Our leadership

Yashar is a Fellow of the ICAEW. He has over 35 years’ Board-level experience in executive positions and 20 years’ experience in Non-Executive Director roles across the housing sector. He has experience in neighbourhood regeneration and was a Group Board member of a national housing association, has served on Finance, Audit and Commercial Ventures Committees, and was a trustee of the pension scheme. For nine years, he previously held the position of Chair for a facility services company who delivered responsive and major repairs services to housing associations.

Nicole Kershaw is our Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board, and is passionate about creating thriving places, delivering exceptional customer experiences, and building a culture for people to realise their full potential. She has over 15 years’ experience in social housing, and a proven track record of transformational leadership, innovative service design, and driving business performance. Previously, Nicole was Chief Operating Officer at Halton Housing and has worked across the housing and charity sectors.

Rabnawaz is a Labour Councillor representing the Rusholme ward in Manchester. In May 2022, he was appointed as Executive Member for Finance and Resources and oversees Finance, Procurement and Social Value, Legal, Human Resources and Organisational Development, Internal ICT, Digital Strategy. Rabnawaz has been governor of Birchfields Primary School since 2003, and previously served as Governor of MEA Central from 2017 to 2021. He is also a long-standing member of the Greater Manchester Police Central Division IAG.

 Cath is a qualified solicitor with over 30 years’ experience of working with public and private sector entities across a diverse range of projects. After leaving the legal profession in 1995, she worked as a Director at KPMG Infrastructure Finance until 2003 when she joined EY to head up their Northern Infrastructure team. At the beginning of 2010, Cath set up her independent consulting business where she continues to provide services to public sector institutions and private sector entities on infrastructure and project finance initiatives, reorganisations and operational efficiencies, project feasibility, and appraisal. The sectors she specialises in include HRA and non-HRA housing and social care. 

Dave has worked in housing and development for almost 40 years, for public, voluntary and private sector companies, and has a lot of experience in most aspects of housing associations’ activities and responsibilities. He has a particular interest in the importance of ‘place’, that is that people should feel that where they live is familiar, recognisable, and attractive, with a variety of accessible facilities to support a wide range of local economic, educational, leisure and cultural activities. In his spare time, he volunteers for a local Millennium Green Trust and supports his (non-local) football team.

Gordon retired as CEO of Accent Group in 2017 after 40 years as a housing professional, having begun his career as a Housing Trainee at Bolton MDC and worked at Executive Director-level for almost 30 years. Gordan has a particular interest and expertise in Social Housing Regulation, and joined ARK Consultancy Ltdas a part-time consultant and was a member of their Strategic Board undertaking many governance and regulatory reviews. Gordon stepped down from this role last year to reduce work commitments. He’s held several Non-Executive Board Member roles at other housing associations, including Broadacres Housing Association, Trafford Housing Trust, and L&Q Housing Association. 

Sue is an experienced housing professional and leader, having served on the Board for several housing associations and charities since the late 1980s. Sue has served as the Chair and Vice Chair for the CIH (Chartered Institute of Housing) Northwest Regional Committee, and is a nationally elected member of the CIH Board. Currently, Sue is also a Non-Executive Director on three other Boards, including Johnnie Johnson acting as the Chair designate, and is the Chair of the Operations Committee at The Extra Care Charitable Trust, which is a national specialist for an older person’s charitable housing association that provides mixed-tenure retirement villages with an integrated landlord.

Mick worked for the Regulator of Social Housing in various roles for over 20 years. Prior to working for the Regulator, Mick worked for Beever and Struthers on the audit of housing associations, credit unions and charities. Mick is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and hols the Association of Corporate Treasurers qualification. Since December 2020, Mick has worked as a consultant in the social housing sector, with a focus on governance, financial viability, risk and assurance.

Tony has over 25 years’ experience of working in Social Housing, both as an Executive Director and a Board Member with a number of different housing organisations. He has worked across the North West region and is currently a Board Member with Livv Housing Group in Knowsley. Previous Board appointments included Dane Housing in Congleton and Warrington Housing Association.

Tony has lived and studied in Manchester, being an alumni of Manchester University. In addition, he has previously worked for Manchester City Council’s Housing Department as a Manager in their Finance Team.