Speakers Day 1

Sian Lloyd
Journalist & Presenter
BBC Wales
@sianlloydnews

An experienced journalist and broadcaster, Sian is a familiar face with viewers across the UK from presenting national programmes, including BBC Breakfast, BBC Crimewatch Roadshow and Panorama. She has also reported on some of the key moments in recent history as a senior news correspondent for the BBC network.Sian began her TV and Radio career in Wales as a reporter, and then presenter of BBC Wales Today and the drive-time radio programme Good Evening Wales.Sian grew up in Wrexham and learnt Welsh. She also appears on Welsh language programmes for S4C.Before becoming a journalist Sian trained as a solicitor in London and Hong Kong, but followed her dream of becoming a reporter not long after qualifying.

Emeka Forbes
Head of Cohesion
/together Coalition

Emeka is Head of Cohesion at the /Together Coalition — a campaign group leading a coalition of hundreds of organisations across the UK to build kinder, closer, and more connected communities. He leads the secretariat for the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, a major national initiative with cross-party backing, shaping a long-term vision for how we live well together across divides.He also advises the Warm Welcome Campaign, which supports thousands of warm spaces tackling poverty and isolation, and the Fairness Foundation, a think tank focused on addressing structural inequality. Emeka chairs the anti-poverty charity Z2K and is a trustee of Room to Heal, which supports refugees and asylum seekers.
He has previously led national campaigns on social justice, anti-racism and social connection, and regularly speaks and writes in the media on cohesion and inequality. Originally from Stoke-on-Trent, Emeka now lives in Stroud, where he supports a number of local community projects. Outside work, he enjoys walking, camping and wild swimming.

Gerraint Oakley
Chair
Community Housing Cymru

Gerraint is executive director of growth and development at Platform Housing Group, a 50,000-home housing association based in the Midlands.His previous roles include managing director of Curo’s house-building business in Bath and regional managing director of Keepmoat Homes South West. He has over 35 years of experience in property, real estate, asset management, development, and urban regeneration.Gerraint joined Barratt Developments Plc in 2008 where he worked throughout the UK in Barratt and David Wilson Homes Divisions. Prior to joining Barratt, he worked for Vodafone for 10 years where he was a global strategy director specialising in real estate and development. He is a board member and chair of the development committee at Ongo Homes.He has a passion for developing affordable homes, creating opportunities for apprenticeships, graduate programmes, and access to employment for those who would otherwise find it difficult to access such opportunities. He also undertakes coaching and mentoring for people starting out in their careers or those looking to develop in their careers.
Gerraint is a keen long-distance cyclist, which he does to raise funds for children’s charities.

Alicja Zalesinska
Chief Executive
Tai Pawb

Alicja is responsible for providing leadership in the development and advancement of Tai Pawb’s strategic direction and operational management. She also champions and promotes equality and diversity in housing in Wales.Alicja previously worked for the equality sector focusing on grassroots and community work, support and advice as well as strategy, policy and research. She has an M.A. in English Philology and an MSc in Equality and Diversity from Cardiff University. She strongly believes in equality work based on compassion, respect and cultural change. Born in Poland, Alicja moved to Wales in 2004 and likes walking her dog and camping.

Chris Johnes
Chief Executive
Building Communities Trust

Chris has many years of experience as a leader in the not-for-profit sector, with a commitment to social justice and promoting public voices in decision-making.Before joining BCT, he held two roles at Oxfam GB. These were Director of Oxfam UK’s Poverty Programme, where he led the charity’s high-profile campaigning work on food poverty, as well as strategic development, partnership building and fundraising and Head of Oxfam Cymru where he significantly expanded Oxfam’s anti-poverty programme and led campaigning on global issues around climate change and aid, extending Oxfam’s influence among Welsh Government and civil society.Chris’s most extensive work in supporting communities in Wales came in his role as national Coordinator of the Communities First Support Network (CFSN) where for seven years he led a partnership of eight organisations providing support to Communities First partnerships and social enterprises across all parts of Wales.He has also worked at the National Assembly for Wales and worked in two community development charities and a civic organisation in South Africa. He is currently a board member of Egni Coop.Chris is now a retired rugby coach and can be found at his happiest on top of a Welsh mountain.

