Welcome to WISH North East.

I’m Director of Housing Services (North) at Anchor. It's a huge region and an even bigger organisation so every day is a challenge, but it's exciting and keeps me on my toes!  I’ve spent my career working in social housing from working as a generic housing officer, to anti-social behaviour, through to setting up bespoke housing services for customers that need a little more support to live independently. My passions from a work perspective are developing new services, developing people and providing great customer experiences. I’m an accredited Customer Experience professional (CCXP) and an accredited coach. Learning is another of my passions! I’m excited to be part of WISH, promoting the housing sector as a career of choice and, as a mum of 2 girls (and 2 sons), I feel I’m duty bound to make sure the world of work is one that welcomes them, embraces their talents and encourages them to be the best they can. Lots of people ‘fell’ into housing, I know I did, it was never discussed as a career, and platforms like WISH are a brilliant way to show how working in social housing, having a rewarding role that makes a real difference in communities, is achievable and a career path of choice

I am absolutely delighted to join the WISH NE Board and am looking forward to working alongside some of the region’s most inspiring and talented leaders.  I started my career in social housing north of the border at a specialist housing provider before moving to the local authority where I most definitely learnt the trade covering every aspect of housing management!

I then returned to university in Edinburgh to complete my Post-Graduate Diploma followed by a Masters qualification.  As part of the course I undertook a placement with one of the NE region’s largest housing association’s and I stayed there for the next 13 years.  I held various roles from Estate Manager at a neighbourhood level to Housing Manager with a regional remit as well as leading on the government Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder initiative in the West End of Newcastle.  

After taking time out of my career to raise a family, I returned to what I know best at the end of 2019 as Chief Operating Officer for a national specialist supported housing provider.  Whilst some things have changed in that time, the opportunities and challenges remain the same and I am excited to be involved in influencing and shaping the future of our sector.

I am Affordable Homes Director for Galliford Try Construction based out of our Gateshead office.  I have a national role as a sector lead setting up our affordable homes offer and engaging with Housing Associations, Local Authorities and others to help them deliver their housing delivery programmes. 

I worked in the public sector for over 20 years, mainly in local authorities delivering economic development projects and programmes creating new retail, leisure, education, health and of course, housing projects.  I then joined Thirteen Housing Group as their Head of New Business and Growth helping them to establish new partnerships in order to deliver their ambitious affordable homes programme as a Homes England Strategic Partner.   I have always been passionate about housing and the role it plays in creating economic growth and healthy, thriving communities and my current role has given me a much wider, in depth understanding of the issues around social housing nationally.

I was drawn to working with WISH due to its aims and ambitions to support and encourage women in the sector.  Through WISH we can hopefully inspire positive change in the culture of organisations and show how they can better support and nurture their fantastic female talent!   I am also very keen to ensure that those early on in their careers get the best start they can in housing, whichever route they decide to take.

Home life for me is with my partner of 35 years (somehow never managed to tie the knot!) and our two children Erin, 21 and Luke 17.  I am very lucky to live in a beautiful part of the world with access to the coast and country and I try and spend my spare time walking and enjoying the benefits of residing in the north east!

I am an experienced diversity, inclusion and wellbeing specialist with experience across sectors and in a broad range of industries. I am currently working in the housing sector as the Inclusion and Belonging Strategic Lead at Karbon Homes alongside working with clients through my own consultancy.

I support regional groups including the North East Chamber of Commerce to support businesses on their journey to put D&I at the heart of what they do. My role as a Board member at WISH is to continue to support the conversation to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in our region and sector and to strive to level the playing field on gender equality.  

Outside of work I am a proud mam and wife and have recently added two mischievous but adorable beagles to the family. I’m a keen amateur photographer and I love taking actions shots of my boys on the rugby pitch.  I’m also a parish councillor working to improve our local community and develop cohesion.”

Originally from Manchester, Siobhan moved to Newcastle in 1991. Graduating with a Masters Degree, she set out on her career starting at Newcastle City Council. She now has over 25 years experience of managing and leading change in local government, policing and more recently within social housing. 

She is an advocate of joining up the dots through collaborative approaches to problem solving, data sharing and exploiting evolving technologies to improve the customer experience and to deliver better community outcomes. 

