Alistair Smyth
Director of Policy and Research, National Housing Federation

Alistair joined the NHF in March 2023 on a 12-month secondment from The Guinness Partnership, where he held the role of Director of External Affairs and Social Investment. Alistair has worked in the social housing sector for the last 15 years in a wide range of roles and organisations including a previous spell at the NHF from 2014 to 2017. Prior to that, he worked as a consultant on a range of neighbourhood and community empowerment projects. He also spent three years working in a customer-facing role as a Neighbourhood Manager and as Assistant Head of Neighbourhoods for Peabody. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Policy Advisory Committee.

Hannah Howard-Jones
Director of Asset Management, Home Group

Hannah is Director of Asset Management at Home Group, one of the UK's largest providers of high-quality housing and integrated housing, health and social care. She was previously Director of Property for Gresham House, a fund manager, where she was responsible for their residential portfolio including shared ownership assets held in two for-profit RPs, ReSI Housing and ReSI Homes, their BTR and retirement PRS portfolios, as well as temporary accommodation.

Prior to Gresham, Hannah worked for Croydon Council’s wholly-owned development company, Brick By Brick, as Head of Property & Engagement where she oversaw acquisitions/ disposals, open market sales, the management of their completed developments and stakeholder/ community engagement.

She has also held senior positions working for FTS250 private family office with PRS and long leasehold investments, as well as in private practice on behalf of a variety of clients including Resident Management Companies, private freeholders and HNWIs. Hannah is a Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor, specialising in residential asset management.

Jo Barrett
Executive Director of Operations, Thrive Homes

Jo joined Thrive Homes in June 2008, previously having worked at Stevenage Borough Council as their Director of Technical Services and was involved in the setting up of Stevenage Homes in 2006. This was an Arms Length Management Organisation responsible for the management of the Council's housing stock.

With a career spanning over 30 years in housing, Jo has extensive experience of strategic asset management, day-to-day repairs and maintenance, and refining customer experience. Jo has developed Thrive’s Active Asset Management Strategy, bringing together asset, finance and development to ensure investment in homes maintains quality, and improves energy efficiency whilst achieving value for money.

This experience has helped Jo deliver acquisitions and contracts to manage on behalf of others whilst managing Thrive Places – homes for market rent.

Jo obtained a BSc in Building Surveying in 1994 and qualified as a Chartered Building Surveyor in 1995. She is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and chairs the National Housing Federation's Quality of Existing Homes Group.

Nick Carlisle
Director, Affordable Housing Consultancy, Savills

Nick works in the Affordable Housing Consultancy team at Savills providing strategic asset management advice, helping landlords develop an understanding of the performance of properties, developing option appraisal frameworks and asset management strategies.

Since joining Savills in 2013 as a graduate he has worked within the consultancy, development and valuation teams, gaining a wide breadth of experience in the social housing sector. Nick first worked at Savills in 2009 providing project management support for the disposal of tenanted portfolios.

In the Affordable Housing Consultancy team he focuses on strategic asset management advice, implementing the developed Savills Housing Asset Performance Evaluation model – SHAPE. He has delivered numerous projects for both housing associations and local authorities across the UK. Nick has led the development of the asset model and continues to develop this service with the use of business intelligence platforms whilst often presenting to both senior executives and boards. He works with registered providers giving consultancy advice and is most recently helping organisations understand the impact of zero carbon/energy costs.

Marc Edwards
Executive Director of Property, Gentoo Group

Marc is the Director of Asset and Sustainability at Gentoo Group. Marc’s current responsibilities include Stock Condition, Strategic Asset Management, Investment Delivery, Asset Sustainability and a number of Property Compliance areas including Asbestos Management. Marc is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers and holds a non-executive position at Keelman Homes. Marc has previously worked in a range of registered providers in the North East including Northstar and have previously oversaw services delivering Repairs and Maintenance, Procurement and Customer Services. Marc is committed to delivering excellent customer services and has led on the delivery of some significant fire remediation, retrofit and sustainability improvements to high rise blocks in Sunderland including Gentoos pioneering and award winning Core 364 project.

Julie Evans
Chief Property Officer, Curo Group

Julie was appointed Executive Director of Property Services in 2019, having previously held a number of directorships with Curo since joining in 2006 when the business was called Somer Housing Group. Julie’s prior roles within the Group have included Director of Tenancy Services, Director of Customer Services, Director of Neighbourhood Services and, most recently, Director of Asset Management.

Julie is a career housing professional with over 30 years’ experience in both English and Welsh housing sectors, starting her career as a trainee housing manager in 1988. She brings a proven track record of success in operational, strategic and transformational leadership roles in addition to seven years’ experience of strategic direction-setting and change implementation as a non-executive director of a Bristol community housing provider, United Communities. She currently acts as a governor on the board of Bath College.

Mark Newstead
Director of Major Programmes, L&Q

Mark joined L&Q as Director of Major Programmes in 2022. He is responsible for L&Q’s 15 year £3billion stock investment programme.

Mark is passionate about improving homes and services to social housing residents, tackling climate change, and creating social value.

Mark is a Chartered Construction and Health and Safety professional with over 30 years’ experience in Social Housing working for housing associations and councils. Prior to joining L&Q, Mark held director level posts covering property services, health and safety, regeneration, and development.

Katherine Proctor
Director of Housing Operations, Unity Homes & Enterprise

Walid Saeed
Director of Planned Investment | Assets & Sustainability, Notting Hill Genesis

Walid is an experienced Housing professional leading the Planned Investment Department at Notting Hill Genesis Housing. With over sixteen years’ experience in housing, Walid is helping Notting Hill Genesis deliver a new strategic asset management model, which will provide more understanding of the financial, social and strategic performance of their homes, this is backed by stock condition surveys, aerial photography and SAP surveys over the next five years to ensure Notting Hill Genesis understand the condition of all their homes and become a more data driven decision making organisation.

Prior to joining the Asset directorate at Notting Hill Genesis, Walid led complex business change programmes and the implementation of a merger integration programme for two London leading Housing Associations with a total asset of £21 billion to achieve strategic benefits and growth.

Walid holds a master's degree in Business Information Management from the University of Westminster