We are delighted to welcome two new board members who are bringing a wealth of knowledge to the organisation.
Regeneration specialist Danielle Oum and Elaine Le Montais, who is head of worklessness at Midland Heart, are joining us as board members.
As senior regeneration manager with the Black Country Consortium Ltd Danielle brings experience in regeneration and specialises in facilitating and enabling activity which will impact upon employment and skills levels within the sub-region.
Danielle has been on our assurance and governance committee as a co-optee since August 2009 and was appointed a full board member in January this year.
As a board member she will contribute to strategic direction and overall scrutiny with a particular focus on assurance, governance and finance.
Danielle said: “I wanted to get involved with Family Housing as I already knew about the organisation from my work in Birmingham around regeneration and employment. I therefore knew that it was very resident-focused and I was keen to be part of an organisation with that ethos.
“Due to my work in health, regeneration, employment and skills I wanted to be involved in housing governance as I felt it was complementary to the experience I’ve gained while tackling disadvantage.”
Danielle’s previous experience includes board membership of a voluntary organisation and she is currently chair of an NHS community services provider in Dudley.
She added: “I hope to contribute to the overall strategic direction of Family Housing as an excellent social landlord with good services for its tenants. I also want to bring ideas I have from my other areas of work to benefit the organisation.
“I'm very interested in how public services can work together more effectively to deliver improved services more efficiently.
“As a parent to two children who are interested in why I go to so many meetings I am constantly challenged to 'keep it real' by explaining how the work I do helps local communities.”
Elaine, as head of worklessness at Midland Heart, brings more than two decades of experience in the social housing field. Elaine has wide ranging housing experience, including 14 years delivering front line housing management and other related services in both local government and the housing association sector and 14 years experience of delivering and managing neighbourhood regeneration programmes for two midlands-based housing associations.
As head of the worklessness service at Midland Heart, Elaine oversees the management of all of the employment, skills and training projects at Midland Heart and had been successful in growing the business through the development of a number of partnership projects.
She currently sits on our Development and Projects committee. She joined as co-optee in 2009 and was made a full board member in June this year.
Elaine said: “Family is inner city based, delivering services at a local level and working with residents to deliver better outcomes for them and their communities and this is an area that I am passionate about with 14 years experience of delivering services to improve the quality of life of customers.
“I am looking forward to broadening my leadership skills through operating at a more strategic level, as well as learning from a team of professionals with a broad range of expertise and from a diverse range of businesses and organisations. I hope to develop my own skills and experience through helping to shape the strategic direction of Family’s business.”
Our chief executive Tim Sewell said: “We are delighted that both Danielle and Elaine have chosen to join the Board. They bring a wealth of experience which is going to be of great benefit to the organisation. They both take a fresh-thinking approach to partnership working which is one of the strengths of Family Housing.”
Find out more information about Family’s board of management.