Siobhan joined the WISH NE Board in April 2023 with the desire to strengthen the role and influence of women in social housing. She believes that through collective strength and action we can improve social housing for all. 

I currently work as the Head of Programme Management Office & Service Improvement at Thirteen. My role is to lead the teams to ensure strategic projects are delivered on time, to budget, with benefits achieved, and learning captured. I’m also responsible for Service Improvement & Innovation, which involves using a variety of techniques to identify areas for improvement, as well as harnessing new ideas and insights, to create a culture of continuous improvement. I do love my role and the people I work with, particularly the variety it brings. No two projects are the same, and it gives me the opportunity to work with so many different colleagues across the business.

I’ve worked in social housing for over 10 years – starting off as a part time Performance Admin whilst completing an English degree at Teesside University. Working in housing wasn’t really on my radar at the time but I soon realised how rewarding it was working in a sector that can really make a positive difference to people’s lives. I then worked within Service Improvement, as a Business Analyst and as a Projects Business Partner before moving into my current role.

WISH is my first experience of being on a Board. I’m really thrilled to be part of a group with such brilliant women, who I’m sure to learn a lot from! Being part of the Board I hope to expand my networking and collaborate with others outside of my organisation, whilst being able to deliver practical and effective experiences to empower women within the sector.

I am a Solicitor at Ward Hadaway LLP working in the Housing Management Team specialising in Social Housing Litigation.  I work with a variety of clients, most of which are WISH members, including local authorities and social housing providers and mainly deal with housing disrepair; possessions and Anti-Social behaviour.  I spend a lot of time attending Court and undertaking my own advocacy on behalf of clients which is something I really enjoy.

I qualified as a Solicitor in September 2020 and joined the housing sector in March 2021 working for an international firm in Newcastle working in Real Estate for social housing providers before joining Ward Hadaway LLP in December 2021. 

Part of my role at Ward Hadaway LLP is to help grow our presence in the social housing sector in the North East having already become established in the Yorkshire area from work carried out in our Leeds office.

I am passionate about not only empowering women in the workplace but also living and working in the North East and I am grateful to WISH for encompassing all of these ideals.

I am really excited to be joining the WISH board and I am looking forward to developing my social housing network in the North East.   

Karen is an assurance and internal audit professional who has worked in the housing sector for more than 20 years.   She began her career qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte, then became Head of Internal Audit at Sunderland Housing Group (which later became Gentoo Group).  Karen progressed to become an Assistant Director at Gentoo before moving to Places for People to become their Director of Assurance. Karen’s career has given her extensive experience in all aspects of assurance, risk management, governance and internal control in various sectors including development; real estate; finance and manufacturing as well as social housing.  Karen works at Executive and Board level, having both reported to Boards and Committees but also having been appointed as a Non-Executive Director, chairing the Audit Committee, then subsequently appointed as Chair of the Board at Derwentside Homes which later became part of Karbon Group.  Karen was also Chair of the Housing Internal Audit Forum (HIAF) for a number of years.  HIAF sought to share best practice in assurance and internal audit across the housing sector.

Currently operating as  Business Director for Hays Plc, I started working in recruitment for Hays in 1999, My role has involved meeting hundreds, possibly thousands, of people to support and advise them on their careers. My passion is to work with clients to understand what they need for their teams in order to provide the perfect match both culturally and professionally. In the last few years my inherent need for fairness and justice has seen me become the regional representative for Hays national steering group for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, working across our offices in the north east & Yorkshire. I am also a founding member and leader of our employee disability network, and work closely with Hays Leading Women – our  external network for women in leadership. I am the Public Services and Not for Profit Lead for the North East and Yorkshire, working alongside all of our consultants to develop our consulting and advisory service offering to clients, with a focus on quality and service. I’m passionate about providing opportunities, and sharing insights. Social housing is a sector that I really enjoy working with, and it has taken a lead in terms of developing my expertise as a recruitment partner. I work with multiple social housing providers across the north east and nationally, so the opportunity to volunteer for WISH is really exciting for me. I am passionate about supporting the sector and particularly using my knowledge and experience to empower women to achieve their goals for their careers in social housing.

Fun Fact: I’m a very keen figure skater, training on and off the ice several times a week (mainly early mornings!) and I take part in national and international competitions regularly. I’ve been to Canada, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Estonia and France in the last few years competing for Team GB in Adult skating competitions.