The Trust's Board
New homes usually get the attention of the
media but our commitment to providing a high-quality service to our
tenants and residents is still paramount. This is why we welcomed
the report by the Tenant Involvement Commission called 'What
Tenants Want'. It reminded social landlords that, 'The starting
point for any housing association should be a commitment to a
first-rate service.' The Trust's priority in the short to medium
term is therefore 'achieving and sustaining excellence'.
John Bader, Chair of the Board of Trustees
There are currently 9 board
members (including five tenant trustees), plus vacancies for a
further two board members, a leaseholder co-optee and a BME
(Black and Minority Ethnic) representative.
John Bader
(Trust Chair)
John Bader retired from
the Welsh Assembly in 2005 where he was Director of the Social
Justice & Regeneration Department, after working as a housing
professional for over 40 years. One of his responsibilities with
the Assembly was the regulation of registered social landlords in
Wales, so he has a strong interest in good governance of housing
associations.
Margaret Connor
(Vice Chair)
Margaret Connor
(Vice Chair) is a Tenant Trustee and also Tenant Representative for
Keynsham and Villages. She has been a tenant since 1976 and was
active with the options appraisal process and the residents’
steering group prior to transfer. She was previously Chair of the
Somer Residents’ Committee before her appointment to the Board.
Keith Bridges
Keith Bridges is a Tenant Trustee. He has also been a
Tenant Representative on Norton Radstock and Villages Area Panel
for over six years. Keith is deputy chair of Somerset County
Tenants Forum and chair of the Sustainability Forum. He has been a
tenant for over forty years, initially at Midsomer Norton and
subsequently at Westfield.
Janet Durk
A tenant since 1999, Janet Durk has been a tenant
representative for Timsbury on the Norton Radstock and Villages
Area Panel for four and a half years. She served as secretary
for two years and Vice Chair for two years, and has chaired the
Somer Residents’ Committee (SRC) for the last year. She
believes very strongly in resident involvement at every level to
improve the services that tenants receive from Somer, and
particularly likes to encourage younger people to be more active in
a positive way on Area Panels and the SRC. Janet spent some of
her working life in care work and most of it in business, retiring
as a manager in the leisure industry.
Rob Appleyard
Rob Appleyard is a Local Authority trustee, representing
Westfield as a Councillor on both the unitary and Town councils. He
spent many years as a representative on the area committee of the
CWU trade union and still works within the communications industry
as an ICT Technical Specialist with BT.
He strongly believes in the values of community and supports a
variety of interests, as well as being an active governor at
Westfield Primary School, he is also a member of The Network
Learning Board and the Racial Equality Council Executive.
He would like to promote a stronger understanding for social
housing and that affordability needs to be relative, and he will
always advocate that the voice of the tenant is heard and
valued.
Tim Saunders
Tim Saunders is an independent trustee. He qualified as a
chartered accountant in 1987 and has been involved in property
management since 1994 when he was appointed as Finance Director of
Pinnacle Regeneration Group Limited. Whilst the majority of
Tim’s experience is in the private rented sector, Pinnacle has
grown to be one of the leading private sector service providers to
the social housing market.
Tim left Pinnacle in 2000 and he is currently Chief Executive of
the Paladin Group, a property services business headquartered in
Bath.
John Kilner
John Kilner is an independent trustee. He has been a career
civil servant for the last 20 years and has worked mostly in the
Welsh Office and its successors, covering a range of social and
economic issues. He currently works for Defra overseeing English
National Parks.
Victoria Smith
Victoria Smith is a
chartered quantity surveyor and project manager in the construction
industry. Projects have included new builds in the community and
refurbishments. Victoria is particularly interested in estate
maintenance and management, capital development projects and
accessibility issues.
Margaret Stonard
Margaret Stonard is
a Tenant Trustee and Tenant Rep for South Area Panel. Born in
Scotland, Margaret moved to the South West in the 1950s. She has
been a tenant representative since 2003.
|
|