Speakers Day 2

Craig Sparrow
Executive Director of Development
ClwydAlyn Housing

Craig has worked in housing for 35 years mostly focused on housing development. Based in North Wales, he is currently Executive Director of Development for ClwydAlyn Housing with responsibility for a large development programme across 7 counties and also, part of the Executive Leadership Team. Craig is well known in the sector, the Chair of the Strategic delivery Group for Future Homes and an enthusiastic supporter of delivering the highest quality homes which are kind to our environment. Working with Welsh Government on a number of initiatives, including the delivery of the Carbon Zero Hub for Wales, he is passionate about partnership working and finding new and innovative ways to deliver more  and better homes. Craig lives in North Wales, has two daughters and enjoys traveling.

Julie James MS
Minister for Climate Change

Julie James was born in Swansea but spent significant portions of her youth living around the world with her family. Julie spent her early career in London and then moved back to Swansea with her husband to raise their three children and to be closer to her family. Julie is a committed green campaigner, environmentalist and a keen swimmer and skier.Until she was elected as Member of the Senedd for Swansea West, Julie was a leading environmental and constitutional lawyer. Prior to this, she was assistant chief executive at Swansea Council. She spent most of her legal career in local government, working as a policy lawyer with the London Borough of Camden before returning to Swansea to work for West Glamorgan County Council and then the City and County of Swansea.Julie James was appointed Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology in September 2014. In May 2016 Julie was appointed as Minister for Skills and Science. Julie was appointed Leader of the House and Chief Whip on 3 November 2017. On 13 December 2018 Julie was appointed Minister for Housing and Local Government. Julie was appointed Minister for Climate Change on 13 May 2021.

Maria Vassilakou
Founder & CEO
Vienna Solutions - Vassilakou Urban Consulting

Maria Vassilakou served as Viennas Vice Mayor responsible for Urban Planning, Traffic & Transport, Climate Protection, Energy and Public Participation (2010 - 2019). She is an experienced urban leader, devoted to open, inclusive and green cities, with a passion for urban transformation processes leading to sustainable change.In her 9 years serving as Deputy Mayor, Maria Vassilakou was responsible for a vast transformation agenda contributing substantially to Viennas Nr1 position in all major global livability rankings. Her agenda included among others the conversion of several major former brownfield areas into modern urban quarters with up to 2/3 affordable housing units.Having founded Vassilakou Urban Consulting GmbH - Vienna Solutions, Maria Vassilakou now works as a strategist and global advisor on urban transformation and transition management, sharing her experience and know-how from the worlds most livable city Vienna with cities, NGOs, organizations and corporations worldwide.

Clare Hollinshead
Housing & Development Manager
Tai Pawb

Clare started her career as a full-time volunteer within homeless hostels in London, which led to various jobs supporting people at risk of homelessness and then the management of a rehabilitation housing project for ex-offenders. Clare moved to Wales in 2005 and enjoyed many years managing a large, female supported accommodation project in Cardiff where she was proud to see young women empowered to reach their potential. Clare has also used her skills to support a smaller housing charity as a trustee. Clare has a degree in Politics & Sociology and an MA in Social Policy & Criminology. Clare also loves whizzing about on her e-bike – the only way to really keep up with her children!

Gareth Lynn Montes
Housing Policy & Research Lead
Welsh Refugee Council

Gareth works policy, especially housing, for the Welsh Refugee Council to ensure there are more pathways into housing for asylum seekers and refugees. 

Helen White
Chief Executive
Taff Housing

Helen is Chief Executive of Taff Housing based in Canton, Cardiff. They provide homes and services to over 5,000 people across South East Wales. Helen is passionate about providing great homes and services. She is also a board member at Careers Wales, the Cymru Football Foundation and TPAS Wales. 

Susan Lloyd-Selby
Network Lead for Wales
Trussell Trust

Susan set up a food bank 11 years ago and having listened to so many people talking about the impossible choices they face every day, she recognised that food banks aren’t the answer when people are going without the essentials in one of the richest economies in the world.She joined the Trussell Trust 9 years ago and is now focusing on policy and public affairs in Wales, identifying the change that’s needed- particularly by Government at all levels- to end the need for food banks.Susan believes that hunger isn’t inevitable and there is hope. There is a growing network of people in Wales who believe that better is possible and the roadmap for achieving it is becoming clearer. She is particularly interested in connecting with organisations and individuals who share that stubborn hope and want to work together to turn it into reality. 

Emma Fish
Service Lead - Community Manager
Bron Afon Community Housing

Emma has worked within the social housing sector for over 20 years.  Emma currently leads the Housing and Customer Experience service at Bron Afon Community Housing. Bron Afon is a community mutual LSVT social landlord, managing over 8000 tenancies.  Emma is responsible for the organisation’s customer facing teams delivering all aspects of housing management, including income management, allocations and ASB.  She leads the teams handling customer enquiries into the organisation through telephone and digital channels. She is also responsible for the customer quality teams who handle formal complaints, councillor relations and digital transformation. Emma is passionate about enhancing customer satisfaction and delivering continuous improvement of services which meet the changing demand of customers. She promotes effective collaboration across services, which has generated successful outcomes for customers and colleagues.  

