Lucy Dixon
Head of External Affairs, Karbon Homes

Lucy leads on public affairs and communications for the North East Housing Partnership. She has more than 20 years’ experience in communications and public affairs, and has worked across the voluntary and public sector including RNIB, the British Red Cross and Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service.

Victoria Asimaki
Head of Strategy and Policy, Moat Homes

Lisa Astle
Chief Reputation Officer, Orbit

Lisa joined Orbit in 2020 as Head of Corporate Communications, before becoming Director of Brand and Communications and joining the Executive Team as Chief Reputation Officer in 2025. As Chief Reputation Officer, Lisa is responsible for the development and delivery of Orbit’s communications and reputation strategy, spanning customer and external communications, external affairs, digital communications and marketing, design and film, colleague communications and employer brand. Prior to joining Orbit, Lisa led internal, external, corporate and investor relations communications for Halfords Group and spent 25 years working in communications agencies, most notably as Managing Partner at global communications agency McCann, where she advised clients including McCarthy & Stone, David Wilson Homes, Barratt Developments, Avis Budget Group, Mitchells & Butlers, Fiat Chrysler and General Motors.

Sabrina Bengtzen
Consultant, New Philanthropy Capital (NPC)

Bethan Buck
External Affairs Manager, National Housing Federation

Bethan has worked for the NHF for eight years, having previously worked for a social enterprise specialising in community development and placemaking for areas undergoing regeneration. As External Affairs Manager for London, Bethan works closely with housing associations across the capital and is responsible for the NHFs offer for smaller housing associations. With significant programme management experience, Bethan is currently working across various specialisms at the NHF including supply and regeneration, building confidence and trust, the Better Social Housing Review, and community cohesion. Bethan also sits on the Advisory Board for the LGBTQ+ Housing Pledge.

Rose Grayston
Director of Policy Consultancy, On Place

Rose Grayston is a housing policy expert and campaigns strategist with 15 years’ experience shaping reform across England’s housing, land and development systems. She served as Expert Adviser to Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State for Housing and Planning until October 2025, and previously worked for Shelter and the New Economics Foundation. She is also editor of Labour Housing Group's Red Brick blog.

John Greaves
Chief Impact Officer, Places for People

John Greaves is Chief Impact Officer at Places for People, the UK's leading social enterprise. During his 35-year career, John has led integrated brand, marketing, communications, public affairs, and social investment programmes across consumer, B2B, and financial sectors in the UK and international markets. John joined PfP in May 2023 and since then has been instrumental in driving impact initiatives that support the Group's mission to change lives by creating and supporting thriving Communities.

Cara Green
External Affairs Manager, National Housing Federation

Cara Green is External Affairs Manager at the National Housing Federation. With a background in communications, strategy and digital innovations, she works closely with members to drive meaningful change with a powerful mission: ensuring everyone has access to a safe, affordable home.

Samantha Hagan
Head of Brand and Communication, Vico Homes

Sam Hagan is Head of Brand and Communications at Vico Homes, where she leads brand, public affairs, communications and reputation. With more than a decade of experience in housing, she's passionate about using communications to drive real change. Sam led the creation and launch of the Vico Homes brand, helping turn a rebrand into a platform for growth, stronger stakeholder relationships and a shared sense of purpose. Passionate about the role communications can play in shaping organisations, her work focuses on bringing purpose to life, building trust, engaging colleagues and using communications to help deliver real business impact. That impact includes the biggest period of growth in the organisation's history.

Mark Henderson
Chair, The Whitely Homes Trust

Mark retired in 2026 as Chief Executive of Home Group, with over 120,00 customers across 55,000 properties in England and Scotland, plus some 15,000 people with mental and physical health issues in specialist accommodation. Home Group is also one of the largest developers of housing in the UK with a turnover of some £450 million per annum. Mark is currently Chair of Trustees of Whiteley Homes Trust. He was also a former Board Member for the National Housing Federation and former Chair of Homes for the North. He previously ran his own business before joining Home Group, before that had worked with the RDA as Operations Director and a variety of regeneration and economic development jobs across the country in local government, most recently as Chief Executive of one of the largest County Councils in the country.

