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Our Homes board

Severnside is run by a board of directors who bring together their skills and experience to make important decisions about the homes and the services we deliver for our customers.

The responsibilities of the board include:

  • Making sure that we are run lawfully and ethically
  • Approving our business plan
  • Agreeing strategies, policies, financial and investment plans
  • Monitoring our performance and ensuring that we deliver value for money.

Our board members are listed below – please click on their names to learn more about them.

Gareth Evans

Chair
A retired banking professional, Gareth worked in the banking industry for 42 years principally at Barclays Bank where he was a Corporate Manager. Gareth has particular expertise in business funding with considerable experience in funding residential and commercial property development.

He joined the Severnside Board in December 2013. He is Chair of the Homes board, Vice-Chair of the Housing Plus Group board and a member of the HPG Finance board.

Committed to providing quality, value for money services to customers, Gareth is particularly keen to ensure that the voice of the customer is at the heart of our business and that we develop new homes to help to meet housing need in the localities in which we work. .

Jeremy Pert

Board member
Jeremy has 15 years’ experience at board level in commercial roles and has spent two decades working in community leadership roles in Staffordshire. In 2011, he became a borough councillor and was appointed cabinet member for communities at Stafford Borough Council, with special responsibility for housing, health and wellbeing in 2015. He has also been a county councillor since 2017.

He is an active member of a number of local boards and panels including the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent health and wellbeing board, Health Staffordshire’s select committee, HM Prison Drake Hall’s equality and diversity scrutiny panel, Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group and Stafford United Almshouses.

Having spent many years in commercial and general management roles, he also has experience in the logistics industry and household products, food and packaging markets.

Craig Royall

Board member
With 28 years in the housing and construction sector having previously worked for Taylor Wimpey, Midland Heart, Stafford and Rural Homes and currently working for Cannock Chase District Council, Craig has considerable expertise in property maintenance and repairs, health and safety, contract management, procurement and tenant liaison.

Craig is passionate about the most vulnerable people in our society and will always endeavour to help and improve the lives of those less fortunate in any way that he can.

Elizabeth Harrison

Board member
Beginning her career in market research, Liz subsequently worked mainly in the retail sector, in senior roles with large household name companies developing their brands and influencing and leading business change.

A member of the Market Research Society and with a doctorate in marketing, Liz is currently a governor and vice-chair at Reaseheath College. She is a strategic thinker, who is financially adept and has rigorous analytical skills. Liz now runs her own specialist consultancy which helps businesses to grow via strategic business planning and customer insight.

Liz is passionate about providing excellent customer service that meets identified needs and looks forward to promoting the business and growing its brand and reputation.

Rachel Barber

Board member
With extensive experience in customer services and business development, Rachel worked in a variety of senior roles at South Staffs Water. As customer services director, Rachel was responsible for service delivery, customer insight, inclusion and communication, customer contact, billing and debt collection activity, achieving maximum revenue collection and high customer satisfaction.

Rachel has considerable board experience within both the public and private sector. She has a strong record of advising on policy, business transformation, growth and innovation whilst building and managing successful stakeholder relations and developing robust governance structures.

Rachel has a passion for delivering service excellence and continuous improvement.

Phil Ingle

Board Member
Finance director and deputy chief executive, Housing Plus Group
Phil qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant with multi-national consulting engineers, WS Atkins. He went on to work for Somerset County Council before becoming Director of financial services at the newly-formed Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority.

He became finance director of South Staffordshire Housing Association in 2003. During his time with SSHA Phil has been very proud of its growth and excellent delivery of housing services to residents in and around South Staffordshire, in particular the development of Housing Plus Group.

Heather Bowman

Board member
A values driven leader, Heather has worked in the housing sector for over 30 years, most recently as the Chief Operating Officer at Sovereign. She has also served in various non-executive roles and looks forward to using her experience in business growth and transformation for the benefit of the Housing Plus Group in fulfilling its ambitions.

Working with the street homeless in the 1980s was instrumental in Heather’s career. It has driven her passion for people and housing. Heather recognises that quality homes and great places make a real difference to individuals, families and communities.

Highly experienced at co-creating customer strategies and initiatives that deliver great outcomes for customers and make positive impact on their lives, Heather looks forward to working with the group in its plans for investment in homes and communities and using its financial strength to build much needed new homes.

Cath Purdy

Board member
Cath has been involved in housing throughout her professional life, over the last twenty years at a senior level and is currently the Chief Executive of South Lakes Housing. Throughout her varied career, Cath has been passionate about providing good quality, efficient, value for money, customer focused services.
In various leadership roles, Cath has been involved in the establishment of new housing organisations as a result of large-scale voluntary transfer of stock from local authorities, has led on successful mergers and significantly grown several businesses.
An active contributor to sector discussion and challenge, Cath regularly engages with sector leaders and takes a keen interest in reviews of standards, regulatory activities and assessments.
Cath has served on the boards and committees of national influential bodies including the National Housing Federation, Housemark and Placeshapers. As a member of the Homes Board, using her analytical, and pragmatic approach, Cath looks forward to adding value to its work and help shape its future direction.
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Severnside Housing

Severnside House, Brassey Road, Old Potts Way, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY3 7FA
Registered as a Charitable Community Benefit Society (8084)
Registered with the Regulator of Social Housing (LH4325)
VAT Number: 135 5241 33