David joined The Housing Finance Corporation as Senior Commercial Director in July 2025, bringing 25 years of expertise in real estate, housing and finance. His previous senior leadership roles at Lloyds Banking Group included leading the Commercial Real Estate team in Northern England and serving as Head of UK Agriculture. David also led strategic design and delivery projects for Lloyds’ Business and Commercial Banking Real Estate and Housing proposition. Most recently, he was Head of Social and Supported Housing. At The Housing Finance Corporation, he manages portfolio and drives strategic growth.

David also serves as a non-exec board member for the homelessness charity YMCA Together.

Lindsay joined THFC in December 2024 as Senior Director of Strategy. She is responsible for communications, marketing and brand, data analytics and supports the execution of strategic initiatives. Lindsay has a decade of experience in private markets and FinTech, both in  the United Kingdom and United States. Prior to joining THFC, Lindsay was Principal Institutional Solutions Consultant at Juniper Square, a leading private markets technology firm based in San Francisco, California. At Juniper Square, Lindsay partnered with institutional private capital fund managers to advise them on best-in-class, technology-enabled operating models.

She began her career at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in London. At RBC, Lindsay held roles in marketing, technology strategy and product management. She spent the majority of her RBC tenure on the global private markets team.

Lindsay holds a Master of Arts (Hons) in Economics and Modern History from the University of St Andrews.

Martin Fent joined The Housing Finance Corporation as Chief Risk and Operations Officer in January 2025. He brings extensive experience in risk management and banking, having held Chief Risk Officer positions at RBS International and Cynergy Bank. His career encompasses UK and international lending across diverse asset classes, including structured finance, corporate lending, RMBS, and property finance. 

Martin’s leadership in risk has included managing NatWest’s Restructuring team and the London and South East Portfolio Management Division, with a particular emphasis on capital management. He is dedicated to developing robust, practical, and commercially focused risk frameworks and promoting a sustainable, transparent risk culture through close collaboration with colleagues, board members, and regulators. 

Kelly is a governance professional with extensive experience in corporate governance, regulatory compliance, and the full spectrum of company secretarial functions. She has led corporate secretariat teams in blue-chip and FTSE 100 companies, overseeing board governance, regulatory reporting, M&A, complex restructuring, and post-acquisition integration. Kelly joined The Housing Finance Corporation in August 2024, following senior roles at Inchcape Plc, Inmarsat Plc, Diageo, BT, Reckitt, Vodafone, and ITV.

Chris has worked as Managing Consultant for HRS since 2004. He looks after a number of our clients, as well as researching and writing all of our publications for members. He developed an app to give members easy access to our sector risk data, including the best practice controls, which he updates on the basis of the advice given in each HRS Review, among other sources.

Chris developed the Credit Assessment Model used by HRS to evaluate the balance between risk exposure and risk capacity in the financial plans of our customers. He also supports a software tool to enable clients to document their key risks, their underlying drivers, the arrangements in place to manage them, and assurance that these controls are in place and effective.

Sharron joined HRS as Office Manager in 2012 to support both the Managing Director and Managing Consultant. With her keen focus on building long-term client relationships, she plays an essential role in ensuring our consultancy services are delivered efficiently and meet client deadlines.

Sharron also oversees membership subscriptions and renewals, coordinates client meetings, and manages the distribution of key HRS publications, such as the HRS Review, Horizons, and Scenarios.

Before joining HRS, Sharron served as Office Manager and PA at the NIHR Patient Safety and Service Quality Research Centre at King’s College London. She has also gained experience through her work within fintech, visual media, stock imagery, and newspaper publishing.

John Hargreaves has been Managing Director of Hargreaves Risk and Strategy (HRS) since 1996. His previous experience was in finance and planning, having been Financial Controller of National Freight (Now DHL), Head of Group Financial Systems and a member of the scenarios team at Shell, Finance Director at London Underground, and Corporate Finance Director (Planning) at Barclays Bank. Between 1990 and 2007, he also ran an MSc level Strategic Management course at London School of Economics. John is a Chartered Accountant with a mathematics degree from Cambridge University.

John’s main current interest is in increasing the impact of good risk management in the housing association sector by improving the relationship between associations’ risk management and their strategy development. He believes that associations’ impact can be maximised by ensuring that they always maintain an appropriate balance between the risk they are taking and their capacity to take risk safely.

