Board of Directors

A descendent of MJ Gleeson himself, Dermot Gleeson joined the board in 1975. He was then appointed Chief Executive in 1988 upon the death of his uncle Jack Gleeson, and subsequently became Chairman in 1994. He then relinquished the post of Chief Executive in 1998 to become our Chairman.

Dermot was previously employed in the political arena and was senior within the Conservative Party Research Department, the European Commission and Midland Bank International Limited.

With many accolades, Dermot was formerly Trustee of the British Broadcasting Corporation, Chairman of the Major Contractors Group, Board Member of the Housing Corporation, Director of the Construction Industry Training Board and Trustee of the Institute of Cancer Research. Currently he is also Chairman of the Nomination Committee.

James was appointed to the board in June 2019. With a wealth of experience in the housing industry, James was previously Chief Executive Officer of Keepmoat Homes. Prior to Keepmoat, James was Group Finance Director and Chief Operating Officer of DTZ. He is a Chartered Accountant, qualifying with PricewaterhouseCoopers and spent 10 years in investment banking with HSBC and Deutsche Bank. James is also a Local Authority Councillor for the City of London and Chairman of the City of London Police Authority Board.

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.

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 amd 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.

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

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 Remuneration Committee and the Chair of the Sustainability Committee.

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.