Peter Baffoe
Chair, Resident Experience Committee and Director, Peabody and South London Mission

Peter is the Director of South London Mission, a small charity based in the London Borough of Southwark and has over 20 years of experience working in community settings. In addition to his role at South London Mission, he serve as Chair of Governors at Rye Oak Primary School, a Trustee of the Maudsley Charity supporting mental health initiatives, and the Vice Chair at Peabody Housing Trust, where he also chairs the Resident Experience Committee. A passionate advocate for social justice, he hopes to help shape strategic decisions that impact housing and community wellbeing through both his day job and voluntary roles.

Tola Adesemowo
Director of Housing, Progress Group

Victor Andrews
Chair, Tenant Advisory Panel

Victor (Vic) Andrews is from East London and has been a social housing tenant since 2013. He lives in retirement living accommodation in Woodford Green on the East London/Essex border.

Vic is a father of two and grandfather to three, and has two grandsons and a granddaughter. Vic has varied interests that include reading, watching sport, horses, politics and quizzes.

He has been a representative of his peers, working people including minority groups for 50+ years. Vic was a former lead negotiator and Lay Tutor, as well as an experienced representative on disciplinary and grievance cases and procedures including industrial tribunals, up to his retirement. Vic has also been a governor of a large Primary school Trust in a deprived area of Essex, and first became an involved Tenant in 2015 as an ally of his Landlord’s LGBTQ+ and Equality and Diversity group activities.

Vic believes passionately in voicing the concerns of people, that for many and various reasons, feel unable to represent themselves. Whilst a member of his Landlords Tenant Executive Committee, Vic has been a Group Board Observer, and a member of two of his landlord’s Governance Committees.’

Vic Joined the National Housing Federation Tenant Advisory Panel (TAP) in 2024 and became the chairperson shortly after, a role he still occupies currently.

Gossica Anichebe
Committee Member, G15 Residents Group

Alice Bagg
Head of Service Transformation, Magna Housing

Michelle Barlow
Tenant and Customer Voice Group Member, Together Housing

Richard Blakeway
Housing Ombudsman, Housing Ombudsman Service

Richard was appointed as Housing Ombudsman from 1 September 2019. He has extensive experience in the housing sector, with previous roles including Deputy Mayor of London for Housing, chair of the Homes for London board, and a non-executive director of Homes England. During his eight years at the Greater London Authority, Richard was responsible for housing investment and land regeneration programmes. He also led the creation of the first team at City Hall to address rough sleeping, commissioning around £10 million of services each year, as well as the first Social Impact Bond on homelessness.

Richard is a former board member of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has been an election observer in Somaliland and the Ukraine.  He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and sits on the Administrative Justice Council. Richard is also a former chair of the Ombudsman Association and is a board member of the British Library.

Nigel Bowness
Resident (Tenant) Chair – Housing Service and Performance Panel, London Borough of Lewisham and Treasurer of Lewisham Tenants Fund

Nigel is an experienced governance and tenant leader with cross-sector experience in housing, health, and social care. He advocates for inclusive, co-produced services and brings a collaborative, strategic lens to decision-making and service design and delivery.

Donna Cezair
Chief Executive, Worthing Homes

Donna has worked for a wide range of housing organisations and has always been keen to create inclusive and energising environments to attract and retain talented individuals. Our colleagues deserve to work in roles which provide them with a stimulating challenge, but don’t break them!

Sarah Clarke
Director of Housing and Customer Service, WHG

Sarah joined Walsall-based housing association whg in 2024 as Director of Housing and Customer Services, bringing extensive operational and strategic experience of delivering high quality housing services with a strong customer focus. CIH qualified, Sarah is passionate about customer experience and developing innovative customer-centric solutions that challenge ideas of traditional tenancy management.

Robyn Cornelius
Head of Service Improvement, Sanctuary

Rachel Crownshaw
Group Managing Director and Vice President, Places for People and Institute of Customer Service

In addition to Rachel’s roles as Vice President of The Institute of Customer Service and Customer Experience Committee Member - Riverside, Rachel is Group Managing Director, Communities for Places for People, where she is responsible for the organisation’s affordable housing business. Rachel joined Places for People in April 2023 from GSA, a 26,000-home housing association, where Rachel was Executive Director of Operations, overseeing housing management, customer services, repairs and maintenance, and business change. Prior to its merger with Accord housing association, Rachel was the Executive Director of Customer Experience at Green Square leading customer facing operations and overseeing the merger due diligence and business integration. Within the sector, Rachel has held Non-Executive Board member roles at SHAL and Magna housing associations and chaired the Governance & Remuneration Committee at the latter. Rachel stepped down from her role at Magna in March 2024 after a 3-year term to allow her to focus on her work at Places for People.

