About our Boards

Ongo Homes Board oversees all the activities of the companies in the group and meets throughout the year. Here are the Board Members.

Bob Walder (Chair)

Bob spent his career working for housing associations based in Manchester, the Potteries and Lincolnshire. He was Chief Executive Officer at Longhurst Group for 26 years and retired in 2015. Since then, he has enjoyed a number of non-executive roles chairing three housing associations and a local University. Bob was appointed Chair at Ongo and is committed to a team approach working with the new Board, Ongo’s tenants and all members of staff.

Michael Finister-Smith

Mike is a retired Public Sector accountant with over 25 years experience in the social housing sector. Prior to retirement he worked in local government for 20 years before working as a social housing consultant, specialising in setting up new housing associations. In his later career he was Director of Resources at several organisations, specialising in risk management and governance. Following his retirement he has undertaken several non Executive Director posts and in most cases also been Chair of Audit and Risk committee.

Gerraint Oakley

Gerraint is Executive Director of Growth and Development at Platform Housing Group, a 47,000 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 30 years’ 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 Manager.

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 career or those looking to develop in their careers.

Rachel Cook (Senior Independent Director)

Rachel Cook is the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer for the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office. Born and raised in North Lincolnshire upon graduation Rachel was employed within the local authority in a Regeneration and External Funding setting. Since then she has worked across public, private and third sector in a variety of roles including Policy, Business Development, Contract Management and Operations.  Her experience stems many sectors starting with Regeneration, moving into Economic Development, Skills and Education, Criminal Justice, and Policing. Over fifteen years of senior management experience, Rachel is motivated by helping create the conditions for people to succeed and realising the potential of others. Passionate about collaboration, partnership working, seeking best value for the public purse while driving quality of public service.

Rachel is our Senior Independent Director (SID). As SID Rachel acts as a sounding board for the Chair and is a trusted intermediary with the Board Members. She is responsible for leading the appraisal of the Chair.

John Wright

John is  currently Executive Director of Finance at Incommunities, a large Registered Provider based in Yorkshire. He has over 18 years’ experience in the housing sector, providing leadership and direction across multi-disciplinary teams in numerous housing groups of different sizes, including traditional and stock transfer organisations.

John has vast experience in finance, as well as significant experience in governance, risk management, procurement and change management. He is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), and has also received a B.A. (Hons) degree in Business Economics from Coventry University.

 Tracy O’Neill

Tracy is a fully qualified social housing professional with over 35 years of experience in housing and two decades spent in senior leadership roles. She has a drive for social inclusion, community regeneration and ensuring that the customer voice is heard across the business. Experienced in business transformation including customer services, construction, asset management, people and organisational development. She is skilled at Place Making and bringing together professionals and community representatives to deliver community regeneration.

Natalie Cresswell

For the past 16 years Natalie has been working for E-Factor Group Ltd, a Social Enterprise based in Northern Lincolnshire.  Having worked her way through various roles, she is currently part of the Leadership team with responsibility for Property and Operations throughout the Company. She is passionate about raising aspirations and supporting entrepreneurs and the wider Business Community to reach their full potential, in whatever way that looks to them.  With aligned values to Ongo, but in the Commercial arena, Natalie strives to ensure that clients receive personal, outstanding support and customer service at all times and that the services that are provided are to the highest of standards, so it represents both E-Factor and the people and businesses they work with perfectly.

In her spare time she can be found lost in a good book, or a Marvel film, and loves nothing more than jumping on a plane with her family, finding a quiet beach or pool to sit around and soaking up the sun.

Paul Warburton

Paul is an experienced Housing Operations Director with over 26 years’ experience in Social Housing leading the Strategic, operational and service delivery of multiple disciplinary team and has a proven track record of high end customer focused service, improving business efficiency, value for money and community sustainability.

Paul also has over 6 years governance experience with Grove Village Board Limited, the country’s first social housing PFI and Lancashire mind, where he is a Trustee and the Chair of the Finance and Audit subcommittee, he is passionate about delivering great services and championing customer interests using large scale change and systems thinking to improve service satisfaction & bottom line results. He has extensive experience of working as part of various Senior Leadership Teams, developing business plans and strategies and working with a number of external partners to oversee delivery of these.

Steve Hepworth

Steve has over 30 years of experience in social housing organisations and after starting his career as an Income Officer he has held management positions across most areas of landlord activity. Steve became Chief Executive at Ongo in April 2018 and has led Ongo from a G3 downgrade back to G1 status whilst experiencing the challenges of covid and providing services through lockdown periods. He is a passionate believer in tenant empowerment and has championed this at Ongo through devolving real decision making powers to tenants giving them a real say in how Ongo is run.

Kacper Merta

Kacper has lived in the area for most of his life and has developed strong ties with many local communities of multiple ethnicities.  As an Ongo tenant from a young age Kacper became familiar with the way the housing association operates and was impressed with how it contributes to improving the lives of local communities.  He also gained insight through his own experience and those of others about issues tenants might be facing as well as areas Ongo could improve in order to deliver even better services to local communities.

