Mrs Jenny Dykes  -  State Registered Nurse – North Hampshire Hospital

Resident Board Member 
Jenny Dykes lives in South Ham, Basingstoke and, apart from 2 years, has been a resident with the Council and Kingfisher since 1972.  Jenny is a member of the Sovereign Kingfisher Residents’ Committee.  She is a State Registered Nurse with the North Hampshire Hospital.

Jenny is particularly interested in ensuring residents get value for money regarding services and has been involved in two best value reviews during 2000 & 2001.  She is also interested in encouraging active participation by other residents.

Jenny was a founding Kingfisher Board Member and served until 1996, returning to the Board in September 2001.

Mr Alan Phillips  -  Volunteer Reader / Lay Minister

Resident Board Member

Alan lives in South Ham in a property he has lived in for over 25 years, and has therefore been a Kingfisher resident since transfer.

Alan is a Volunteer Reader / Lay Minister in the Anglican Church, working within the Diocese of Winchester, for 7 years.  Prior to this, Alan was a nurse working in the specialist area of mental health.  A work related accident in 1992 left Alan using a wheelchair.

Alan is keen to be involved in his community, and is a member of the Sovereign Kingfisher Residents’ Committee, while continuing as a member of the South Ham Residents group.  He has been an active member of many Boards and Committees, including the student section of the Royal College of Nursing, and the Winchester Diocese Disability Rights Forum, helping to advise on accessibility under the Disability Discrimination Act for churches in the Winchester Diocese.  Alan has also spent 10 years on the Parochial Church Council.

Alan is a great believer in social housing and the ‘right’ of every person to have a place to call home, and that with that ‘right’ comes the responsibility to respect their neighbours in all types of accommodation.  Alan believes that only by being involved can residents influence the services they receive.  Alan has been an Association Board Member since September 2005.                                 

David Atwell  -  Planning Consultant

Independent Board Member
David, who lives in Winchester, trained as an architect and town planner, specialising first in work on historic buildings, and then for 15 years in the GLC Architects’ Department.  After a spell as Director of Public Affairs at the RIBA, he moved to Winchester in 1988 to work for the County Council.  From 1992 he worked mainly for Hampshire’s Rural Community Council where he specialised in housing and social care issues.

Following early retirement in mid 2004, he is working as an independent consultant, specialising in regeneration, housing and conservation issues. 

Miss Sheila Hayes  - Independent Management Consultant

Independent Board Member
Sheila has lived in the Newbury area for 6 years.  She worked for the National Health Service for 30 years in a variety of senior management positions across London, Kent, Surrey and Berkshire.  Her most recent post was as the chief executive of a local primary care trust.  Sheila recently left the NHS and is now working as an independent management consultant.  She has considerable experience in general management, planning and strategy.

Sheila joined the Kingfisher Board as a co-opted member in October 2007, becoming a full member in July 2009.  She has experience of working with Boards from her previous work and has a particular interest in the relationship between housing and health.

Mr Gordon Holdcroft - Retired Local Government Chief Executive

Independent Board Member
Gordon started his working life in education before moving into leisure management and operating some of the countries largest sporting, leisure, conference and exhibition facilities.  He then moved into local government managing a wide range of services including housing.  Gordon spent the final part of his local government career as Chief Executive of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.  He has considerable experience of managing large work forces of over 2,500 and multi-million pound capital and revenue budgets.  Each of his careers has focused on delivering quality, front line, cost effective customer orientated services.

Gordon was chair of the local Community Safety Forum for seven years and more recently Chair of the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Foundation Trust Hospital. He is a strong believer in quality housing and employment being two vital ingrediants for improving the quality of life.

Mr Chris Holland  - Retired Partner - Kidd Rapinet Solicitors

Independent Board Member
(CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD)

Chris Holland is a retired Solicitor and was a partner in a local firm, where he specialised in domestic and commercial conveyancing, wills, probate and trusts.  He has lived in Basingstoke since 1974, and his legal career lasted 34 years.

Throughout his life, Chris has tried to involve himself with local community matters, has a strong social conscience and is committed to the development of Sovereign Kingfisher for the benefit of its residents and stakeholders.

Chris was Vice-Chairman of the Board from inception in 1994, when he became Chairman.  He is one of the founder members of the Association.  Chris is a member of the Group Remuneration & Governance Committee .

