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Our Growth and Development Board members are listed below – please click on their image to view their profile.
Alan Hawkesworth
Chair Alan Hawkesworth
Alan is a qualified accountant and has spent most of his working life in Shropshire and the West Midlands, working for local authorities, national and regional building societies and in higher education at Aston University. He has operational and strategic experience in accounting, finance, development, people, investment, insurance and audit services and how these apply in a variety of industries and regulated bodies.
Alan has previously lived in social housing and has close family members who are current tenants of various housing associations. He knows the importance of having a quality home and a considerate landlord and is therefore passionate about improving the provision of housing for people living in Shropshire, Staffordshire and Telford and Wrekin.
Due to the extensive nature of his career, Alan brings a wealth of experience to the Group Common Board having served on the boards of housing associations almost continuously over the last 25 years.
Simon Whitfield
Board Member Simon Whitfield
Simon is a highly experienced banker with more than 30 years in the financial services industry across organisations including NatWest Bank, Castle Trust, Morgan Stanley and BayernLB. He has also worked in residential development finance for more than 10 years, providing him with a valuable insight into the issues affecting construction on new housing developments.
Simon believes that success comes from the people an organisation employs and if those people are properly empowered, given the skills and resources they need, then organisations can flourish and customers will receive better services.
Simon has also chaired various credit and risk committees, advised HM Treasury and successfully restructured the divisions of banks.
Alan Yates OBE
Board Member Alan Yates OBE
Alan has extensive senior management experience in the affordable housing sector with a focus on development and regeneration. His original background was in the construction industry, before joining the affordable housing sector and taking on a lead role in the development of new homes. As an experienced Executive Director and Deputy Chief Executive, he developed an excellent knowledge of managing a housing association in a regulated environment and developed skills in PR and communications and change management.
Alan is passionate about building great homes and communities. He believes you can only achieve this if you have a well-run organisation with clear objectives, coupled with the talent, resources, energy and enthusiasm to meet those objectives.
Alan has served on the boards of Redditch Co-operative Homes, a regional NHS Trust and other not-for-profit organisations. He was also a tenant for several years and therefore knows what it is like to be a customer and how to work with a landlord to improve their services. In 2019, he was awarded an OBE for his services to housing.
Rosalind Preen
Board member Rosalind Preen
Rosalind brings a wealth of experience to the Care Plus/Choices Common Board, having worked in the public care sector for more than 30 years. She has worked across all sectors of health including community, mental health and acute care.
Rosalind believes in equal chances and choices for all, especially when accessing services that support our health and wellbeing.
Rosalind is a qualified accountant and has many years of experience sitting on Boards within the NHS, using her financial skills to advise and support decision making.
Jon Lamb
Executive Lead Jon Lamb
Jon has been a qualified accountant for more than 30 years, with over half of his career based in the social housing sector. He has a depth of experience in all aspects of accounting, financial strategy and planning, audit, risk and assurance and treasury management.
Jon is passionate about delivering a high-quality service to the organisation that provides accurate, reliable and timely information to support business decisions that help to improve the lives of our customers and increase the opportunities available to them.
Jon is also a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
