Board of Directors

Board of Directors

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James Thomson Chairman

James Thomson

Chairman
James Thomson Chairman

James Thomson

Chairman

James was appointed to the Board in June 2019 as Chief Executive Officer, before becoming Chairman in January 2023. James has a wealth of experience across the housing industry, having previously been Chief Executive Officer of Keepmoat Homes and Group Finance Director and Chief Operating Officer at DTZ.

He is a Local Authority Councillor for the City of London, Chair of the City of London Police Authority Board and Chair of the National Cyber Resilience Centre Group. He is also a Non-Executive Director of the Serious Fraud Office and a board member of Bridge House Estates.

James qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers and prior to working in industry he spent 10 years in investment banking at HSBC and Deutsche Bank.

Graham Prothero CEO

Graham Prothero

Chief Executive Officer
Graham Prothero CEO

Graham Prothero

Chief Executive Officer

Graham became Chief Executive Officer and was appointed to the Board in January 2023. He was previously Chief Operating Officer at Vistry Group, and before that worked as Group Finance Director and subsequently Chief Executive Officer at Galliford Try. Prior to this he was Finance Director at property investor and developer, Development Securities.

Graham is a Chartered Accountant and was a Partner at EY for seven years providing audit and transaction support for listed and private clients in the real estate, hospitality, and construction industries. He is a Non-Executive Director of Marshalls plc and Deputy Chair of The Jigsaw Trust, a charity which raises awareness of autism in children and adults.

Stefan Allanson CFO

Stefan Allanson

Chief Financial Officer
Stefan Allanson CFO

Stefan Allanson

Chief Financial Officer

Appointed to the Board in July 2015. Stefan joined the Group in June 2015 as Chief Financial Officer designate from Keepmoat Homes where he held the Deputy Chief Financial Officer role.

Stefan qualified as an accountant in 1994, following which he held senior finance roles at Honda Motor Co Limited, BTP plc, The Skills Market Limited, The Vita Group Limited and Tianhe Chemicals. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Norcros plc.

Fiona Goldsmith

Fiona Goldsmith

Senior Independent Director
Fiona Goldsmith

Fiona Goldsmith

Senior Independent Director

Fiona is an experienced PLC non-executive director and audit chair. She has an executive background as a CFO in complex divisions within the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250. Fiona has worked across a broad variety of sectors including property, consumer goods, leisure, facilities management and transport.

Fiona has more than 10 years’ experience as a non-executive director. She is currently the audit chair at Safestyle UK PLC and previously, she was non-executive director and audit chair at Walker Greenbank PLC.

Fiona is a chartered accountant who began her career at KPMG where she specialised in airlines. Fiona is the Senior Independent Director, Workforce Representative and Chair of the Audit Committee.

Christopher Mills

Christopher Mills

Non-Executive Director
Christopher Mills

Christopher Mills

Non-Executive Director

Appointed to the board in January 2009. Founder of Harwood Capital Management Group and formerly Chief Investment Officer of J O Hambro Capital Management Limited from 1993 to 2011. He is also Chief Executive and Investment Manager of North Atlantic Smaller Companies Investment Trust PLC, a UK listed investment trust.

Christopher is a director of several publicly quoted companies, including Augean plc and EKF plc.

Elaine Bailey

Elaine Bailey

Non-executive Director
Elaine Bailey

Elaine Bailey

Non-executive Director

Appointed to the Board in March 2021. Following an executive career in the construction, criminal justice and social housing sectors, Elaine holds a number of non-executive roles including for-profit and not for profit housing providers, a REIT and the Health & Safety Executive.  Before that she was Chief Executive of The Hyde Group, one of the largest housing associations with a portfolio of 50,000 properties and a substantial development programme delivering new affordable homes in London and the south east.

Following the Grenfell tragedy, Elaine led Hyde’s initiative to make safe all their high rise buildings and she sits on the Industry Safety Steering Group, chaired by Dame Judith Hackitt.

Elaine is the Chair of the Sustainability Committee.

Nicola Bruce

Nicola Bruce

Non-Executive Director
Nicola Bruce

Nicola Bruce

Non-Executive Director

Appointed to the Board in March 2023. Following a career specialising in strategy and business development at both private and listed companies, Nicola has latterly gained extensive experience as a non-executive Director and Remuneration Committee chair. Nicola holds a number of non-executive roles, including roles in the housing and building materials sectors and at OFWAT, the economic regulator for the water sector. 

Nicola is the Chair of the Remuneration Committee and sits on the Audit Committee and Nomination Committee.

Leanne Johnson

Leanne Johnson

Head of Legal and Company Secretary
Leanne Johnson

Leanne Johnson

Head of Legal and Company Secretary

Appointed as Company Secretary in March 2020, Leanne is a qualified solicitor and is Head of Legal for the Group. Leanne trained at Irwin Mitchell and was Legal Counsel for Keepmoat Homes before joining MJ Gleeson plc.