2025-26 Executive Board

BSHP Lead

Emma has over 15 years’ experience of working within homelessness, housing and management roles. She has held roles across different services including young people, mental health, learning disabilities, older people and homelessness. Emma is passionate about making a difference to people’s lives, and an advocate for working in partnership to deliver an excellent service. Emma, now a freelance housing consultant, leads on the work surrounding BSHP, facilitating the needs of members, focusing on partnerships and running various meetings.

BSHP Community Safety Partnerships Administrator

Julie Smart, employed through the BSHP CSP Lead, Julie works three days a week and her focus is Community Safety, ASB and Harm Reduction.

Director of Homes and Communities, GreenSquareAccord

Ben has over 17 years of experience in the social housing and not-for-profit sector, initially starting out as a housing and support officer within Criminal Justice Housing Services. Ben went on to spend time leading and delivering impactful housing and community services. Before joining GreenSquareAccord, Ben served as Director of Housing at St Basils, where he collaborated with local authorities and commissioning bodies across the West Midlands to develop innovative and sustainable housing solutions for young people.

In his current role as Director of Homes and Communities at GreenSquareAccord (GSA), Ben provides operational leadership and oversight for all aspects of the organisation’s housing services. This includes income management, lettings, and tenancy management for customers living in over 25,000 homes within four localities spread across the West Midlands and South West of England.

Ben is also a Trustee Board Member for Birmingham based housing charity, Spring Housing Association.

Chief Executive of St Basils

Jean has been Chief Executive of St Basils since 2000 and prior to that has over 20 years’ experience of managing housing and neighbourhood services in a number of Local Authorities in the North East and Midlands. St Basils is a registered Housing Association and Charity providing a range of accommodation and support for young people aged 16-25 who are homeless or at risk in Birmingham and West Midlands. 

Jean is Chair of the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Homelessness Taskforce and Chair of West Midlands Homelessness and Health Network and is a member of the Government’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Expert Group. She was Chair of the national Youth Homelessness Parliament from 2013-2022. She is a member of Birmingham’s Housing Partnership Board and Birmingham Social Housing Partnership Executive.

Nehemiah Housing Association

Kevin Fearon has been working in the social housing and the community regeneration sector for 35 years. He currently serves as Operations Director for Nehemiah Housing Association and has served on several boards which included Chairing the Resources Committee and serving as Board Member of Wolverhampton Homes; and serving as the Chair of Wolverhampton Credit Union.

His experience includes working in the areas of strategic management, property development & maintenance, asset management, and community development, and he is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing. 

Kevin has a passion for enhancing the influence and involvement of people in matters that affect them in the context of their homes, education, health, and surrounding community.

MY Trust

David is currently the partnership CEO of Sir Josiah Mason Trust (SJMT), a family of 7 local charities providing housing and care to older adults and support to young people, and Yardley Great Trust, a grant-giving charity and housing association that was founded in Yardley in 1355.

David has worked in the third sector for 27 years, 22 of these at an Executive level.  Before joining SJMT, David worked for the mental health charity Mind for 16 years, and before this, Age UK for 5 years.  He has a particular interest in strategy, service design, and development and is passionate about the great benefits that almshouses provide as a form of social housing, but also the role they play in providing a sense of belonging and community.

David is a Trustee and the WM Regional Peer Supporter for members of the Almshouse Association.  He is also a Trustee of the Lant Charity, which provides grants and recreational facilities in Balsall Common & Berkswell.

David has recently joined the Board of BSHP and is the Chair of the BSHP over 55’s meetings.

Chair of BSHP

Dominic combines his role as Chair of BSHP with being the Chief Executive of Lench’s Trust. He is an experienced CEO/ Managing Director in the non-profit , charitable, and housing sector. Skilled in Social Housing, Management, Business Growth Strategies, Community Engagement, and Leadership. He has a Combined Honours Degree in Education Studies and Managing People. 