Kate Henderson
Chief Executive, National Housing Federation

Kate is Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation (NHF), the voice of housing associations in England. Kate is passionate about tackling the housing crisis, inequality and climate change. She is a member of several government panels including the Rough Sleeping Advisory Panel and the Social Housing White Paper Expert Challenge Panel. Kate become a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2021. Prior to joining the NHF in 2018, Kate was Chief Executive of the Town and Country Planning Association.

Louise Hillier
Partnership Director, Norfolk and Suffolk Housing Partnership (NSHP)

Charlotte Humble
Internal Communications Manager, Karbon Homes

Charlotte is a Chartered Marketer with 10+ of experience leading communications, marketing and engagement in the public sector. Covering the North of England, she is currently responsible for internal communications and engagement at Karbon Homes and has previously led brand development and communications in children’s social services and for a number of independent organisations. Charlotte is also a Board Member at North Tyneside VODA, and Board sponsor for culture and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Ruth Johnston
Head of Communications and Marketing, National Housing Federation

Ruth leads the NHF's communications and marketing teams, ensuring almost 800 members understand, support and engage with the NHF's critical work and events. She's worked on a refresh the NHF's brand, created a strategy to make comms and marketing a data-led function, and is currently leading the NHF's AI strategy. Prior to this role, she was the Editor of a suite of scientific journals and launched a cutting-edge publication on carbon management. She has also worked in consultancy for several UK government and UN departments.

N'jaindeh Lungoci
Board Member, Innisfree

N'jaindeh Lungoci is a Improvement Projects Officer at the London Borough of Hackney and a Board Member at Innisfree Housing Association. She is currently completing an MBA focused on public trust, resident engagement and organisational decision-making. Her work explores how public organisations can strengthen resident trust by connecting consultation, co-design, governance and decision-making with visible service improvement. Drawing on experience across local government, housing governance research and lived experience, she is developing practical approaches that help organisations turn resident insight into meaningful action and continuous improvement. N'jaindeh is particularly interested in civic innovation, public trust and designing decision-making processes that improve outcomes for residents while strengthening organisational accountability.

Angela Maher
Assistant Director of the Chief Executive's Office, Regulator of Social Housing

Julia Mixter
Interim Executive Director of Transformation, IT, Data and People, Saxon Weald

Julia Mixter is an FCIPD-qualified Executive Director with 25 years leading people, digital and transformation functions across various sectors including housing. She is currently Interim Executive Director, Strategy, Culture and Transformation at Saxon Weald, and Associate Director for the Disruptive Innovators Network, leading on Transformation and AI. At Raven Housing Trust she built a transformation function from scratch and delivered a multi-year digital transformation, reducing 60 legacy systems to six. At Anchor she led a re-design of the organisation's transformation programme including AI leadership. She combines neuroscience training with practical delivery experience to help housing organisations optimise their operating model to deliver their strategic ambition.

Solace Okeyi
Communications Officer, Liverpool City Council

Solace Okeyi is the Communications Lead for the Our Liverpool Refugee and Migration Programme at Liverpool City Council. She leads strategic communications on migration, community cohesion and inclusion, working at the intersection of communications, public policy and community engagement.Since joining the council, Solace has led campaigns to tackle misinformation, developed communications training and practical toolkits for partner organisations, and worked with housing providers, community organisations and public sector partners to strengthen communications on sensitive issues. Her work helps organisations respond confidently and consistently, building trust with residents and supporting stronger community cohesion.Before joining Liverpool City Council, Solace worked in international development and communications, bringing expertise in public engagement, behaviour change and strategic storytelling to her work in local government.

Jonathan Place
Director of Customer Relations, Accent

Edward Thomas
Director of Communications, Marketing and Public Affairs, Housing Plus Group

A professional communicator for almost two decades, Ed has held a number of public affairs and corporate communications leadership roles in business associations, renewable energy, higher education and now housing. Ed leads the strategic communications and engagement function at Housing Plus Group, a social housing and care provider that creates places that people are proud to call home across Shropshire and Staffordshire.

Hayley Ward
Brand and Marketing Director, Magenta Living