. She joins from Camphill Village Trust, where she was director of supported living and green care. She is also vice-chair of Solace Housing Association.

Andy McWilliams has been announced as the new chair of Soho Housing. As well as having wide experience working on digital transformation projects in different commercial sectors, Mr McWilliams grew up in living in social housing. He was previously vice-chair of Wandle Housing Association and chair of its customer experience committee. Soho has also appointed some more board members, including Anne Costain, the chief financial officer at Stonewater, who will be chair of the audit and risk committee. Solicitor Angela Drum also joins as non-executive director of governance, and Jonathan Rae will be an independent member of the audit and risk committee. Mr Rae is finance director of residential investor and developer PLATFORM_.

L&Q has promoted Alyson Heald to a new role of executive group director for partnerships and regional operations in the North West. She was previously partnership director for the North West.

Swansea housing association Caredig announced that Stephen Evans, its deputy chief executive, will also take on the additional role of director for property and assets. He replaces Ian Harris, who retired. The association has also promoted Emma Morgan from head of housing and support, to director for customers, support and improvement, Mr Evans’ former role.

Karan Nagra has been appointed as head of income services at Sanctuary Housing, a role she has been filling on an interim basis since September.