In addition, Dominic is a member of the West Midlands Combined Authorities Homelessness Taskforce, combining this with being a board member for the Centre of the New Midlands, an independent, not for profit think tank focussed on the development and dissemination of new ideas.

Spring Housing

Janette has over 20 years’ experience of working within housing and social care. She has held numerous roles and worked across a variety of disciplines from older people, young people, domestic abuse, mental health, homelessness, marketing, performance, contracts, and new business.  She was the Director of Support and Business Development at Black Country Housing Group in 2014. Janette joined Spring Housing in October 2017 and was responsible for a range of commissioned support services which include homeless, offenders, young people and refugee resettlement, alongside business development.   She became the Chief Executive for Spring Housing in September 2023.  Janette has previously held position of Chair of Governors at Holyhead School and is currently a Board Member for Nehemiah Housing Association serving also on Nehemiah Audit and Risk Committee.

Vice Chair (Midland Heart)

Joe joined Midland Heart in July 2013 following 15 years at PwC working in both public sector audit and advisory, and corporate finance infrastructure and government teams, having qualified as a Chartered Public Finance Accountant (CIPFA) in 2000.

As the Executive Director of Finance and Growth, Joe is responsible for the housing development strategy, commercial projects, strategic planning, audit and risk, finance, treasury, procurement and external affairs functions.

As a Director at PwC, he acted as lead commercial advisor on major economic and social infrastructure public private partnership projects for Government across the UK with a combined value of £1.5bn.

Joe is an Executive member of the West Midlands Housing Association Partnership and Birmingham Social Housing Partnership.

Nehemiah United Churches Housing Association

Llewellyn has more than 35 years’ experience in the voluntary, social housing and not-for-profit sectors. He began his career as a social worker, gained his MBA at the University of Wolverhampton, and MA in Applied Theology at Birmingham University. He is now Chief Executive Officer of Nehemiah United Churches Housing Association, Chairman of Midland Heart, and Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Strategic Commission Committee of Black Country NHS Integrated Care Board. He is also area bishop for the Church of God of Prophecy and Chairman of the Church’s International Offices Audit Committee.

Llewellyn has been an active champion for multicultural communities throughout his working life, establishing the Wolverhampton African Caribbean Development Agency in 1986, and since then holding board positions at a range of organisations, from the international to the hyper-local, including Raffa International Development Agency and housing associations Trident and Sanctuary. Underpinning all his leadership positions has been a commitment to social justice and championing those who are marginalised.

Chief Operating Officer of Citizen Housing

Madeleine was appointed Chief Operating Officer in July 2021.

Prior to joining Citizen, was the Executive Director of Growth & Assets at a housing association operating across the North West.

She has held executive director positions over the last 12 years and has led all operational services – including customer services, repairs, housing, supported housing and asset management.

Madeleine started her career in housing in tenant empowerment, moving to the housing association sector and then Manchester City Council where she delivered the council’s housing strategy and some of the most challenging regeneration initiatives across the city. She spent more than a decade in advisory services at PwC, providing consultancy advice to housing associations and local government while leading the housing advisory team and delivering transformation change programmes.

“Throughout my career I have been driven by a desire to improve the quality of social housing – listening to customers, creating safe, good quality homes and environments, and working in partnership with others. I’m very proud to say that this is exactly what BSHP is all about.”

Chief Operations Officer of Platform

Marion has worked in social housing for over 30 years and has a wealth of experience planning, managing and delivering services for customers. She is a consummate people person and understands what customers expect from housing and support services.  

During her career, Marion has led many complex projects, all focussed on the customer and designed to improve local services for residents and communities.  She is an advocate for listening and acting on customer feedback to drive performance.

Group Chief Executive of Trident Group

Nigel Wilson is Group Chief Executive of Trident Group. He is passionate about the social purpose of housing associations and that the voice of tenants is firmly at the heart of this. He has experience supporting the work of the National Housing Federation, Northern Housing Consortium and Housing Association Charitable Trust at board level.