Siobhan Cunningham
Head of Development and Partnerships, The Foyer Foundation

Jo Fieldhouse
Housing & Community Director, The Pioneer Group

Kate Dodsworth
Chief of Regulatory Engagement, Regulator of Social Housing

Kate started her career in housing 30 years ago in homelessness, working with rough sleepers in Birmingham and later managing homeless hostels in Brighton. After completing a Masters degree in Housing, she worked at the National Housing Federation for 10 years; latterly as Assistant Director covering London, the South East and East of England. She was Executive Director of People and Communications at Amicus Horizon and, post-merger, as Optivo.

Kate was Chief Executive of Gateway Housing Association for three years until starting as Director of Consumer Regulation at the Regulator for Social Housing in July 2021. In 2023, she was appointed Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH. Kate was an external examiner for Westminster University until 2019 and a co-founder of the charity, Leadership2025, which aims to increase representation of black housing professionals in senior roles and address structural inequality.

Aileen Edmunds
Chief Executive, The Longleigh Foundation

Kheron Gilpin
Engagement Specialist and Motivational Speaker, Progress Today

Kheron Gilpin is an engagement specialist with over 15 years of experience in boosting participation and enriching engagement in the education and community sectors. A renowned motivational speaker, he routinely delivers keynote speeches for cross sector industry professionals on international stages.

Kheron began his work in education by delivering impactful motivational assemblies and workshops for young people across the country. While still enjoying this direct delivery, Kheron now leverages his expertise to train and consult ,educations professionals and engagement teams.

Driving Kheron’s passion for engagement is his lived experience as a ‘hard to reach’ young person failed by the education system. He strongly believes that engaging education can unlock the potential of all young people. His commitment to inclusion and cross-cultural collaboration has led him to be enlisted as an ambassador for the Tutu Foundation, working to promote the transformative African philosophy of Ubuntu (I am because you are) around the world

Sam Goodwin
Chair of Resident Voice Panel, Independent East

Alison Greenough
Director of Customer Experience, Weaver Vale Housing Trust

Alison Greenough is the Director of Customer Experience at Weaver Vale Housing Trust, with over two decades of senior leadership experience in the housing sector. Throughout her career, Alison has worked within a number of respected organisations at a senior level, consistently driving improvements in customer engagement and service delivery. Alison has recent knowledge of the RSH regulatory inspection process where her organisation achieved C1 rating.

Alison is passionate about service design thinking, using collaborative and inclusive approaches to build cohesive cultures that support transformational change. Alison’s leadership is rooted in a deep commitment to putting customers at the centre of every decision, ensuring services are not only efficient but also empathetic and responsive to community needs as well as the needs of the colleagues delivering them.

Chris Grose
Managing Director, ASB Training and Consultancy

Chris runs a national training and consultancy organisation specialising in all things social housing, from regulatory inspection preparation through to thought provoking training in ASB, Safeguarding, Mental Health and much more. Chris has worked in the social housing sector for 26 years in a number of roles including leading an ASB team, a national ASB Advisor at the CIH and a consultant, through to setting up and leading a national Housing Advisory Service for a leading law firm. Chris is well known for his passion and enthusiasm in dealing with complex and challenging issues such as ASB, Safeguarding, Domestic Abuse and Mental Health.

Chris has worked closely with a range of agencies both locally and nationally, including working directly with the Home Office in the development of the ASB, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which included giving evidence at the House of Commons Select Committee and advising peers in the house of lords. Chris led on the development of the Community Harm Statement which is still used in courts across the country.

Chris frequently speaks at national events on housing policy, is closely associated with the CIH in his work with the South West Board and Chairs the CIH National ASB Network. Chris is also a Chair of the Board for Ocean Housing Limited, a housing association based in Cornwall.

Caroline Grosvenor
Director of Place Shaping, Together Housing Group

Dan Hawthorn
Executive Director, Housing & Social Investment, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

Dan has twenty years’ local government experience, for London boroughs and two Mayors of London, and currently leads Kensington and Chelsea’s work on housing and property. This includes building the borough’s first new council homes in a generation; the development of a new ‘social investment’ approach to municipal assets; and the wider transformation of services, strategy and culture following the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Before that, Dan was Director of Housing, Regeneration and Planning at Haringey Council; Head of the London 2012 team at the Greater London Authority; and former Mayor Ken Livingstone’s senior advisor on planning and development.

Sophie Hayward
Customer Director, Portus Supported Housing

Kate Henderson
Chief Executive, National Housing Federation

Kate is Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation (NHF), the voice of housing associations in England. Kate is passionate about tackling the housing crisis, inequality and climate change. She is a member of several government panels including the Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel and the Social Housing White Paper Expert Challenge Panel. Kate become a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2021. Prior to joining the NHF in 2018, Kate was Chief Executive of the Town and Country Planning Association.

Tanya Hodnett
Head of Universal Credit Stakeholder Engagement, Department of Works and Pensions

Helena Ingham
NHF Tenant Advisory Panel Member

Helena has been an involved resident of social housing for over 30 years, including through several mergers. She is an active Tenant Advisory Panel member, and has served as chair of a resident association and vice chair of her housing association's Resident Strategy Group.

