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Housing Moves: our round-up of senior sector appointments in October 2025
Inside Housing’s monthly round-up of top-level housing sector appointments details the main moves in October 2025
Inside Housing’s monthly round-up of top-level housing sector appointments details the main moves in October 2025 #UKhousingHousing Moves compiles all the senior housing appointments in one place every month.
To tell us about your appointments, email gene.robertson@insidehousing.co.uk
Housing association and council moves
Andy Lomas has been interim chief executive of Magenta Living since June 2025, and now the role has been made permanent. Mr Lomas joined Magenta in April 2023 as chief operating officer, before stepping into the role of interim chief executive following Debi Marriott-Lavery’s move to Australia to become chief executive of community housing provider St George Community Housing.
Ian Joynson will be the next chief executive of West Kent Housing Association. He will start in early 2026, when Tracy Allison retires. He is currently chief investment officer at Platform Housing Group.
After 14 years as chief executive of Curo, Victor da Cunha is moving to Notting Hill Genesis to take up the post of chief customer officer. Last year he was appointed as a board member at the National Housing Federation.
Mary Gibbons will start in April as Abri’s new chief operating officer, after overseeing its work with its wholly owned subsidiary Octavia since December. She is replacing Ralph Facey, who will be taking on the role of managing director of charity subsidiary the Octavia Foundation before retiring.
Housing Plus Group has made two further announcements about its development team following its merger with The Wrekin Housing Group. Before the merger, Simon Thompson was director of development at Wrekin, and he will stay in the role for the merged group. Meanwhile Kerry Bolister, who was director of development at Housing Plus, has been appointed director of strategic asset management and investment.
David Fisher has started as director of change at A2Dominion, joining from the Financial Ombudsman Service, where he was a project management officer. Steve Maiden will also be joining A2Dominion in December as director of governance and compliance, succeeding Hilary Milne, who held the role on an interim basis. Currently, Mr Maiden is interim director of governance at Settle.
HMS, a construction contractor owned by Torus, has promoted Gail Farley to operations director of maintenance, and appointed John Goudie as operations director of construction. Ms Farley has been at HMS since 2012, most recently as head of customer experience. Mr Goudie was previously design director at CL Projects.
Hightown Housing Association has made a number of senior appointments. Sean Hughes, formerly director of operations at Salvation Army Homes, has joined as executive director of homes on a 12-month interim period. The organisation has also appointed Jade Faye as head of landlord health and safety, and Louise Berry-Wright as head of corporate health and safety. Ms Faye previously led health and safety at Epping Forest District Council and Women’s Pioneer Housing, and Ms Berry-Wright was previously head of corporate health and safety at CHP.
Black Country Housing Group has appointed Sarah Woolley as its director of customer services. Ms Woolley previously worked as head of dispute resolution at the Housing Ombudsman.
Scottish Borders Housing Association has hired David Chalmers to be its new director of development, beginning in January 2026. He replaces Emma Garry, who is leaving to focus on her own consultancy business. Previously Mr Chalmers was senior development manager at Populo Living.
Futures Housing Group has made two new appointments: Heather Waterhouse as head of people and development, replacing Karen Allen upon her retirement, and Georgina Coop as head of culture and engagement. Ms Waterhouse was previously people director at employability and education provider PeoplePlus, and Ms Coop was an organisational development consultant at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Board roles
Moira Sibbald will be the new chair of the board at Places for People Scotland, taking over from Pamela Scott, who has served her maximum term. Ms Sibbald is a solicitor who served as group general counsel and company secretary at CALA Group.
West of Scotland Housing Association (WSHA) has appointed Michael Sozansky to chair its board, succeeding Kelly Adams, who has served her maximum term in the role. Mr Sozansky joined the board of WSHA in 2021, and was head of compliance at Ofgem prior to his retirement.
Mount Green also has a new chair: Heather Bowman. Ms Bowman previously served as chief operating officer at Sovereign Housing and replaces Martin Large, who is retiring.
B3Living has announced Andy Walder as the new chair of its board, replacing David Biggs at the end of his term. Mr Walder’s career includes eight years as director of construction skills organisation CITB, and multiple non-executive director roles including at Freebridge Community Housing. Vishal Shah and Paul Newbold have also joined the B3Living board. Mr Shah is group head of investments and treasury at Chaucer, a large Lloyd’s of London insurer, while Mr Newbold was director of development at Freebridge Community Housing prior to his retirement.
Barnsbury Housing Association has appointed Richard Hill, chief executive of BPHA, as chair of the board. He takes over from Sean McLaughlin, former managing director of Homes for Haringey, who has been chair of Barnsbury’s board since 2019. Mr Hill was previously deputy chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, before it became Homes England.
Other moves
Fiona MacGregor, chief executive of the Regulator of Social Housing, has announced that she is to step down next year, after a decade in the role.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has appointed four new board members: Nick Forbes, Sarah Longlands, Ada Burns and Harris Bokhari. Mr Forbes is the former leader of Newcastle City Council and the Labour Group of the Local Government Association, and Ms Burns is the former chief executive of Darlington Borough Council. Dr Longlands is chief executive of Manchester-based charity the Centre for Local Economic Strategies and former director of the thinktank IPPR North, and Mr Bokhari is chair of the National Citizen Service Trust and founder of the Patchwork Foundation. MHCLG is also set to hire a new permanent lead non-executive director, as the term of current interim lead Mo Baines will end in April 2026, and a recruitment campaign will be launched shortly.
The National Housing Federation has appointed Mel Barrett, chief executive of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH), to its board. Mr Barrett, who joined MTVH in September 2024, previously served as chief executive of Nottingham City Council.
Alexandra Notay will take over as chief executive of The Housing Forum at the end of this year, after Shelagh Grant retires. Ms Notay last year took over as chair of the Radix Big Tent Housing Commission from Dame Kate Barker, and previously was placemaking and investment director at Thriving Investments, the fund and asset management arm of Places for People.
Lloyds Living, a rental and shared ownership homes provider which forms part of Lloyds Banking Group, has appointed Matt Burgess as chief executive, succeeding Andy Hutchinson. Mr Burgess has been acting chief executive, stepping up from his role as chief investment officer.
Later living developer and operator Untold Living has appointed a new chief executive. Scott Orr has been with Untold Living since it launched in 2022 and previously served as investment director.
Jonathan Spearing has joined Brunelcare as director of property and investment. Mr Spearing’s career includes nine years at Poplar HARCA as director of finance.
Nick Stone has been promoted to land and planning director at Pennyfarthing Homes. Mr Stone joined the house builder as land manager in 2010.
Owain Bacon has joined social housing construction and maintenance firm Connolly as head of technology and digital strategy. Previously, Mr Bacon was head of IT operations at United Living Group.
Dame Maria Miller is stepping into the role of chair at LHC Procurement Group. Dame Maria was the Conservative MP for Basingstoke between 2005 and 2024, and since then became the first ever independent chair of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.
Refugee and migrant services provider ACH has appointed Oona Goldsworthy, chief executive of Brunelcare, as chair of its board.
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