I began my career in the housing sector as the IT Team Lead at the National Housing Federation, where I spent 15 years. During my tenure, I advanced to the role of IT Infrastructure Manager, acquiring extensive experience, knowledge, and skills. I was responsible for managing and supporting a multi-site infrastructure, guiding the organization in enhancing and strategically transitioning from an on-premise environment to a hybrid cloud setup.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, I moved on to work at United Trust Bank, where I assisted in their cloud journey, helping users adopt Microsoft Office 365 solutions like Teams, OneDrive, and Outlook online. Prior to my time at THFC, I worked as a Senior IT Infrastructure Engineer at Haysmacintyre, one of the top 20 accountancy firms, where I was actively involved in shaping and improving their technology stack.

As you can see, while I moved from the housing sector, I have remained within the finance industry, gaining diverse experience across various environments. With my skills and background, I am now equipped to help organisations like THFC strategically advance their technology and effectively manage their IT infrastructure and cloud systems.

Ben Rick joined The Housing Finance Corporation as Chief Financial Officer in November 2024 and currently serves as Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Commercial Officer. He began his career in 1993 at Goldman Sachs in Treasury Operations before moving into credit trading roles at Lehman Brothers and UBS, where he co-led the corporate bond team. In 2002, he transitioned to the buy side as a Portfolio Manager at Green-T Asset Management, followed by his role as Managing Director of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s EMEA Global Proprietary Trading Group.  

In 2012, Ben co-founded Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC), where as CEO he led the firm to become a leading finance provider for charities and social enterprises, specialising in lending to social and supported housing providers. After stepping down as CEO in 2023, he advised Lloyds Bank on social housing projects before joining The Housing Finance Corporation. 

Ben holds a First-Class BSc (Hons) degree in Management Science from UMIST, Manchester. 

Jinfei joined THFC in September 2024. She has around five years of experience supporting in-house company secretariats and continues to pursue her chartership from the Corporate Governance Institute. She began her training as a Company Secretarial Assistant at Aviva and subsequently undertook roles as Assistant Company Secretary at Arch Insurance, a Lloyd’s of London insurer, and Senior Company Secretarial Assistant at Close Brothers, a leading UK merchant bank.

Rob joined THFC in 2024, bringing over 20 years of expertise in Talent Management and Change Projects. He has a proven track record in building teams and implementing scalable processes, with a strong focus on developing best practices for attracting, sourcing, assessing, and selecting top talent. Rob has led teams within recruitment, HR operations, and across the broader business, driving significant improvements in candidate experience and enhancing the overall quality of hiring. His experience spans EMEA, India, North America, and APAC, positioning him as a global leader in talent development and team leadership.

Hedley joined THFC in August 2024 as a Relationship Manager. Prior to joining THFC he worked at NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland for 33 years. Hedley has over 25 years of experience providing debt funding solutions to the social housing sector. During his time working in partnership with the sector, Hedley has experienced a broad range of social housing providers ranging from small, community based associations to national providers. Hedley will now focus on supporting THFC’s customers across England and Wales.

Joshua joined THFC’s Credit and Risk team in May 2024 after working as a Credit Risk Reporting Analyst at UBS. He holds a 1^st class degree in Economics from Loughborough University and previously spent a year as a self-employed online maths tutor, stationed all over the world. Joshua intends to pursue a CFA qualification in the future.

Priya Nair joined The Housing Finance Corporation as Chief Executive in March 2024. She has over 25 years’ experience in financial services, infrastructure, and housing, specialising in sustainable investment to support positive economic and societal outcomes in the affordable housing sector. 

Priya’s career includes senior roles at abrdn in London, where she was responsible for financing, capital raising across flagship infrastructure and housing funds. She spent over 13 years at Royal Bank of Canada advising on capital markets issuance for The Housing Finance Corporation and other housing providers. Priya also held positions at Citi and began her career at Deutsche Bank through their investment banking and global markets graduate programme. 

In addition to leading The Housing Finance Corporation, Priya serves as a senior advisor to organisations across government, infrastructure, and technology sectors, providing expert counsel on corporate finance, governance, risk management, and investment strategies. 

Nayeem joined THFC in January 2024 as a Finance Administrator. He holds a degree in Mathematics from The University of Greenwich and currently wishes to pursue CIMA professional qualification.

