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Ruth Cooke named next Clarion chief executive

The UK’s largest housing association has appointed Ruth Cooke of Midland Heart as its new chief executive.

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Ruth Cooke
Ruth Cooke
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Ruth Cooke named next Clarion chief executive #ukhousing

Clarion names Midland Heart’s Ruth Cooke as successor to Keith Exford #ukhousing

UK’s largest housing association names next chief executive #ukhousing

Clarion Housing, which manages 125,000 homes, has been searching for a replacement chief executive since Keith Exford announced his retirement in September.

Ms Cooke will move to Clarion on 1 April next year, taking over from Mr Exford five days later.

She said: “I’m honoured to have been appointed as the next group chief executive at Clarion Housing Group. Having the opportunity to lead such a large business with a clear social purpose and with the ambition both to deliver 50,000 new homes and make a real difference in communities is a huge privilege.

“Keith will be a hard act to follow, but I’m very much looking forward to working alongside the board and executive team to deliver Clarion’s ambitious plans.”


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Ms Cooke, a qualified accountant, has been chief executive of Midland Heart since 2012. She was previously financial director at the same association and has served as group director of resources at Knightstone and chief finance officer at Anchor Trust.

Neil Goulden, chair of Clarion, added: “Ruth Cooke will be joining us at a critical phase of Clarion’s development. She – along with her colleagues on the Clarion Group executive team – has the energy, drive and experience to support our commitment to deliver first class services to our communities, alongside our ambition to build 50,000 new homes over 10 years and we look forward to welcoming her.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to pay my personal thanks to Keith Exford. Since beginning his career at Southwark Council, Keith has become one of the leading figures in our sector. Without Keith there would be no Clarion and he leaves behind him a great legacy for Ruth Cooke to build on. The group board and Keith’s colleagues at Clarion wish him all the very best for the future.”

Midland Heart is a 33,000-home housing association based in Birmingham. It turned over £206m in the last financial year with none of its income from outright market sale, and £6.1m from shared ownership first tranche sales.

Clarion, which owns 125,000 homes across the country, was formed at the end of 2016 through a merger between Affinity Sutton and Circle. In 2016/17 it turned over £796m, including £109m from sales.

The landlord, which is the largest in the UK, has one of the largest development pipelines in the sector with plans to build 50,000 homes over the next 10 years.

It is also continuing to work to turn around problems with Circle’s repairs service, which led to a severe censure from regulator the Homes and Communities Agency shortly after the merger.

Mr Exford was at the head of Affinity Sutton when it merged with Circle.

Midland Heart has begun the search for a new chief executive.

John Edwards, chair of the association, said: “I want to congratulate Ruth on her new role and I wish her all the very best in her future career. Ruth is leaving Midland Heart in a strong position, having recently retained our G1/V1 accreditation and holding one of the sector’s highest Moody’s ratings.”

Ms Cooke is a regular columnist for Inside Housing’s IH50 series.

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