Our boards

In August 2011 we changed our governance structure, making it simpler and easier for our boards to make decisions on East Thames’ future and direction. We previously had 32 board members who sat on the boards of East Thames, East Homes, East Potential and East Living. We changed this so in future these boards will have an overlapping membership and will meet as one group.

Now we have a core of six members who sit on all four boards with an additional two independent members per board. On top of this, the East Homes board will also have three resident board members. This has reduced the total number of board members to 17, which will simplify decision making and reduce our servicing and board salary costs.

All boards

6 core members:

Andrew Newell MBA, FCIB

Andrew joined the Board in 2007 and is also chair of East Treasury and a member of our Group Risk Management and Audit Committee. He has over 30 years UK financial services experience encompassing finance, risk, audit and governance. He was formerly Head of Finance (London) at Abbey National plc and chair of the Roseberry Housing Association.

Marianne Skelcher

Marianne is a self-employed organisational development consultant and executive coach. Marianne is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and was previously Group Director of Human Resources, Bromford Group.

Sheila Lewis BSc FRSA

Sheila is a member of the Development and Asset Management Committee and was appointed to the East Homes board in 2007.  She is the founder and Director of Volanti Consulting Limited and has been a management consultant for 20 years, including a senior housing consultant with KPMG, CSL and Deloitte & Touche. Sheila assists local authorities and voluntary organisations with a wide range of strategic and operational assignments.

Shirley Watson BSc CEng CEnv FICE MCIHT MCIWEM FRSA

Shirley is a civil engineer with over 30 years consultancy experience in both residential and construction projects. Currently self employed as a business management consultant, she has held several director level positions including at NHBC and most recently, with consultant WSP, first as Director of Business Improvement, then Head of UK Property. Shirley chairs the East Place Board and is a Member of the Development and Asset Management Committee and of the Risk Management and Audit Committee.

Mehban Chowdery

Mehban is NHBC’s regional director for London. With a civil engineering and construction management background, he has held senior management positions across both the private and social housing sectors, involved particularly with large scale regeneration and mixed use projects. He was seconded to work on the Egan task force agenda for improving customer satisfaction with the quality of new homes and enabling innovative construction methods. Previously he has also been a board member at ASRA housing association and presently sits on the Housing Design Award Committee and is a member of its professional judging panel.

June Barnes - Group Chief Executive

June has been Group Chief Executive at East Thames for 11 years. In that time she has doubled the number of homes from 7,000 to 14,000 and increased the income base from £35million to just under £100million.

East Thames Group board

2 independant members:

Tina Tietjen OBE - Group Chair

Tina was appointed chair in September 2010 and is also currently chair of the Air Transport Users Council which represents airline passenger rights. Recently awarded an OBE for her services to the transport industry, Tina also has a wealth of experience in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Tina currently holds a number of board positions in both the public and private sectors, and also provides consultancy services on leadership and change management training.

Ashley West FCCA, FCMA 

Ashley has held a number of senior finance positions in the private sector including Kingsway Group plc and J Henry Schroder Limited.  He currently holds several  non-executive roles including Chair of mhs homes limited (a not for profit landlord) in the Medway area and Medway LIFTCO Limited, a PPP initiative to develop healthcare facilities in the Medway area.

East Potential board

2 independant members:

Vacancy - Chair

We are in the process of recruiting to this position.

Alec Dick

Alec is a regeneration and renewal professional with over 30 years experience in the public, private and voluntary sectors. He has held senior level positions in these sectors and has a proven track record of success in physical, social and economic regeneration and neighbourhood renewal.

East Living board

2 independant members:

Debbie Sorkin - Chair

Debbie joined the East Thames Board in 2007 and is a former director of programmes and services at the Royal Town Planning Institute with expertise in spatial planning, regeneration and community engagement. She is a member of the Third Sector Partnership Board in Communities and Local Government and has previously chaired The Camden Society and was Vice-Chair of East Living.

Rohan Hewavisenti MEng, ACA 

Rohan is Director of Finance and Business Development with the British Red Cross. He previously worked for Breast Cancer Care, ActionAid and VSO. He is also a trustee of Charity Finance Directors’ Group and on the management committee of Charity Investors’ Group.

East Homes board

2 independant members:

Johanna Holmes

Johanna was a founding manager of consultants Chapman Hendy Associates (now Tribal), having previously worked as Chief Executive of Women’s Pioneer Housing, Assistant Regional Manager (Monitoring and Regulation) at the Housing Corporation and for Paddington Churches Housing Association (now part of the Genesis Group). Johanna continues to work as a consultant to local authorities, chiefly on youth homelessness, and is also a Trustee of HACT.

Terry Price

Terry is an accountant/Non Executive Director and joined the board in 2006. He is a member of the Group Risk Management & Audit Committee, Appointments & Governance Committee and East Treasury.  He currently holds a number of Non Executive Director roles in the public and voluntary sectors and is also a school governor. He was formerly Director of Strategic Finance for the Met Police and Director of Resources for Sport England.

3 resident members:

Philip Fearn

Philip is a leaseholder at Vickery’s Wharf in Tower Hamlets and was the founding Chair of the Abbots & Vickery’s Wharf Residents Association. He is currently a Director of the Abbots Wharf Management Company and is Managing Director of Fearn Events & Communications Ltd.

Dominic Jebb

Dominic has been a Newham general needs resident since 2006 when he successfully completed the foyer programme. He is a Customer Relationship Management Executive at Reynolds Porter Chamberlain having previously worked for the Group’s solicitors, Trowers and Hamlins.

Angela Williams

Angela is a Newham resident and currently works with the London Borough of Newham as a Street Scene Enforcement Officer.