Jen Heal
Deputy Chief Executive
Design Commission for Wales

As Deputy Chief Executive, Jen is involved in all areas of the Design Commission for Wales’s work and governance including delivering training to the public and private sector, coordinating events, overseeing client support and the work of the Placemaking Wales Partnership.

Jen’s background is in urban design and planning, and she worked in practice in Wales before joining DCFW as Design Advisor. With a particular interest in placemaking Jen has led on DCFW’s placemaking agenda advising on policy and writing guidance, as well as being co-chair of DCFW’s design review service.

Kate Jenkins
Senior Manager - Insight And Evaluation
Energy Saving Trust

Kate is the Senior Manager for Insight and Evaluation at the Energy Saving Trust, specializing in the evaluation of various programs and initiatives related to energy savings, transport, water advice, fuel poverty, renewable technology, and behavior change. With a focus on contract management, methodology design, data analysis, and reporting to funders, Kate has held positions ranging from Evaluation Manager to Senior Evaluation Manager since joining the organization in September 2009. Prior to this role, Kate was a Project Manager at Databuild Research and Solutions Ltd from September 2001 to August 2009, where responsibilities included project planning, methodology development, and qualitative research. Kate holds a CIM - Postgraduate Professional Diploma in Marketing from the University of Wales, Newport, and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Geography from the University of Birmingham.

Dr Dan Bowers
Head of Psychology
University of South Wales

Dr Bowers has developed and led the USW Housing and Health Research Network since 2023. His primary research interests are associated with exploring the impact of housing on health outcomes. Dr Bowers' research is primarily focused on the application of social psychology to real world scenarios. To date, his work has focused on the barriers and facilitators associated with the use of new health technologies, the various impacts of housing on health and well-being, and the identity impacts that emerge as an outcome of new diagnoses.

Dr Nyle Davies
Senior Researcher
University of South Wales

Natalie Tate
'Talking about Homes' project lead
Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Natalie is the project lead for Talking about Homes. She is passionate about helping communicators and campaigners make the most of their voices when talking to the public. Natalie has spent over a decade delivering housing communications and is now mobilising the Talking about Homes project for Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Nationwide Foundation. By engaging with sector colleagues, she helps them understand and use the framing principles.

Siôn Hughes
Director of Policy and Delivery
Adra Tai Cyf

Siôn has worked in the housing sector for 12 years. His current role includes leading on Adra’s strategies and policies; corporate programmes and projects; external partnerships and networks and the delivery of Adra’s recently launched Corporate Plan. He feels strongly about ensuring housing is central to government policy to deliver numerous benefits to customers and communities across Wales and that partnership working is fundamental to achieving this. He also leads on Tŷ Gwyrddfai, the unique decarbonisation hub established as a partnership between Adra, Bangor University and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.

Tŷ Gwyrddfai delivers a range of outcomes for tenants, local supply chains and the construction workforce in partnership with the private sector.

Siôn previously worked in the economic development sector for several years.

He is also a Board Member for Cyngor ar Bopeth Gwynedd and a school governor.

Clare Sain-Ley-Berry
Deputy Chief Executive
Cynnal Cymru

Clare has a background in delivering partnership projects for the natural environment and sustainable resource use and uses this to help shape our policy and development work. She enjoys facilitating collaboration across sectors and devising practical programmes to deliver strategic aims.Clare leads on Cynnal Cymru’s work for a thriving natural environment, which includes our Nature Wise eco literacy training, as well as contributing to work around the foundational economy and decarbonisation.Clare enjoys being energised by good conversation, yoga and being out and about in nature. She lives with her family in Penarth.

Joshua Miles
Director for Wales
Learning & Work Institute

Joshua Miles is the Director for Wales at the Learning and Work Institute, leading on our activity in Wales and working closely with Welsh Government and other Welsh partners.

Prior to joining L&W, Joshua Miles was the Director for Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) Cymru. Joshua was previously the Head of Policy for the Federation of Small Businesses Wales.

He has been a member of several Welsh Government advisory bodies such as Transport for Wales’ Advisory Panel, the Valleys Taskforce and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales’ Research and Innovation Committee. He has also been a board member for Traveline Cymru.

