Bio

I am a qualified Chartered Accountant having trained with Deloitte Touche. I started my career in housing in 1987 as director of finance for a mainstream housing group in the North West with about 4,000 homes in management. In 1991, I moved into consultancy services, offering advice and assistance on Board training, business planning, financial strategies and procedures on a national basis. I was the first Chair of Housing Potential UK, the national training organisation for housing (1998 – 2000). Since 1998, I have been Chief Executive of Arawak Walton Housing Association, an organisation specialising in meeting the needs of Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. We currently have circa 1,000 homes in management and are based in Manchester. We are one of the strategic partners in delivering housing and regeneration. I sit on Manchester, Stockport and Trafford's Strategic Housing Partnership. I have recently been appointed as Chair of BMENational the umbrella organisation supporting Black and minority ethnic housing associations working in England. I am currently on the JRF advisory group for its ''Housing and Poverty'' research project. I am on the advisory group of the North West Housing Forum which lobbies to deliver housing and other economic solutions for North West local authorities. Until 2009, I was on the Board of the Regional Housing Group that produces the North West Regional Housing Strategy and is responsible for monitoring the outputs from the Strategy. I am a member of the NHF’s Regional Executive Committee for the North West. Until 2012 I was a Board member of Housing Diversity Network, an organisation specialising in facilitating equality and diversity good practice.