Kerrie Jenkins
Tenancy Specialist Manager, Moat

Ian Johnson
Executive Director of Customer Services, Karbon Homes

Pamela Newman
Chair, MTVH Customer Council, Customer Service Committee Resident member, G15 Residents’ Group member

Pamela Newman is an experienced housing leader and resident voice advocate, working at the intersection of national housing policy, regulation, and lived experience. As Chair of the National Customer Council at MTVH, a resident customer services committee member and a member of the G15 Residents’ Group, she has played a central role in shaping the conversation between residents, housing associations, and government. Her work provides direct assurance to boards, informs regulatory debate, and champions resident perspectives in national forums—ensuring that customer voice and rights remain at the forefront of decision-making across the sector.

Ayo Onibokun
Resident Support Lead, L&Q

Ayo was living in an L&Q Property in 2019 when she joined L&Q as a Homeownership Customer Service Advisor. She was keen to get on the property ladder, but unfortunately the property did not qualify under the Right to Acquire nor Right to Buy Scheme. Ayo then purchased her shared ownership property in 2020 from Golding Homes but following a recent strategic disposal the property is now managed by Southern housing and the new landlord is New Arch. In 2022, Ayo started her current role as Resident Support Lead.

Nikkie Pullen
Head of Organisational Development, Abri

Nikkie is Head of Organisational Development for Abri and leads on Professional Development, Performance and Culture.

With 20 years’ extensive background in People Development in renowned organisations such as John Lewis and Kingfisher, Nikkie is an EMCC qualified coach, Strengthscope and Insights practitioner.

Jane Roche
Resident and Board Member, The Pioneer Group

Symon Sentain
Executive Director Property Services, Newlon HT

Alistair Smyth
Director of Policy and Research, National Housing Federation

Alistair has worked in the social housing sector for the last 16 years in a wide range of roles and organisations including a previous spell at the NHF from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant on a range of neighbourhood and community empowerment projects. He also spent three years working in a customer-facing role as a Neighbourhood Manager and as Assistant Head of Neighbourhoods for Peabody. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Policy Advisory Committee.

Andrew Snee
Director of Tenancy Compliance and Management, Curo

Andrew Snee, Director of Tenancy and Housing Management at Curo, brings over 27 years of experience in housing. Starting his career as an Assistant Housing Officer at Bristol City Council, Andrew has dedicated his career to addressing anti-social behaviour and building resident and community engagement. Passionate about amplifying the voices of customers, particularly those who are harder to reach, he is a strong advocate for transparency in service charge processes and leaseholder engagement.

At Curo, Andrew has progressed from Anti-Social Behaviour Case Officer to his current strategic leadership role, where he leads teams committed to ensuring that customers feel safe, supported and well in their homes. In 2015, his domestic abuse training course earned a National Housing Award, and last year colleagues voted for him to win Curo’s Inspirational Leader Award.

Paula Strachan
Communication & Resident Engagement Manager, Broadland Housing

Lulu Spellman
Service Quality and Improvement Manager, MTVH

George Temple
Director of Property Services, Vico Homes

Natalie Welch
Natalie Welch,Co Founder of The Typeface Group & Resident, VIVID

Natalie is Co-Founder of The Typeface Group, a B Corp-certified communications agency specialising in the housing sector, and The Better Content Club, a training platform helping businesses create compelling content. With over 13 years of experience in strategic communications, she serves on VIVID's Customer Scrutiny Panel and as Vice-Chair of Hampshire FA's Inclusion Advisory Group, bringing practical expertise in resident engagement, co-creation, and ensuring customer voices shape organisational strategy.

Rachael Williamson
Executive Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs, Chartered Institute of Housing

Rachael Williamson Cert CIHM is Executive Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs at the Chartered Institute of Housing. With over two decades of experience across government and the charity sector, she has a strong track record in policy, communications, and member engagement. A passionate advocate for the housing profession, Rachael also serves on the Women’s Housing Forum Steering Group, the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence management team, and is a member of the Institute of Leadership.

Richard Wilkinson
Board Member, Railway housing

Richard was a schoolteacher in an inner-city comprehensive for 36 years, most recently serving as deputy head. Since retiring, he has contributed his expertise to two housing boards, two NHS boards, and a university council. He has been a resident in social housing since 1991, although his first experience dates back to age three, growing up on a large council estate built in the 1950s.

Often described as an “activist,” Richard attributes this to his early challenges navigating housing jargon and acronyms, particularly after joining the “Planet Void” in 2018. He currently chairs the Residents Committee for Railway Housing Association, based in Darlington.

Nick
Chair of Tenant Scrutiny Panel, Dimensions

In addition to chairing Dimensions’ Tenant Scrutiny Panel, Nick also serves as a Quality Consultant. Nick’s consultancy work involves him interviewing new Dimensions staff members, and ensuring better quality support. Nick also receives support from Dimensions. Dimensions is the UK’s largest specialist not-for-profit support provider by turnover, and supports 3,000 adults with learning disabilities and autistic people.