Catch up on the CIH Annual General Meeting 2023

On Friday 6 October 2023, CIH members, our governing board and executive team came together for the 59^th annual general meeting (AGM). Each year, our AGM is an important event. It allows us to update you on the various activities and accomplishments over the past 12 months and set out our priorities for the year ahead.

This year, there were a number of key headlines we would like to share following the AGM.

Jill Murray (Haley) becomes CIH president and Elly Hoult becomes CIH vice president

Following an incredibly inspirational year as president, Lara Oyedele has now stepped down from her role, making way for Jill Murray to take up this prestigious mantle.

Jill will be finalising her presidential campaign, B EPIC, over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for more information coming soon.

Elly Hoult has also now officially been confirmed as this year’s CIH vice president, and will be supporting Jill over her year’s term as president. Elly will be developing ideas for her presidential campaign and speaking to members regularly to help you maximise your member CIH membership.

John Hannigan becomes chair of the CIH audit and risk committee (ARC)

CIH’s ARC is there to provide strategic advice to the GB on matters of risk, accountability, compliance, fraud and effectiveness of CIH financial governance, and to provide assurance to CIH members that these matters are being managed effectively. 

After being chair of the committee for six years, Anne Chapman, governance and compliance assistant director at Golding Homes has completed her final term on the governing board and therefore must retire, paving the way for John Hannigan, chief executive officer of Circle Housing Group to take up this position.

John said: “It is a privilege to be appointed to the position of chair of the audit and risk committee of the Chartered Institute of Housing. The work done by the committee is extremely important in demonstrating the level of governance and assurance that the CIH board and members deserve in a vibrant and growing organisation.

Anne Chapman has led the ARC with diligence and professionalism and I look forward to continuing the great work she has done in developing the work of the committee with our committed committee members.”

Aileen Evans becomes chair of the governance, ethics, remuneration and nomination (GERN) committee

The purpose of the governance, ethics, remuneration and nominations Committee (GERN) is to ensure that the governing board fulfils its legal, ethical, and functional responsibilities through adequate governance, policy development, recruitment strategies, training programs, monitoring of Board activities, and evaluation of board members’ performance.

After being chair of the GERN committee for four years, Elly Hoult has taken the decision to step down from this role to focus on her new position as vice president. Because of that, Aileen Evans, chief executive of Grand Union Housing Group has been appointed in her stead to take up this role.

Aileen said: “I’m delighted to be taking over the role of chair of our governance, ethics, remuneration and nomination committee. Elly has done a wonderful job, in particular in leading our work around diversity and inclusion and I am looking forward to continuing our focus on this.”

Three new trustees appointed to the CIH governing board

Following a recent recruitment exercise and confirmation at the AGM, we are delighted to announce the appointment of new trustees to our governing board.

The new members are:

• Ria Bailes CIHM, managing director at Bailes Partners Consulting and member of CIH GERN committee bringing HR experience to the board
• Foluke Sangobowale CIHM LLB (Hons) MBA, head of neighbourhood management (London), Network Homes Limited and member of CIH GERN committee bringing governance experience to the board
• Joseph Carr, fellow of Chartered Institute of Accountants, consultant at Savills having previously worked in the big four accountancy firms, NHF and MORhomes, bringing finance experience to the board.

Geraldine Howley, chair of the CIH governing board said:

“I’m delighted that we have had such a successful recruitment to the CIH governing board. Our recruitment exercise produced an incredibly strong field of applicants and I’m very grateful to everyone who applied.

Our new board members bring with them a great range of diversity of background, experience, knowledge and expertise and I’m confident that all of them will make a fantastic contribution to the work of CIH as we continue to support and grow our membership and the wider profession, confirm our role as the home of professional standards and increase our influence and impact.”

We also welcome Chan Kataria, group chief executive, EMH Group and Aileen Evans as the new vice chairs of our governing board following Anne Chapman’s retirement from the board. We’d like to say a big thank you to Anne for her unwavering support and commitment to CIH over the past six years.