Harriette joined THFC in July 2023 as a Credit and Portfolio Risk Analyst. She has around 9 years of experience in both real estate and commercial lending, throughout which time she has obtained a certificate in Commercial Lending, as well as an Associate Chartered Banker Diploma from BPP University. Prior to this, Harriette studied Applied Economics and French at Kingston University, spending a year in France studying at the University of Lyon.

Fiona MacGregor joined The Housing Finance Corporation Board as the Regulator of Social Housing’s nominee director in July 2023. She has been Chief Executive of the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) since October 2018, leading the organisation responsible for the economic regulation of registered social housing providers across England. 

Fiona has extensive experience in housing regulation and finance, having served as Executive Director of Regulation at the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) from November 2015 until the establishment of RSH. Prior to that, she held senior roles at the Housing Corporation and London and Quadrant, a major registered housing provider. Her expertise encompasses regulatory strategy, governance, and sector oversight, supporting the delivery of high-quality, well-governed social housing. 

Gail Teasdale joined The Housing Finance Corporation Board as the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) nominee director in March 2023. She is a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years’ experience, primarily in senior Finance Director roles across both private and public sectors. 

Gail was formerly Chief Executive of Broadacres, a housing association based in North Yorkshire, where she led strategic growth and operational excellence to deliver high-quality affordable homes from January 2018 until July 2025. Following her transition from this role on 31 July 2025, Gail stepped down as the NHF nominee director and was appointed as an independent Non-Executive Director on The Housing Finance Corporation Board.

Her extensive financial and leadership expertise spans housing development, asset management, and regulatory compliance. Gail also brings strong governance experience, having held key board roles focused on audit, risk management, and corporate oversight. 

Elisiah joined THFC in January 2023 as a Finance Administrator. She holds a degree in Accounting and Finance from London Metropolitan University and a master’s degree in Accounting and Finance from Queen Mary University of London.

Max joined THFC in October 2022 as a Credit Analyst and switched across to the relationship management team in August 2023. Prior to THFC, he worked for 8 years at Handelsbanken in account management and predominately as a Credit Analyst.  In this time he covered a variety of customers, including Personal Mortgages, Trading Business, Large Corporate, Commercial Real Estate and Social Housing. He is now focused on supporting THFC’s customers in London, the South West, North West and Scotland.

Email Max Watson here.

Corin joined THFC in July 2022. He has worked in technology for over 9 years and has vast experience with fast-paced environments and different technological infrastructures. He began his career being 1 of only 6 people chosen to complete a fully government-funded apprenticeship scheme in Unified Communications, specialising in IT and Engineering. Corin has multiple industry qualifications including MCSA, SDI Analyst and ITIL Foundation certifications. Prior to joining THFC, he worked as a Senior IT Engineer for a software development company in London.

Steven is a Chartered Management Accountant and joined THFC in November 2021. Previously, he spent 19 years working for Lloyds Bank across a wide spectrum of finance, including treasury and cash management, tax-based pricing, product control, financial planning, budgeting and forecasting, and PRA stress testing. Steven specialises in developing and reengineering processes and building efficiencies whilst maintaining controls.

Satindra began working at THFC in 2018 as a Finance Assistant. He graduated from the University of North London, with a degree in Business studies. He is part-qualified in the Institute of Export and International Trade, and has worked across many sectors, including publishing, banking and commodities. Satindra is currently studying for his ACCA professional qualification.

Ian joined THFC in 2003 as an Accounts & Loans Administrator and in 2014 was appointed as Finance Manager. He qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant in 2012 and studied for this professional qualification under full-sponsorship from the company.

Sharon joined THFC in January 2017. She is ACA qualified, with a BSc in Chemistry & Management, and an MSc in International Business. She worked for two years with Smith & Williamson in their “recovery and reorganisation” division, before spending 5 years in a similar role at Grant Thornton. For the last 6 years she has been a Senior Analyst at RBS in their Financial Analysis Team covering among other sectors, healthcare (care homes), Retail, Pubs & Hotels, and Commercial Real Estate.

Andy Lynch joined THFC in 2015, having spent the previous 3 years as Head of Credit for the Public Sector (including Social Housing) at Barclays. Prior to this, Andy spent 5 years with Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank where he was Head of Credit for the South of England, and latterly Head of Credit Training. His initial banking career was also with Barclays, where he worked for 25 years in relationship and credit roles.

