Our Group Board

Chris is a Chartered Construction Manager with 37 years’ experience and he has been involved in the social housing sector for much of that time. 

Having been a Director of Asset Management for a large housing provider in London, as well as owning and managing his own businesses for the last 25 years, he has a broad range of public and commercial sector skills. 

Chris has been an active board member for different organisations for 25 years and currently sits on one other board. He has been involved with the Group since 2016, initially as a Board Co-optee and Chair of Clarendon Living, our commercial subsidiary.

Kay Burnaby is the interim Managing Director of Investment at Citra Living Limited, Lloyds Bank, where she leads the strategic growth of the company’s BTR portfolio.

With over 20 years of experience in the public, private, and government real estate sectors, Kay is a Chartered Surveyor and an award-winning leader in the industry. She specialises in master development, multi-tenure regeneration, and complex projects. Kay has held senior positions at organisations, including Homes England, Arcadis, L&Q Group, Bellway Homes, and Taylor Wimpey.

She is a Non-Executive Director at BexleyCo Homes, a Board Member of MADE Partnership, and serves as a Chair at John Lyon School as well as a Committee Member at Harrow School. As a passionate local resident near Watford, she is deeply committed to enhancing her community.

Dale is a highly skilled businessman with expertise in strategy, business planning, transformation and growth. 

He was Chair of Greenfields Community Housing from 2017-20 before its merger with Colne to form Eastlight Community Housing, and is Chair of its Development and Asset Management Committee where he brings a blend of commercial knowledge, understanding of development and the needs of residents and communities to the Board. 

He was previously Group Development Director of Inchcape PLC (1986-2012), a trustee of the Inchcape Pension Scheme and Chair of its Investment Committee (1990-2012), Chair of the Lynch Hill Academy Trust (2016-19) and a Trustee of the Enthusiasm Trust Derby (2014-19).

Simon has over 21 years of experience in the Career Management industry and has played a leading role as an operational manager, careers coach and consultant across the public, private and charity sector. 

His ongoing work ensures that the most disadvantaged members of the community have tangible access to employment and training opportunities at businesses of all sizes. 

Simon aims to use his experience as a Watford Community Housing leaseholder, as well as his previous experience of working for a local authority, to ensure that we keep tenants at the heart of our business.

Rich is a chartered accountant with 15 years’ experience working in the Banking and Finance industry. 

In his current role, as the CFO of a Mayfair-based bank, he holds a regulated Senior Manager Function role. Prior to this, Rich spent 14 years working for a large UK retail bank leading teams across a host of disciplines from Treasury and Finance through to Strategy and market-facing transaction-focused roles. 

As a local resident of the Watford area, he is passionate about utilising his knowledge and experience to further the prospects of Watford Community Housing for the good of the tenants and all stakeholders. 

Rich also holds the CFA and Chartered Banker qualifications and is a governor of a local secondary school.

Clare has worked to alleviate homelessness for over 30 years, striving to help people experiencing homelessness and those with vulnerabilities to find homes. 

For the last ten years, Clare has been the CEO of Peter Bedford Housing Association. Prior to this, Clare was Regional Director of Operations at Centrepoint and ran her own housing consultancy. 

She also has 15 years of governance experience, most recently in the role of Chair of North London Muslim Housing Association’s Housing and Asset Committee, and as the Chair of our Customer Experience Committee. 

Jenny is the CEO of Nightingale Hammerson, a charity that provides Residential, Nursing, Dementia and end-of-life care to over 250 people across their two nursing homes in London. She also represents Nightingale Hammerson on the Board of Care England. 

Jenny is an elected Councillor and Cabinet Member at Watford Borough Council where she is responsible for the Housing and Well-being Portfolio. She chairs the steering group for Dementia Friendly Watford and the Health and Well-being Forum, currently sits on the board of Watford Citizens Advice Bureau, and is Co-Chair of Governors at her local infant school.

Richard Petty is a Chartered Surveyor and the Head of UK Residential Valuation at JLL, with responsibility for all the residential valuation teams across the country.

Richard has over 37 years’ professional experience, with the last 28 years focused on the affordable housing sector. He and the JLL affordable housing team advise on all aspects of the valuation of affordable housing, with over one million affordable homes valued each year.

Outside JLL, Richard has over 25 years’ governance experience as a housing association board member. He has been Chair of Dolphin Living Limited, as well as Vice -Chair of Anchor Hanover Group, and Chair of Richmond Housing Partnership. Currently, Richard is the Chair of wholly-owned subsidiary, Clarendon Living.

Michael works as a Consultant in the Government and not-for-profit sector supporting tech and non-tech transformation. 

His areas of expertise have included housing associations and other registered social landlords, as well as local and regional government, health industries, and education. 

Michael has a range of experience as a non-executive director, including with one of the public sector’s leading financial management accountancy bodies. He joined our Group Board in 2021 and is also Chair of our Audit & Risk Committee.

Tim is a Chartered Planning and Development surveyor with over 25 years’ experience in the property world, including sales and marketing, development, consultancy and housing policy. 

He joined the affordable housing sector in 2007, leading successful sales and development teams, and working on national housing policy at the Homes and Communities Agency (now Homes England). 

Tim is currently Director of Public Sector Engagement at Heylo Housing, and he is also Chair of our Investment Committee.