ccha is overseen by a Board that monitors how we deliver services to residents, sets our strategic direction and establishes plans to achieve our key objectives. The Board provides systems of control and a framework of delegation to the Leadership Team and staff. As a provider of social housing, we are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing.
ccha complies with the National Housing Federation’s Code of Governance 2015.
View Board and Committee Member’s term of office and register of interest details.
Board Members
Heather Thomas is a housing professional with 20 years’ experience at a senior level in housing associations. Heather is currently the CEO of a small specialist housing association based in North West London and an executive committee member of the g320 group of smaller housing associations.
Heather is a corporate member of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has a Masters in Organisational Behaviour. Often described as a supportive and encouraging leader, Heather has a keen interest in being involved in organisations that make a difference to communities.
As a Croydon resident, Heather has followed the development of ccha over the years and joined the Board in 2017. Heather was appointed as the Chair of ccha’s Board in September 2019. With experience of managing diverse housing tenures in different organisations, Heather brings considerable experience and knowledge of the housing association sector to her role as Chair.
Graduating in 1991 with a degree in Civil Engineering, Tracy worked with Wimpey Environmental in the Energy and Building technology team who undertook several energy efficiency research projects for clients such as the Building Research Establishment. She then moved to Stanger Science and Environment as a Construction Material Consultant.
In 2001, Tracy made the transition into social housing as a Responsive Repair’s Surveyor, gaining a post graduate diploma in surveying along the way and has never looked back. She has been with ccha since 2008, starting as the Head of Property Services, moving on to the role of Director of Operations and lastly, Chief Executive in 2011. In social housing, she feels that she has found her purpose she takes pride in delivering a great service to residents and is committed to creating an environment of continuous improvement.
As well as being the Chief Executive, Tracy sits as a member of ccha’s Board and was appointed in 2017. In 2022, Tracy Joined the Board of ccha’s subsidiary, ccha Developments Limited.
Abigail Lock has held a number of senior leadership roles in the private, public and third sectors. She brings four years’ experience as an elected Councillor and has sat as a Non-Executive Director on several boards including Sutton Housing Partnership (July 2012 – Oct 2016) where she was an active member of the Organisational Development Committee and involved with resident communications. Abigail has strong knowledge of the sector including four years leading the Communications and Marketing for Mears Group PLC. She is currently the Chief Executive of Back Up, a charity transforming lives of people with spinal cord injury.
Abigail is committed to resident engagement and sits on ccha’s Board and Chairs ccha’s Remuneration and Nomination Committee. She was appointed in 2017.
Neil Perrins is a Chartered Management Accountant (FCMA, CIMA) having qualified during his early career at Transport for London. He is currently Finance Director at Barking Riverside, a Joint Venture between the Mayor of London and L&Q, building a new community of over 10,000 homes on the River Thames. Before that he was Director of Resources at Golding Homes, a Housing Association in Kent managing around 8,000 properties.
Neil was appointed in 2018 and sits on ccha’s Board and Chairs ccha’s Audit and Risk Committee.
Carolyn Porretta works for BlackRock where she is Head of Capital Markets EMEA Client Strategy. Prior to this, Carolyn was a Managing Director at Macquarie Bank and worked for AIG, UBS Investment Bank, and Bank of America. Carolyn has varied experience and holds an MSc in Science of Management from a French Grande Ecole, as well as an MSc in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. She is ACCA part qualified and holds the CFA’s Certificate in ESG Investing.
Carolyn is a voluntary committee member of the Investment committee of Royal Academy of Engineering and the Treasury Committee of Optivo.
Carolyn was appointed to the Board in 2018 and sits on ccha’s Board. She is also the Chair of ccha’s Development Committee.
Mark Collins is a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering. He is currently a senior business transformation lead at British Telecom where he’s held a variety of operational, technology, and transformation roles following several years in management consulting.
Mark was the chair of governors for 3 years at The Lea Primary School and Nursery in Hertfordshire where he stood down in 2019. He has also been a trustee at Vision Housing Consultancy.
Mark sits on ccha’s Board, ccha’s Audit and Risk Committee and is the Chair of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee. He was appointed in 2020.
Nathan Gravesande has had an extensive career in the housing sector, working at Director and Board level in some of the largest organisations. He is currently Director of Regeneration and Development at Riverside Housing Association in London. He holds a BSc Hons Social Psychology and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management Studies.
Nathan was appointed in 2020 and sits on ccha’s Board and its Development Committee.
Marcella is an Emotional Wellness Coach certified in Transformational Coaching Method (TCM) and a certified Health & Life coach.
Marcella has twenty years’ experience in customer service within sectors such as the NHS, Health and Fitness and charity. She also has significant voluntary experience within Croydon community-based projects and the former HMP Holloway prison, where she served as a group facilitator within the drug and alcohol strategy unit for three years.
Marcella was appointed in 2021 and is a Board Member and sits on the Remuneration and Nomination Committee. Marcella stood down in October 2022.
Julian Chun is an influential strategic leader with extensive experience in social housing and asset management at executive level. He is currently the Executive Director of Homes at Richmond Housing Partnership.
He holds a BSc(Hons) Building Surveying and is a Charter Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIHCM), and is an Incorporate Member at the Chartered Institute of Building (ICIOB).
Julian was appointed to the Board in 2021 and is also a member of ccha’s Audit and Risk Committee and Development Committee.
Independent Committee Members
Nancy Callender is an experienced chartered accountant, CFO and Non-Executive Director working with a range of clients in the Retail, Property and Arts sectors.
Following an extensive career in Finance at M&S (including a Head of Property Finance position), she has now established her own practice and hopes to bring some private sector insights into her role with ccha.
Nancy is an Independent Committee Member and was appointed to the Audit and Risk Committee in 2020. Her term of office ends in February 2023.
Phiroze Mackenzie has an extensive background over 16 years in affordable housing development having worked for a variety of registered providers from G15 to small local Housing Associations. He currently is Director of a Development Consultancy advising RPs, Councils, Developers and Contractors on development projects with a particular focus on partnering and joint ventures.
This varied background helps him provide a commercial outlook on new and existing developments for ccha.
Phiroze in an Independent Committee Member and was appointed to the Development Committee in 2020.
Felicity Gentle is a Sales & Marketing professional with over 15 years’ experience within the property sector. In her role as Director of Sales & Marketing at Optivo, Felicity managed annual sales programmes worth £35million.
Felicity has vast experience in regulatory requirements and legislation relation to property sales, as well as undertaking regulatory audits successfully without any impact on governance or viability.
Felicity’s ability to build excellent relationships underpins her strength in stakeholder engagement. Felicity has a wealth of experience in site market assessments from pre purchase right through construction – appraising the likely success of sites, site optimisation and value engineering.
Felicity is an Independent Committee Member of ccha’s Development Committee and appointed in 2020.