Utilising her experience from the professional development, corporate administration and teacher training teams and the Basic Skills Agency, Isabel is highly skilled at organising and leading on tender processes for key contracts. She joined THFC in 2005 as an Executive Assistant but quickly transitioned to analysing valuation data and working on related processes (including property releases) as our Loan Security Analyst.

Melissa is the Head of Loan Security for The Housing Finance Corporation. She is responsible for ensuring that all loan security portfolios for THFC and its associated entities remain compliant during the lifetime of the loan, as well as managing all charging exercises relating to new and existing finance with THFC’s borrowers. Melissa joined THFC in January 2016, having previously worked at Trowers & Hamlins for 12 years.  She is a qualified solicitor with over 20 years’ experience in the social housing sector, which includes acting for the borrower and lender in various real estate finance transactions.

Gavin joined THFC in 2017 as a Relationship Manager and became Head of Relationship Management in 2024. Prior to THFC, he spent 27 years with The Royal Bank of Scotland plc. Gavin has been working as a lender to the social housing sector for over 20 years, serving a broad range of social housing providers from associations with national coverage, members of the G15, to small local community associations. Currently, he is focused on supporting THFC’s customers in London, the South East, North East and Northern Ireland.

Will leads on investor relations, issuance of bonds and the maintenance of the group’s credit ratings. Will played a key role in the set up of bLEND Funding Plc. and pays particular attention to structuring deals to suit both housing association borrowers and investors to achieve the best results. Will was previously THFC’s Deputy Treasurer and Relationship Manager and holds the AMCT corporate treasury qualification.

David Montague joined The Housing Finance Corporation Board in March 2020. He served as Chief Executive of L&Q, one of Britain’s largest housing associations, from 2008 to 2021. Over a 32-year career with the organisation, David played a pivotal role in its growth and success, leading mergers, acquisitions, major regeneration schemes, and development partnerships with smaller housing associations. 

A prominent figure in the housing sector, David has chaired the G15 group of housing associations, served on the board of the National Housing Federation, and advised successive London Mayors on housing policy. In recognition of his services to housing in London, he was awarded a CBE in 2013. 

Tony King joined The Housing Finance Corporation Board in March 2020. He has over 20 years’ experience in the housing sector, following a career that began in banking and concluded with his role as Group Treasurer at Sanctuary Group, from which he retired in 2019. 

During his time at Sanctuary, Tony managed the Group’s loan book and secured funding for housing development and regeneration projects. His earlier banking career included positions at several international institutions, where he developed extensive expertise in treasury management, financial strategy, and risk oversight. 

Scott Bottles joined the The Housing Finance Corporation Board in March 2018. He brings over 30 years’ experience in the commercial and residential real estate sectors across both the United Kingdom and the United States. 

Until his retirement, Scott served as Executive Vice President and Senior Credit Officer for International Commercial Real Estate at Wells Fargo Bank. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing complex credit strategies and managing international real estate portfolios. His extensive expertise in credit risk, investment evaluation, and real estate finance adds significant value to the Board’s oversight and decision-making. 

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Shirley Smith joined the The Housing Finance Corporation Board in March 2018 and was appointed Senior Independent Director later that year. She brings over 35 years’ experience in real estate and infrastructure finance, with deep expertise spanning debt, investment, restructuring, workout, and credit. 

Shirley has held senior positions at a range of leading organisations, including CBRE, Citi, Barings, PwC, Lend Lease, Assured Guaranty, and EY. She has also served as a non-executive director of the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (Europe), contributing to industry best practices and governance. 

She holds an MA in Economics and Land Economy from the University of Cambridge and a Certificate in Investments and Financial Derivatives from the Securities & Investment Institute. 

Guy Thomas joined the The Housing Finance Corporation Board in May 2019. He is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Director with over 30 years’ experience in the financial services sector, specialising in treasury, financial strategy, and risk management. 

Guy has extensive experience in corporate finance, treasury operations, and governance, gained through senior roles in both mutual and commercial financial institutions. Prior to his executive retirement, he served as Group Finance Director at Principality Building Society, a leading lender to housing associations. 

He is a Fellow of The Association of Corporate Treasurers.