Our People

Colin Steel, Chief Executive

Colin was appointed our Chief Executive in 2009 and is responsible for leading the delivery of our Plan A. He will be retiring is September 2021.

He started his housing career in Sheffield in 1984 and then moved North in 1986 and developed his career in County Durham, Teesside and Northumberland. He was appointed to his first Chief Officer post, in Northumberland, in 1999. He now has over 30 years’ experience in social housing and local government.

Colin holds a BA Hons degree in Social Science, Postgraduate Diploma in Housing Administration and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA), he has been a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing since 1985 and a Fellow since 2004.

Alan Boddy, Executive Director of Housing and Operations

Alan is our Housing and Human Resources professional with over 30 years’ experience in the  management and delivery of a range of housing, property and support services.

In 2009 he took his first director’s role with the newly formed Housing Association. With a passion for improving lives and communities, Alan heads up the Housing, Property Services, Asset Management and Customer Services functions. He also leads on corporate support services including: Business Strategy, Performance Management, Service Improvement, IT and Digital, Marketing, PR and Communications. Alan has postgraduate diplomas in Housing and Human Resource Management as well as a Master’s in Human Resource Management and is a member of both CIH and CIPD.

Sean Brodie, Executive Director of Finance and Development

With over 16 years of direct housing experience Sean’s career has spanned both industry and the charitable sector, joining us as an Executive Director in July 2015.

Sean started his career in housing in the North East and has also spent time working in London and the South East. Prior to joining us, Sean was the Director of Financial Planning and Risk for Moat Homes based in Kent.  Sean has a wealth of expertise and leads the Finance, Governance, Financial Wellbeing and Development teams. He is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and is also a qualified Corporate Treasurer.

Helen Darby, Strategic Head of Operations

Helen took up a Head of Service role in 2009 with the newly formed Housing Association and over the past 11 years has developed the organisation’s Business Strategy and Performance Management arrangements to ensure a strong and consistent focus on improving the lives of the people living in local communities.

She has over 30 years’ experience in delivering and managing corporate services including: Human Resources, Business Strategy, Performance Management, Service Improvement, IT and Digital, Marketing, PR and Communications and Customer Services.

Helen is a Human Resources Professional and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Peter Camp, Strategic Head of Finance

Peter has over 23 years’ experience working in Accountancy and Finance. Throughout this time Peter has worked as an auditor and business adviser assisting companies to understand their financial data, improve their internal controls and expand their businesses.

After a spell as a divisional finance director of a large construction company, Peter joined us in 2009 and was appointed Head of Finance in February 2014. Key aspects of Peter’s role are financial reporting and monitoring, treasury management and financial business planning.

Peter is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Graham Darby, Strategic Head of Housing

Graham is a strong business development professional and has over 20 years’ experience in the housing industry delivering housing, maintenance and support services.

He took up the role of Strategic Head of Housing in March 2019 covering Housing Management, Regeneration, Customer Voice and Engagement, Asset Management and Property Services. A key aspect of Graham’s role is the delivery of customer focused services to tenants and residents across County Durham our local communities. Graham is also a passionate advocate for the positive impacts that housing associations can make and leads our partnership and place based approaches to neighbourhood and community regeneration.

Graham holds a postgraduate diploma in Housing Management and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing.