Welcome to WISH Yorkshire & Humberside .

Lindsey Mills, Business Development Manger at Fortem Solutions has around 18 years' experience working in the social housing sector.

Lindsey joined the Fortem team in August 2023, her role is to identify new clients and maintain a good working relationship with new and existing contracts covering Yorkshire & Humberside, East Midlands and the North West.  Lindsey will also be focused on the development, implementation, and management of Frameworks within the organisation.   

Lindsey will form part of the team to help launch our 2030 Fortem sustainability strategy.  Our strategy is dedicated to delivering value across three themes. Our themes set out our long-term ambitions which describe the future we are striving to create. Our ambitions are supported by specific and measurable targets to support us in achieving success.

Lindsey joined the WISH Board to encourage and promote women in social housing and earlier in 2023, Lindsey moved from co-chair to chair of the Yorkshire & Humberside board.

Outside of work Lindsey is married with two girls and enjoys spending time with her family making memories and having fun.

Charlotte has over 18 years’ experience of working in the charity and not for profit sector.  
 
She currently holds the role of Director of Care, Health and Wellbeing at South Yorkshire Housing Association (SYHA), a post she exec job-shares with another Director..  

Together they lead the LiveWell Programme, SYHA’s non-general housing offer including homelessness & rough sleeping interventions, work and wellbing programmes, mental health services and social prescribing.  
 
From an internationally recognised Aging Better programme in Sheffield, to Working Win a cutting edge RCT focused on mental health and employability across the Sheffield City Region, LiveWell is leading the way for inclusion and change across housing, health and wellbeing. 
 
Charlotte is also leading the Digital Transformation programme at SYHA.   

Charlotte was previously the COO and Director of Social Inclusion at Good Things Foundation. She’s held previous roles at Learndirect and The Prince’s Trust.  

A Quantity Surveyor by profession and is an experienced and professional construction specialist having spent over 25 years experience working exclusively on Decent Homes projects, and new build projects as well. Since 1991 she has specialized in the interpretation of contract documents, contractual and commercial advise, quantum claims and the resolution of disputes and contentious issues. She also has 16 years experience predominantly site based working for national and regional Contractors, sub Contractors and specialist contractors, a CIOB member since 2001 And CIH (Chartered Institute Of Housing)member since early 2020.

Hazlin has been actively involved with Incommunities Equality Group and responsible for the Corporate Procurement Department mainly on Tendering and Procurement activities. She is also the vice chair for Cnet(Community Networking) based in Bradford and has since participated in various Cnet events and activities as well as working as part of the Richer and Poorer Task Group for the Greenmoor Board to improve the quality of life in that area.

Hazlin has participated in various events organised by Incommunities including Mental Health Awareness week, Dementia Friends Training , Idahobit, Black History Month, International Womens Day and Golf tournament to name a few.

Hazlin has attended numerous Wish Event held in Leeds for the past years and willing to explore and share knowledge to help Wish to be able to help more women in the Housing Industry to be more resilient and committed in this industry.

Louise has over 18 years’ experience in the social housing sector, working across a range of services including void management and supported housing for older and vulnerable people. She has also held more strategic roles ranging from service development to performance management.

Louise is currently a Senior Care and Health Officer for WDH, working within the Independent Living Team, which provides housing support to older and vulnerable people in the district. Her role involves development of service provision for Independent Living residents, and to lead on the improvement programme for the refurbishment and continued investment in Independent Living Schemes.

Louise is enthusiastic in the promotion of social housing as a career of choice to other women. As a busy working single mum, she understands the challenges women face in career progression whilst raising children.

In her spare time, Louise enjoys volunteering for her daughter’s gymnastics club, and going on walks with her doggie.

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.   A change of job saw Siobhan move to WISH Y & H in May 2025.

I have worked in Regeneration and Social Housing since 1994, so have an overall understanding of the needs of the communities and those that live within a housing environment.
My work experience within housing ranges from tenant involvement, delivery of large-scale partnership work and repairs and maintenance. I currently work as Director of Homes and Places at Yorkshire Housing, a role I started in April 2023, and have previously worked at MSV, Together Housing and WDH.  I have enjoyed progressing my career within housing and like the way that we are evolving as a sector, the past couple of years have been particularly challenging and I feel more than ever we have duty to provide good quality homes for our customers.

I am passionate about the next few years and being able to lead my team into the next chapter of housing.

I have joined WISH as I want to support how Women can progress their careers and be supported on their housing journey.

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 have 9 years audit and compliance experience and for the last 5 years have been working solely in social housing. My expertise is in asbestos and water hygiene which I am really passionate about. 

I have worked operationally for a social housing provider in Wakefield but for the last 2 years I have been working for Pennington Choices as a consultant providing expert advice to clients wanting to improve their compliance approach. I am really fortunate that I get to work with a wide range of housing associations and local authorities to help improve their property compliance approach. 

As a (relatively!) young woman in social housing, I love the sector and I am really passionate about helping others in anyway I can. I want to help other women get into the sector and see the rewarding work that is done. 

Outside of work, I am a keen runner and member of a local running group, completing my first half marathon in October this year.

I live with my partner in Huddersfield and our ragdoll cat, Monty. 

Gemma Edwards, Senior Business Development Manager at Novus Property Solutions has nearly 15 years’ experience of working in the Social Housing Sector.

Gemma’s role at Novus is to identify new clients and maintain a good working relationship with new and existing contacts. Gemma has a specific interest in Zero Carbon and has helped Novus launch Novus Sustain, its latest brand which was created to help clients retrofit their housing stock. Gemma also has a marketing degree and enjoys event management.

Gemma is excited to join WISH as a board member to share best practice, inspire and promote women in social housing. Gemma is an active member of the WiN (Women in Novus) Network that empowers women and under-represented groups to help shape the way forward for the business and the industry as a whole; to make the workplace more inclusive.

Outside of work Gemma is married with two boys who take up most of her spare time. (1) Gemma (Gunter) Edwards | LinkedIn