Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank announced it has appointed Kevin Harwood as the new Business Development Manager of its Public Sector team. He has over six years of commercial banking experience and joins the team from Allied Irish Bank. He will be responsible for managing the bank's relationship with existing and new public sector customers in the north of England.
Severnside Housing recently appointed two new directors. Sue Groom has taken up the new position of Neighbourhood and Community Services Director. Before joining the Association, she was Operations Director of Housing Quality Network.
Matthew Spittles has taken up the post of Director of Asset Management. He previously managed the stock transfer of homes from Bridgend County Borough Council to Valleys to Coast Housing Association.
Former Housing Corporation Board member Dr Peter Williams has been appointed as the new chairman of the consultancy practice - Acadametrics. Until recently, he was Deputy Director General of the Council of Mortgage Lenders. Before that, he was Head of External Affairs and Research at the Building Societies Association.
An initiative that started earlier this year at Magna Housing Association has gone from strength to strength.
Work 4 Magna started earlier this summer, with the aim of rewarding current employees for encouraging others to join Magna. The Association has recognised finding and retaining good staff is a major part of providing high-quality services to its customers.
Work 4 Magna operates by current employees talking to people they know about vacancies within the organisation. If someone they have encouraged to apply gets the job, the staff member who introduced them gets a £50 reward.
The Housing Corporation announced the appointments of Helen Cope and Patrick Harkness as expert advisors for its Gold Award competition's Empowering Communities theme.
Helen Cope is an independent and nationally recognised consultant, with 30 years of experience in housing and regeneration. She is a former Chief Executive of the East Thames Group and also a former chair of the National Housing Federation. She has written extensively on best practice in the development and management of affordable housing - particularly on high-density development, allocations and lettings and housing association investment in neighbourhoods.
Patrick Harkness has been involved in housing and community affairs since 1974. As an external adviser, he has supported residents, businesses, and social landlords to create a range of community projects and cross-sector partnerships, from Housing Action Trusts and Business Leadership Teams to small local initiatives. He advises public, private, voluntary, and trade bodies on stakeholder involvement and governance development.
Their role involves advising on assessment criteria, assessing applications and short listed entrants, and producing methodology for selection of winners.