OUR BOARD

Our voluntary Board provides strategic direction for PCHA and monitors our performance to ensure that we are achieving our objectives within our agreed values. Our Board Members bring a wealth of skills and experience to ensure that they can effectively manage PCHA's business.

Please scroll down to the end of this page if you wish to see our Board Members' Declarations of Interest.

Cathy McCarthy – Chair

Cathy’s first roles were in housing advice and homelessness for a London local authority where she found a passion for working in social housing, making a positive difference to lives and communities. She has over 20 years’ experience at a senior level, including Director roles at Origin Housing and Southern Housing.

Cathy lives locally in Beckenham and is currently Housing Director at West Kent Housing.

Karen Cooper

Appointed as Chief Exec of PCHA in December 2016, Karen has worked at a senior level within the social housing and voluntary sector for over 25 years. Her interest in social housing came from being homeless herself when she was pregnant with her daughter; she realised that having a safe affordable home is an essential building block for life. She started off working in supported housing for people with mental health problems, and then went on to be the Chief Exec of three small community based housing associations. In 2006 she set up her own consultancy business and since then has worked with a range of housing and support providers, offering advice and training to enable them to improve services, successfully engage tenants, and achieve their visions.

Rowann Limond

Rowann has a degree in Management Science and is a qualified CIPFA accountant. Rowann examined for CIPFA and is a member of the Housing panel and as such she participates in the formulation of accounting guidance and advice to other practitioners. Since Rowann qualified she has been in a number of senior management roles, managing both external customer-facing services such as leasehold and income teams, as well as internal customer facing ones such as Finance, IT and Human Resources.

Simon Oelman

Simon has worked for a number of Housing Associations and local authorities at a senior level during his career in housing. This has included running repairs and housing management services. However, his main interest is in resident engagement and involvement and in community development. He is currently the Director of a Resident Management Organisation in Brixton.

Richard Ellis

Richard is the Assistant Director of Asset Management at Peabody looking after the investment programmes, stock information and long-term planning. Recently he has written the sustainability strategy for Peabody to make a positive impact on climate change. He is passionate about social housing, customer service and making sure that the homes that we live in are safe, secure and fit for the future.

Sarah Chatfield

Sarah has had a long career in housing spanning nearly 30 years. She has had roles in a number of G15 Housing Associations including Hyde Housing and Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing. Whilst mainly specialising in leasehold management and service charges, she is currently managing a mixed tenure portfolio as Director of Home Ownership for Anchor Hanover – the largest national provider of accommodation for those in later life.

Alan Begg

Alan is a retired corporate executive director experienced in the private, not-for-profit, public, charity and commercial sectors and acted as the Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Services in the Valuation Tribunal Service in London prior to retirement. As a graduate chartered accountant Alan’s career has extended to being a Chief and Deputy Chief Executive, Accounting Officer, practice partner and Finance Director in various customer servicing organisations. Alan has an in-depth knowledge of finance, corporate governance, risk management, business planning and strategic development; he has also a mentoring qualification from his Institute. Currently Alan has a non-executive Director portfolio comprising: Trustee/Director of Compass, a social welfare York based charity; as an independent member of Islington Town Council’s audit committee; as pensions board member at Islington Town Council; and as an elite panel member of LV=. Alan was the former Chair of the audit and risk committee in York and served as Chair of the Board at Queen Mary University of London until 2018.

Andrew Green

Having originally trained as a Quantity Surveyor, Andrew began working in social housing in the mid 1990's. Working for medium and large providers Andrew's background is in housing management, property services, community investment and resident involvement. He has considerable experience of strategic leadership and working at executive level. Prior to joining PCHA Andrew was Vice Chair of Bexley Community Housing Association.

Graham Littlewood

Graham has spent 10 years working in housing operations where he has managed mixed tenure portfolios. He also brings experience from the voluntary sector where he is Chair of Trustees of a Legal Advice Charity. Graham currently works as the Regional Head of Rented Housing (South East) at Anchor.

Board Member Declarations of Interest

PCHA Board and Committee members are required to make an annual Declaration of Interest. The 2023 Declarations of Interest for all current Board and Committee members are linked below.