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.
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.
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.
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.
Helen Manley
A qualified chartered accountant (ACA); PwC alumni, Helen is a Chief Financial Officer for Coin Street, made up of a social enterprise, two community-based charities and a Secondary Housing Co-operative, a registered provider of social housing, committed to creating an inspirational neighbourhood on the Southbank of London. As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, she heads up their central service support functions including people, finance and information technology, governance, regulation, compliance, and risk management including data protection, health & safety and business continuity. Passionate about her local community, she also sits on the Board of Governors and Chairs the Resources Committee for a Federation of Primary Schools in Lewisham and is Treasurer for a local charity in Sydenham, committed to providing arts for the benefit of the local community. She has joined the PCHA Board as Chair of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee using her experience to support both the ambition and maintenance of, the impactful work PCHA does in its community, for its residents.
Jed Holloway
Jed is a planning solicitor, running the Planning Voice project at Southwark Law Centre. The project seeks to provide legal advice and strategic support to communities impacted by redevelopment, with a particular focus on maximising delivery of truly affordable housing. Previously, he worked for leading planning firm Town Legal, representing the full spectrum of stakeholders involved in the planning system, including affordable housing providers and local authorities.
Johanna Ellis
Jo has worked in social housing for over 35 years. She has both lived experience in social housing, and has worked her way from front line roles to Executive and Chief Executive roles. Having developed an NED portfolio and grown her consultancy
business, which focuses on coaching and training, over the last 2 years, Jo brings a wide range of experience to PCHA's Board. Jo's passion and drive is to help individuals and organisations be the best version of themselves and she is focused on ensuring the voice of all tenants and service users are heard. She currently holds positions as Non-Executive Director of Southdown, Chair of their Service Quality Committee and member of their Audit and Risk Committee, Non – Executive Director of Look Ahead and Independent member of Orbit's Audit and Risk Committee
Sandeep Sankoli
Sandeep Sankoli is a seasoned housing professional with over 15 years of experience in both regional government and private practice. He specialises in mixed-use development, private rented sector investment, and urban regeneration and is currently Head of London Land and Partnerships at Hill Residential, and a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Sandeep's career began as a Housing Economist at City Hall, where he provided advice to the Mayor of London on housing supply barriers. He also worked at L&Q, advising on their entry into the private rented sector and
strategic growth planning. Sandeep is a regular contributor to round table discussions and think tanks on private rented sector and placemaking through the British Property Federation and Future of London.
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.
Board EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion)
As part of our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion we regularly collect data on the diversity of our Board members. The results of our 2023 survey are linked here.