Stuart Fitzgerald
Deputy Director, Homes  & Places
Welsh Government

Jo Valentine
Deputy Director, Transitional Accommodation Division
Welsh Government

Craig O'Connor
Chair
Planning Officers Society Wales (POSW)

Craig O’Connor is the current chair of the Planning Officer Society for Wales (POSW) and the Head of Planning at Monmouthshire County Council. He has extensive knowledge of leading on the delivery of the Development Management service, Planning Policy and Building Control. He also has experience of working as a private planning consultant in Northern Ireland working with a Council to improve the delivery of the planning service. He is passionate about public service and ensuring that the planning service is customer focused, efficient and supports the delivery of sustainable forms of development in the right location. He has significant experience of working across multiple agencies to problem solve specific issues and believes that the planning service needs to be efficient, resilient and adaptable to address the ever-changing challenges that face the development industry.

Brendan Sarsfield
Chair
Sustainability for Housing

Brendan is the founding Chair of Sustainability for Housing. He has more than 20 years’ experience as a CEO in the social housing sector, including for Peabody where he led the organisation between 2017 and 2021.Under his leadership, Peabody prioritised social rented homes at low rents for people in need. Brendan’s time at Peabody also saw the association highlight the challenges faced by its customers and made the case for a fairer social security system and better pay for people on low incomes. Peabody was also a founding partner of the ESG Social Housing Working Group, which developed the SRS.Prior to leading Peabody, Brendan was CEO of Family Mosaic HA. Brendan now holds a number of leadership positions across the private and voluntary sectors. He is a Trustee and Chair of Finance and Fundraising at crisis support charity Hestia.He is also a board member of Grosvenor Hart Homes, a project sponsored by the Duke of Westminster; and a strategic advisor to NEC Software. He is a great believer in housing associations as organisations that have a positive impact on communities, places and people.

Natalie Swales
Partner
Devonshires

Natalie is a Partner in our Leeds Banking Team who specialises in non-contentious transactional finance work. Natalie primarily specialises in social and affordable housing finance (including sustainability-linked lending) and project finance.Natalie has a breadth of experience advising borrowers, lenders, private bond arrangers and trustees on a range of financial arrangements, including private bond issues, secured and unsecured lending, facility restructurings, sustainability-linked lending, intra-group funding agreements, joint venture arrangements, group re-financings emanating from merger/group re-organisations and interest rate derivatives.In addition to negotiating facility/bond documentation, Natalie also advises on security arrangements, working closely alongside the Property Charging Team.

Emily Berry
Partnerships Manager
Utility Aid

Emily has a passion for supporting the third sector to save time and money on their energy provision. She believes that collaboration is key to achieving a sustainable future and regularly holds webinars and discussion groups to provide tips which will help you identify potential areas of cost recovery and support you in reducing energy consumption and wastage.

Kaylea McKenna
Housing Lead
Utility Aid

Kailea has a passion for supporting the third sector to save time and money on their energy provision. Working as Utility Aid’s housing lead, Kaylea is acutely aware of the challenges the housing sector faces and uses this knowledge to help shape our services and deliver solutions.

Antoine Pellet
Customer Relationship Lead
HACT

Antoine leads the Retrofit Credits programme at HACT. He has a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree within the environmental field and has three years of experience of working in the social housing sector.Antoine has been involved in the inception and growth of the Retrofit Credits programme. He plays a key role in helping to develop Retrofit Credits and move the programme forward at a time when the environment and carbon emission reduction has become one of the key factors in the sector, both in improving homes for residents and the sector’s journey towards its net-zero goals.  

Simon Turek
Managing Director
Arctica Partners
@tureksa

Simon is the Founder of Arctica Partners, who have partnered with the Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust to create RetrofitCredits, a carbon crediting project for the social housing sector. He is responsible for the service concept and developing the methodology to measure the emission reductions and additionality of retrofit activity.Simon has over 15 years of experience in the carbon and financial markets. He is a qualified lawyer and has worked as a UK and European Union regulator. Simon has been involved in Housing Association governance since 2010. Currently, he serves as a Member of the Board and Chair of the Finance Committee for the London-based Housing Association Poplar HARCA. 

Clare Folland-Nickels
Senior Licensed Conveyancer
Hugh James

Clare is a Senior Licensed Conveyancer within the Property team at Hugh James. Having worked at Hugh James for over 7 years and specialised in property law for 15 years.  She has experience advising commercial clients and registered social landlords across the full spectrum of property issues including development site acquisitions, advising in relation to section agreements, property acquisitions, property sales and site set up in terms of residential development sites. 

Rhian Price
Solicitor
Hugh James

Rhian is a Solicitor within the Property team at Hugh James. Having worked at Hugh James for nearly 5 years within property law and recently qualifying as a Solicitor. She has experience advising commercial clients, housing associations, local councils and registered social landlords across the full spectrum of property issues including advising in relation to landlord and tenant, property acquisitions, property sales and easements.

Helga Warren
Implementation Manager
Welsh Government

Sian Coggins
Head of Housing Funding
Welsh Government


Carrie Satherley
Head of Innovative Funding
Welsh Government