Kacper is an active member and voluntary worker of the Polish Cultural Centre in Grimsby (PCCG).  His responsibilities include organising events and trips, managing resources and finances of the organisation, childcare during field trips, organising charity events and recently the Help for Ukraine collection.  He plans events benefiting local communities by working with other institutions such as Consulate General of the Republic of Poland.  Kacper has studied and graduated from UCNL with the FDA degree in Leadership and Management.  He is currently finishing a Bachelors Degree in Business Studies. University education has allowed him to obtain knowledge in accountancy, finance, economics, marketing and leadership & management skills which he intends to use and implement in his future career within the property business sector.

Nicola Haywood-Cleverly

With a background in engineering, Nicola has extensive knowledge of technology and a wealth of expertise implementing complex change, often digitally enabled to deliver improvements across the public sector. She has been a Chief Digital and Information Officer in the NHS and policing.

Neurodiverse, with lived experience of caring and one parent families, and a lifelong relationship with the area, Nicola promotes partnership working and the ethical use of data to address inequalities. With a passion for doing what’s right to care for and protect the most vulnerable, Nicola now works as an advisor to the digital healthcare sector.

She has been a university governor, chair of an academy trust and deputy chair of the National Police Technology Council and is currently a board member at South Lakes Housing, a NED at Mersey Care NHS FT and Chair of the Audit Committee at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS FT.

Matt Sugden (Member Responsible for Complaints)

Matt is currently Chief Executive of Railway Housing Association, a small housing provider within the North East and Yorkshire. With nearly 20 years’ experience within the social housing sector, Matt previously worked for Accent Housing, where he was executive director of governance and strategy, holding responsibility for a range of corporate services including strategy, organisational culture, communications, customer insight, governance, procurement, legal and regulatory services. Originally qualifying as a solicitor, Matt has held several executive and non-executive roles within the social housing sector including as a statutory appointee for the Regulator of Social Housing.

Judith Tomlinson – Co-optee

As a current Ongo Homes tenant Judith understands the issues affecting our customers and helps bring the customer voice to the heart of Boardroom discussions. She has a background in customer services, was previously a manager for British Gas and is a trained wages clerk. Judith has also previously been a town mayor and brings the skills she’s developed over the years to her role in Ongo’s governance structure.

Board Trainee

We have joined up with the Housing Diversity Network (HDN) to deliver a two-year learning, development and mentoring programme, to support and nurture a more diverse cohort of future Board Members in the housing sector. We are keen to provide Board experience for those individuals who may find there are barriers in the way of access to such opportunities, with the longer term outcome that they become full Board Members either at Ongo or elsewhere within the housing sector.

Our trainee is:

Charmaine Mande 

Charmaine is an experienced management professional with over 20 years in industries like retail and hospitality. Known for her strong leadership and ethical management, she consistently drives positive results.

Originally from St. Lucia, Charmaine holds a BA in Business and an MBA. She has also served as PTA President and Vice President at her son’s schools demonstrating her commitment to community and education. Her leadership continues to inspire both in business and in her community.

Ongo Developments oversee our new build development programme.

Gerraint Oakley (Chair)

See info under Ongo Homes Board

Steve Ellard

Steve joined us in July 2024 as our Director of Property. He will have overall responsibility for the following areas: repairs and maintenance, empty homes, planned work and improvements, neighbourhood services, compliance and developments.

Coming from Director of Assets and Sustainability at Yorkshire Housing, Steve brings a wealth of knowledge in the sector, specialising in strategic planning, investment and environmental sustainability.

Tracy O’Neill

See info under Ongo Homes Board

Moya Jones

With over 30 years public and private sector experience in housing development and mixed tenure sales; Moya has worked at a senior level for PLC developers such as Gleeson, McLean Homes and George Wimpey.  Moya has also worked for organisations such as HBOS and Southdale Group and brings a passion for supporting people into decent housing.   Moya worked up to 2007 for Derwentside Homes, where she was Development Director taking a lead in securing Homes England grant funding.    A strong believer in having a commercial head and social heart, she places her work  with housing associations and community engagement projects, as a major focus.

Ovidiu Staicu

Ovidiu was born in Romania and has lived and worked in both Romania and the UK before settling in the local area in 2015. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Birmingham Business School, alongside undergraduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Economics. With this strong academic foundation, Ovidiu has built an international career in business, gaining extensive experience within multinational corporations. For over 14 years, Ovidiu successfully managed his own property management company in Yorkshire, where he dedicated himself to improving the lives of local communities. His hands-on experience in dealing with tenant and property issues has provided him with a deep understanding of the challenges faced by both landlords and tenants, further informing his approach to business and community engagement.

Ovidiu’s commitment to social impact is also reflected in his roles as a Non-Executive Director at Thrive Co-operative Learning Trust and as Vice-Chair at Carers Trust Mid Yorkshire, where he also serves as Chair of the Governance Committee and as a member of the Finance Committee. Alongside these roles, he continues to lead his own business consultancy, offering expert advice both in the UK and internationally. Ovidiu brings significant expertise in finance, governance, risk management, procurement, and change management.