Joshua holds Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Cardiff University and studied at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Bordeaux as part of his undergraduate study. He speaks both Welsh and French. Joshua has previously worked for the Construction Industry Training Board, Welsh political consultancy Positif Politics and for the former MP for Ogmore Huw Irranca-Davies.

Catherine Castillo-Soto
Business Development Director
Travis Perkins Managed Services

With 25 years experience in procurement, change and business development, Catherine is strategic, commercial and change leader, with a demonstrated history of implementing business growth & transformation in the building materials industry. In her current role as Business Development Director for Social Housing at Travis Perkins Managed Services, she loves working with customers to develop their operating models and work collaboratively with other organisations on shared challenges such as decarbonisation, skills and social value.

As part of the TPMS leadership, she has an expert team of BDEs, Marketing, Bids and Business Support specialists, as well as being a governor for TP plc LEAP Apprenticeships.

In her spare time, Catherine loves open water swimming and weightlifting, alongside time with her husband, teenage children and Monty the dog!

Jackie Leonard
Head of Member Services (Wales)
CHIC

Jackie has worked in the social housing sector for over 25 years in a wide variety of roles and consultancy projects at both strategic and operational levels, including asset management and fire safety.Jackie helped deliver CHIC’s procurement solution for ORP (Optimised Retrofit Programme) and Building Safety works and services in collaboration with the Welsh Government and other key stakeholders.

Carl Thomas
Stakeholder Engagement Lead
Welsh Government

Carl has a wealth of public procurement experience, having previously led the award-winning procurement team at one of Wales’ largest housing associations. Before joining Welsh Government, Carl worked for the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), where he taught procurement and contract management best practice to public and private sector organisations across the globe. Carl also played an important role in CIPS’ work post-Grenfell and supported the work of Working Group 11 to agree specific procurement competence levels for people involved in the construction of new higher risk residential buildings. In his current role, Carl leads the team responsible for the development and implementation of the Procurement Act in Wales, working closely with stakeholders across the Welsh public sector to ensure that they maximise the opportunities arising from procurement reform.

Claire Snook
Managing Director
SamKat Consulting

Claire is the founder and Managing Director of SamKat Consulting. She set up SamKat seven years ago, it is a specialist consultancy that works with housing associations, charities and non-profits on strategic projects. Claire has worked within the third sector for almost 20 years. With executive roles in Wales, London and internationally. Her specialism is strategic development, evaluation and project management. With a large focus on developing and evaluating sustainable financial strategies for non-profit making organisations. Claire worked for IGD (a successful London based research charity) as part of the commercial exec team for 11 years before starting her own consultancy.

Rachel Lovell
Head of Regeneration
Valleys to Coast

Rachel has worked in the housing and communities sector for over 25 years, managing large scale regeneration and grant funded projects focussing on maximising social, commercial and natural assets and their connectivity. Rachel is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Andrew Myatt
Director of Communities & Housing
Tai Calon Community Housing

Andrew has worked for Tai Calon for ten years and is responsible for a wide range of front-line services we deliver to customers. He is very proud of the local partnerships he has helped develop that support our community. He has worked in the social housing sector for 27 years in a range of senior roles for both Local Authorities and Housing Associations. Andrew loves to travel but spends most of his spare time enjoying the outdoors of the beautiful Beacons.

Liz Jones
Decarbonisation Consultant
Cynon Taf Community Housing Group

Holly Ingram
Strategic Marketing Manager
Blue Stag

Faiza Shaheen
Distinguished Policy Fellow
International Inequalities Institute (III), London School of Economics

Faiza is a Distinguished Policy Fellow at London School of Economics. She was previously Program Director at New York University where she worked with multiple progressive governments on policies to address inequality including through housing, tax, and green investment. She is the author of a range of materials and publications covering the most salient social and economic debates of our times, including inequality, austerity, immigration, and social mobility. Faiza has over 20 years of experience researching the trends and consequences of inequality, as well as designing policies and campaigns to address the causes of inequality and exclusion. Her book, ‘Know your place: How society sets us up to fail and what we can do about it’ was released in July 2023 on Simon & Schuster.

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