Our People

Colin Steel, Chief Executive

Colin is retiring in September 2021 following a 37-year career in housing and local government.  He has been our Chief Executive since 2009 when he led us through a successful stock transfer. 

Colin has a strong sense of social purpose and over the past 12 years has led the successful delivery of transfer promises to tenants, two corporate plans and most recently our Plan A business strategy. Throughout his focus has been on continuous growth and development and placing local communities, tenants and residents at the heart of everything we do.

Alan Boddy, Chief Executive (Designate)

Alan takes up the position of Chief Executive on 1 October 2021. He has a track record of delivering transformational change since joining us when we were established in 2009.  He is a housing, performance and human resources professional with a people centric approach and an advocate of excellent customer service.

He holds postgraduate diplomas in Housing and Human Resources , a Masters Degree in Strategic Human Resource Management and is a member of both the Chartered Institute of Housing and Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Having grown up in one of our communities he is aware of the social and economic challenges that many face. He is committed to making life changing improvements for people and their communities, and has dedicated 30 years to delivering a range of housing, property and support services.

Sean Brodie, Executive Director of Finance and Development

With over 19 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, Property Services and Development teams. He also has Executive responsibility for managing the Construction Related Services Contract with Mears plc. 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.