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Chief executive resigns following board failures
A housing association’s chief executive and finance director have resigned after the organisation was downgraded for failing to appoint board members properly.
Saffron Housing Trust announced today that its chief executive, Adam Ronaldson, and director of housing and finance, Stephen Flowitt-Hill, have both handed in their resignations.
In a regulatory judgement in September, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) downgraded the 5,000-home landlord’s governance rating to a non-compliant G3, which reflected “the scale, impact and duration of Saffron’s historic failures”.
The HCA criticised Saffron for keeping quiet about the failings since 2011, having only informed the regulator in June 2016.
Its judgement said Saffron had informed the regulator that problems in the governance process and failures to comply with its rules meant some board members had not been appointed properly. This continued over a period “of several years”.
“Significant decisions were made during this period involving third parties and funders and there was uncertainty about the validity of all the decisions that had been made at those meetings given some board meetings had been inquorate,” the regulator said.
Saffron’s board is now properly constituted and has ratified all of the decisions made previously by the illegitimate board.
Catherine Guelbert, chair of Saffron, today said: “We would like to thank Adam and Stephen for their service over the past 12 years and wish them both well for the future.
“Saffron continues to perform strongly and we are actively looking to recruit two new senior executives who can build on our successes to date.”
John Whitelock, director of business, is continuing to act as chief executive while the housing association seeks a permanent replacement.