Executive Director of Birmingham City Council

Paul began his career in the private sector, where he qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant and worked in the manufacturing industry within the Birmingham area. He later moved into the local authority sector, working his way up the ranks into more strategic and resident services areas of responsibility.

Over the last 20 years, Paul has undertaken Chief Officer and Strategic Director roles covering housing, regeneration, planning, community safety and a broad range of front-line resident services. Paul is the Executive Director responsible for the delivery of the Consumer Standards.

Paul spent the last 14 years of his career working in London. He enjoyed 10 years with the London Borough of Southwark throughout the challenging periods of the post-Grenfell and the recent pandemic, both of which saw Southwark take a leading role in coordinating and leading a London-wide response.

Chief Executive of Bournville Village Trust

Pete Richmond is the Chief Executive of Bournville Village Trust (BVT), a values-led charitable trust working to create and sustain communities where people can thrive. He has held this role since 2018.

With a long track record in housing, community development and urban regeneration, Pete was previously the Chief Executive of a Birmingham-based community-led housing and community regeneration charity. He is passionate about the link between creating great places to live and thriving communities.  

Pete has experience in non-exec and trustee roles across multiple sectors including education (through his work with multi-academy trusts), housing associations, heritage and museums, and an employment trust. He is a founder member of West Midlands Urban Community Homes and a trustee at Moseley Road Baths. Pete is also a founder member of Loconomy, a charity for social justice and local economic growth.

Chief Executive, the Pioneer Group

Simon has been Chief Executive of the Pioneer Group a community led Housing Association in Birmingham since 2018.

Simon has over 25 years’ experience of working in the social housing sector. Starting his housing career with Places for People in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He has also worked for Accent Group before spending 8 years as Director of Housing at Wulvern Housing in South Cheshire.  He left to establish his own Housing Consultancy and worked as an associate with the Housing Quality Network specialising in resident engagement and scrutiny.

Simon studied Housing at Leeds Metropolitan University and has a Professional Certificate and Diploma in Housing and has been a corporate member of the Chartered Institute of Housing since 2005. An experienced senior executive Simon has continued his professional development studying Strategic Leadership at Warwick Business School.

He has also served nine years as a Non-Executive Director on Group Board and Operations Committee with Incommunities in Bradford and is currently Chair of EPIC housing in Stoke-on-Trent. Simon is on Executive of Birmingham Social Housing Partnership, sits on Birmingham Community Safety Partnership Board, MATRIX Development Consortia Board, National Housing Federation Regional Committee and the Leadership Group for Birmingham Anchor Institution Network.

Director of policy, communications and external affairs

Rachael Williamson Cert CIHM is executive director of policy, communications and external affairs at the Chartered Institute of Housing. Originally joining CIH as head of policy and external affairs in 2021, she took on the UK director role in 2024. Rachael brings over two decades of experience across central government and the charity sector, with a strong track record in policy, external affairs, communications, campaigning, and member engagement. Prior to joining CIH, Rachael worked at Citizens Advice and in central government, including the Cabinet Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Rachael is a passionate advocate for the housing profession and plays an active role in shaping sector thought leadership. She is a member of the Women’s Housing Forum Steering Group and on the management team for the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence.  She is also a member of the Institute of Leadership.

Head of Strategy & Analysis for Housing, Property & Regeneration

 Rob Lamond is Head of Strategy & Analysis for Housing, Property & Regeneration at the West Midlands Combined Authority, where he leads evidence-led strategy to support housing delivery, regeneration and place-based growth across the region. He is responsible for shaping policy, investment priorities and analytical frameworks that inform decision-making at a regional scale, working closely with local authorities and partners. Rob brings a strong focus on using data, insight and evaluation to align public investment with long-term economic, social and environmental outcomes.