Miss Susan Kent  -  Finance Director – St Christopher’s Fellowship

Independent Board Member and Vice Chairman

Susan has worked with the voluntary sector since 1986, first as an auditor, and then from 1993 onwards as an Executive Director.  She has considerable experience of participating in Board meetings as an Executive Director, Board Member, and as an external management consultant.

Over the years, Susan has been Finance Director for a number of Registered Social Landlords and has gained experience in many of the activities undertaken, such as development of new homes, provision of general needs housing, provision and sale of shared ownership properties, and care and support for vulnerable service users.  As Finance Director of St Christopher's Fellowship, Susan's current role requires her to support the provision of services to disadvantaged children and young people.

Susan has been an Association Board Member since September 2004, originally with Kingfisher, Wessex in June 2005 and Sovereign Kingfisher in July 2009.  Susan is a member of the Group Audit & Risk Committee.

Sir Jonathan Portal  -  Sole trader providing financial director services to relatively small companies

Independent Board Member 

Jonathan has been a qualified accountant for 30 years and has been providing FD services for small companies for over 15 years.  He has lived in Overton near Basingstoke for most of his life, is married with 3 boys and is involved with a number of local charities.

Jonathan brings financial knowledge to the Board together with experience of a range of businesses and sectors coupled with their need for clear information to aid decision making.  He is keen to see Sovereign Kingfisher both increasing the provision of good quality affordable housing in the local area and also maximizing tenant satisfaction with the quality of services it provides.

Mr Chris Stratford  -  Director

Independent Board Member

Chris has not only knowledge of the public sector but also the private sector.  He has previously acted as an Executive Director of Housing and Health and, as such, has wide knowledge and experience of the housing sector, including the interface with housing associations.

Chris has managed multi million pound revenue and capital budgets, very large staffing resources, and has worked as a member of a corporate team.  He has a detailed understanding of the political sensitivities associated with housing initiatives and has established many links into ODPM, the Housing Corporation, NHF, etc.  Whilst working with DTZ, Chris continued to develop relationships with major organisations, especially in the context of regeneration and has worked with some major RSL clients in the context of ADF studies, neighbourhood interventions, HMA studies, Inspection issues, public and private sector housing initiatives, etc.

Chris’ primary motivation for joining the Board was to become directly involved in the decision making of a significant RSL, contributing to the continuous improvement agenda, whilst still keeping his professional knowledge up to date through dealing with actual situations.

Chris has been a Board Member since November 2005.

John Rees-Evans  -  Head of Economic Development, Hampshire County Council

Board Member (Parent Representative)

John was brought up and educated in Southampton, from where he went on to obtain an Honours degree in Modern Languages from Oxford University.  In his early career, he worked in the private sector as an Export Sales Manager in a major international corporation with world-wide interests in the aerospace and engineering industries.

For the last 20 years, John has worked in economic development, tourism and European relations, initially in Cornwall.  In 1994, he set up the Economic Development Office of Hampshire County Council.  In this role, he manages a wide range of initiatives aimed at business support, regeneration, investment, and skills.  John is particularly interested in the role of s in regeneration and development.

John holds a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Plymouth and is a Director of WSX Enterprise (Business Link).

John was co-opted on to the Wessex Board in October 2007, and became a member of the Sovereign Housing Group Board in 2009.

Cecilia Jaques

Independent Board Member

Cecilia has spent the majority of her career in International and European Human Resource roles, including several years as HR Director, with multinational companies in healthcare, chemical and IT industries. She has also worked in the NHS with Southampton University Hospital NHS Trust, first as a volunteer, then as HR Manager during a time of profound change. She is currently working in the charity sector and is looking to make a contribution to the local community.

Mr Dan Putty  

Councillor Board Member

Dan Putty is one of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's nominated representative to the Sovereign Kingfisher Board.  Dan is ward councillor for the areas of Hatch Warren and Beggarwood in Basingstoke.

Mr Robert Taylor

Councillor Board Member

Robert Taylor is one of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's nominated representative to the Sovereign Kingfisher Board.  Robert is ward councillor for the Buckskin area of Basingstoke, one of Sovereign Kingfisher's largest areas of operation.