Our 2022 Annual General Meeting (Link opens in new window)

In September we welcomed board members and shareholders to our headquarters to share our annual review and accounts for the last financial year.

Celebrating another successful year at our AGM
Anthony Whittaker – Board member
Anthony Whittaker (Chair)

Anthony has worked for several not-for-profit housing organisations during a career spanning over 40 years. His most recent role was the Chief Executive of United Welsh Housing Association.

A resident of Bridgend, in his spare time he enjoys walking his dogs, gardening, and following his local football team.

Joanne Smith – Board Member
Joanne Smith (Vice Chair)

Joanne works as a Governance and Regulation Manager for the housing association Coastal Housing Group. She worked in the Housing Regulation Team in the Welsh Government before that.

She firmly believes in the benefits that good quality, secure homes and services can bring to improve people’s health and wellbeing.

Derek Hobbs

Derek is a retired Senior Civil Servant and as well as Valleys to Coast board is Board Chair of Planning Aid Wales. Before his retirement, he was a Director of Digital Transformation Relationships Ltd. and Careers Wales. He was national Head of Operational Digital Services at DWP and held senior positions at The Pensions Regulator and DVLA. He has developed significant knowledge and experience in the technical, practical and legal aspects of modern digital, marketing and insight techniques within public, private and voluntary sectors. He is a resident of Pen y fai, Bridgend and enjoys gardening, growing a range of fruit and vegetables, and playing the keyboard. However, much of his time is spent looking after his five grandchildren.

Caroline Jones Board Member
Caroline Jones

Caroline is an Associate Director at Savills estate agents, as well as a chartered surveyor and a registered valuer of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

She works in the Development Department, advising on property development and regeneration. Here she has worked closely with the affordable housing sector in Wales, providing valuation and consultancy advice on assets and new build programmes.

Image of Tara King
Tara King

Tara is a Director at KingShipp Sustainable Solutions, an independent advisor for circular procurement, material resource management, and renewable energy projects.

She also volunteers as Chair to a board of Trustees for a local charity, Sustainable Wales in Porthcawl, and the Red Cross. Tara lives in Caerphilly, and in her spare time enjoys helping local music festivals become lower carbon through recycling and green energy advice.

Sharon Lee

Sharon is the Chief Executive of Aelwyd Housing, a faith-based housing association operating across South Wales and has worked in housing and homelessness for almost 30 years. She is an experienced board member and was previously the Chair of a large Welsh housing association. Sharon lives with her family in Bridgend and in her spare time helps to rescue and support the local hedgehog population.

Joy Ogeh-Hutfield

Joy is an accomplished, high-performance international trainer, coach and the CEO of JT International Leadership Academy. She has a dynamic record of success in delivering diversity and inclusion, leadership development, executive coaching, and women empowerment initiatives at a senior management level across a broad range of organisations in the UK, Europe, USA and Africa. Joy lives in Swansea and regularly features as an expert guest speaker on coaching principles, diversity and leadership on various BBC TV and BBC Radio Wales programmes including X-Ray, the One Show, Good Morning Wales and the Eleri Sion Show.

Sophie Taylor – Board Member
Sophie Taylor

Sophie is a qualified accountant and currently works as Deputy Director of Finance and Procurement at Newport City Homes. She has an excellent understanding of the challenges facing the housing sector, plus a good appreciation of the complexities of management in a public sector organisation which has to balance commercial demands with an understanding of the importance of a governance function. She is able to understand complex accounting concepts and analyse data effectively, and her role as a Senior Finance Manager means that she is able to communicate and influence effectively. She also chairs the Community Housing Cymru Finance Service Delivery Group, and sits on the Audit and Risk Management Committee of the National Housing Federation.

Andrew Wallbridge – Board member
Andrew Wallbridge

Andrew is a Management Consultant for a Bridgend based consultancy firm and works with many housing associations across South Wales. He has been a Valleys to Coast tenant for over nine years and lives with his wife and family in Maesteg.

Mark Woloshak

Mark is a Solicitor at Cardiff-based firm Howells. He has acted on behalf of many housing associations, and was previously on the Board of a housing association in Devon.

Originally from London, Mark has a keen interest in social housing and firmly believes in its importance to society.

Phillip Stoke (Co-optee)

A Chartered Construction Manager with a substantial track record within the private commercial development sector, Phillip has delivered a mix of retail and commercial developments at director level.

He has also forged excellent relationships within the social and stock-transfer housing sectors, delivering large-scale new builds, major regeneration and refurbishment projects.

Become a Board Member

We are always on the lookout for people to join our Board who have expert skills in all areas of our business, that can support and challenge us to improve our services.

We advertise Board vacancies on our website, our social media platforms, and through recruitment agencies. There is also a dedicated website for housing association jobs: Housing Jobs Wales.

Being a Board Member is a great opportunity to learn new skills too, and you will receive induction training to help you settle into the role and find out more about us.

Become a Shareholder

You can become a shareholder and own a stake in our organisation for £1.

This will entitle you to vote on key decisions at our Annual General Meeting, and on rule changes at any Special General Meetings. You will also be amongst the  first people we engage with on other changes across the organisation.

Fill in this form if you would like to become a shareholder: Shareholder application form.

Meet our Leadership Team (Link opens in new window)
Find out more