Ongo Communities Board acts as a Common Board to look after community investment activities of Ongo Communities Ltd and the legal entities of Ongo Recruitment Ltd and Crosby Brokerage Ltd.  Our members are:

Natalie Cresswell (Chair)

See info under Ongo Homes Board

Kacper Merta

See info under Ongo Homes Board

Jan Williams

Jan joined Ongo in 2012, bringing the award-winning social enterprise Crosby Employment that she set up in 2003 into the Ongo group. After spending 14 years in private businesses, beginning her career in hospitality management, and spending eight years in the recruitment industry in London, Jan found her passion and enthusiasm for helping people and communities through a diverse range of experiences in the voluntary and public sectors and helps Ongo to achieve our promise that “everything we do is put back into local communities,

Karen Locking

Karen has worked in both the public and the private sector in North Lincolnshire for over 20 years. For the past 10 years Karen has been the Director of her own business supporting others with their Marketing and Social Media. Alongside this business Karen also ran a success Business Networking event every month for 8 years enabling her to make amazing local business connections across North and North East Lincolnshire. Karen lectures on a casual basis at the University of Lincoln & Bishop Grosseteste University specialising in Leadership, Managing People, Marketing and Business in general, she is also a fundraising and publicity volunteer for Scunthorpe Samaritans.

Debbie Clegg

Debbie has lived in the Scunthorpe area for over 30 years spending her teenage years living in a council house like many of her friends did and attended Foxhills School in Scunthorpe.  Debbie now works for the NHS and has done for many years, both locally at NLAG and now in Lincolnshire.  She is a Medical Workforce Manager and the experience of working at the NHS has helped her develop skills she hopes will be an asset to Ongo.  Debbie was delighted to be part of the Ongo communities Board and be able to support the outstanding work they do.  Until joining the Board Debbie did not realise the amount of support that is available to the community and she’s proud to be a part of that.  Debbie feels fortunate to have visited many of the projects and see first-hand what great things are on offer and how involved members of the communities are.  She’s seen the success stories and heard first hand from people who have received help and support.

Our Ongo Commercial Board look after the commercial businesses which include Ongo Commercial Ltd, Ongo Heating & Plumbing Ltd (trading as Hales & Coultas Heating and Plumbing) and Ongo Roofing Ltd (trading as Ashbridge Roofing). Our members are:

Paul Warburton(Chair)

See info under Ongo Homes Board

Paula Gouldthorpe

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Ashley Harrison

Ashley is our Director of Resources & Commercial Services which means he looks after the finance, procurement, IT and commercial areas of the business.

He has vast experience in working in the financial sector and is a member of the Fellowship of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA). He joined Ongo in 2015, initially joining as Head of Finance, before becoming Director of Resources and Commercial Services in 2018 after a short spell as interim Director.

A family man and part time golfer, Ashley gets a buzz from the great bunch of people he works with at Ongo.

Lee Coulson

Lee has been an Executive Director for Ongo Commercial, Ongo Roofing and Ongo Heating and Plumbing since 2019. With a multi-industry background in sales, marketing and business development, Lee has bought those skills to Ongo in his role as Head of Commercial where he has overall responsibility for the development and growth of Ongo’s Commercial businesses.

Matt Sugden

See info under Ongo Homes Board

Tom Pratt

Tom is a seasoned business leader with over two decades of experience in marketing and strategy across diverse sectors. As the founder of Albert Road Consulting Ltd, Tom has delivered transformative campaigns for global brands since 2017.

Tom serves as Chair and Trustee of Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, a charity based in the Yorkshire Dales. In this role, he provides leadership and governance support for the organisation and helps to maintain a robust board.

Our Governance & Remuneration Committee is tasked with reviewing and making recommendations on matters concerning remuneration of non-executive members and executive staff of Ongo Group. Our Members are:

Rachel Cook (Chair)

See info under Ongo Homes Board

Nicola Haywood-Cleverly

See info under Ongo Homes Board

Lisa Whelan

Lisa started her career in the charity sector providing advice, casework and representation on housing and debt related matters.

She is a qualified social housing professional. She has over 10 years housing management experience with a focus on performance and improvement in the delivery of services for customers.

She completed her two year Board Trainee Programme having acquired skills and knowledge in all areas including: Risk Management and Assurance, Health and Safety, Finance, Regulations, Good Governance and Organisational Culture.

Our Audit & Risk Committee advise the Group Board on whether the Group has robust risk management, internal control and assurance frameworks in place. Our members are:

Michael Finister-Smith (Chair)

See info under Ongo Homes Board

Rachel Cook

See info under Ongo Homes Board

John Wright

See info under Ongo Homes Board

Martin Gore

Martin is a qualified accountant, and was Finance Director to a variety of private, public and third sector organisations, prior to retiring as Director of Corporate Services at Humberside Probation Trust. Shortly after he was appointed to the board of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and became Chair of their Audit Committee.

He is currently a board member of Together Housing and Hull Churches Housing Association, as well as being the Independent Member of the Audit Committee of UK Anti- Doping.

Having left school at sixteen he is passionate about personal development, and founded the Hull based Song for Hull project as part of the Hull City of Culture in 2017. He is also actively involved in amateur dramatics, writing several pantomimes and plays, and has published three novels.