Governance and board members

Sally Higham (Independent member of Rooftop Housing Group, Chair of Rooftop Housing Group and Chair of the Nominations and Performance Committee) – appointed 2021

Sally is a senior business leader with a strong sense of social purpose. She is a strategist committed to supporting start-ups, growth businesses, social housing, education, charities and social enterprises to grow and has significant experience in strategic advisory relationships across public, third and private sector organisations. Sally is an experienced CEO, social housing Group NED Board member (previously at the Aster Group and Bromford Housing) including roles as Chair of Risk Committee and member of Audit and Rem and Noms Committees; recent Chair of the Inspiring Impact Committee (a coalition of several UK charitable organisations and funded by the National Lottery Fund), current Advisory Member to the Growth Impact Fund; ex-charity Chair, previous Guardian Professional writer and a current and active volunteer in multiple community settings.

Sally supports and mentors entrepreneurs, particularly in the tech and social sectors, and is a guest lecturer at Bristol University on entrepreneur business courses, a mentor for the Alacrity Foundation, a regular conference speaker, panellist and ‘awards' judge.

She is Group Chair and Chair of the Nominations and Performance Committee.

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Colum Goodchild (Independent member of Rooftop Housing Group, Vice Chair of Rooftop Housing Group, Chair of Remuneration Committee, Vice-Chair of Nominations and Performance Committee and Senior Independent Director) – appointed 2018

Colum began his career as an Environmental Scientist working in the water sector. He progressed through various Operational and Asset Planning roles before becoming Asset Strategy Manager at Northumbrian Water. During this time, he led the development of Northumbria's successful regulatory review in 2014 (PR14), securing support for a £1b investment programme over the next five year period.

From water, Colum moved into the gas sector working with National Grid and Cadent, on asset planning and investment programme management, overseeing around £600 million of investment per annum. He also produced Cadent’s five-year, £4 billion, investment plan (RIIO-2), working closely with the regulator Ofgem.

Most recently Colum has moved into consultancy with Aqua, working with asset management organisations to reduce the total cost, carbon and energy impacts of asset ownership.

He has gained extensive experience of customer research and engagement in service design and to support the development of strategic business plans.

Colum took on a non-executive director role at Durham City Homes in 2015 and, following its merge with County Durham Housing Group, became vice chair of their Operations Committee in 2017.

Following his move to the Midlands, Colum joined Rooftop in 2018. He is Vice Chair of Rooftop Housing Group, the nominated Senior Independent Director and is the appointed Board Lead for Complaints.

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Claire-Elaine Arthurs Payne (Independent member of Rooftop Housing Group, Rooftop Housing Association and Chair of Rooftop Housing Association) – appointed 2019

Claire-Elaine is a Solicitor who specialises in risk management and resolution of property-related disputes. She is also a Chartered Manager, CEDR Accredited Mediator and dual qualified Business Strategy Consultant.  

She has a passion for problem-solving and a long history of working with Social Housing Providers, Developers and Private Landlords. Claire-Elaine holds a BAHons in Cultural Studies and Sociology from the University of Birmingham and undertook her postgraduate GDL and LPC legal training at the University of Law in Birmingham. She studied Business at Warwick University and the De Broc School of Business and holds an MSc in Strategic Business Management.  

Claire-Elaine is currently a Partner with challenger law firm, Gunnercooke LLP. As well as managing a national property dispute resolution team, she supports Executives and Boards in the development of their Leadership and Management skills. She also sits as a Judge in the First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber.

Claire-Elaine is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and was Chair for two years until September 2022. She is also a member of the Remuneration Committee.

In September 2022 she was appointed Chair of Rooftop Housing Association and the Board’s representative for Repairs and Operations.

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Myron Hrycyk – (Independent member of Rooftop Housing Group and Rooftop Housing Association) – appointed 2019

Myron gained an MBA, with honours in 2003 at Birmingham University and is a Chartered Member of the British Computer Society.

Building on a highly successful career as one of the UK’s leading FTSE 100 CIO’s (Chief Information Officer) and Digital Transformation Executives, Myron founded his own business specialising in driving IT change and digital transformation for large corporate clients.   Myron is a Non-Executive Director for a Midlands-based Building Society.  He is also a Cabinet Office Crown Representative managing HMG’s strategic relationship with three global technology providers to the UK Government.  

Myron has held CIO, CDO and senior IT posts for major organisations across a diverse range of business sectors, Financial Services, Publishing, Automotive and Logistics/Supply Chain.  He has delivered strategic IT, Digital and business transformation programmes, re-structured corporate IT operating models and delivered multiple ERP solutions. Myron has also held the post of Chief Procurement Officer with a FTSE 100 Utility Business.  While in this role he was an active member of the Midlands CBI Council.

Myron is Vice Chair of Rooftop Housing Association, a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and continues to be Vice Chair of the Remuneration Committee. He is the Board’s representative for Health and Safety and for Digital Transformation.

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Lenna Cumberbatch-Nichols (Independent member of Rooftop Housing Group and Rooftop Housing Association) – appointed 2022

Lenna is a non-executive director, senior adviser, and consultant with national and international experience across healthcare, media, technology, and higher education. With specific expertise in diversity and inclusion strategic change, Lenna has worked and volunteered in roles across the diversity spectrum.  

Lenna is Trustee (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) for the British Pharmacological Society and Non-executive Director (Diversity, Inclusion & Respect) at recruitment firm Goodman Masson. For the Research Executive Agency at the European Commission Lenna audits, reviews and monitors multi-million Euro grant applications and projects as one of their team of experts. She has held roles at the Royal Society, the Wellcome Trust, and the University of Cambridge. Lenna’s speaking engagements have included BBC Scotland, LGBTQ+ STEMinar and the Women of the World (WOW) festival. She keeps up her public speaking skills at her local Toastmasters Club. Her MBA with honours included a dissertation on Appraisal and she is member of the Chartered Management Institute.  

With a commitment to social change, Lenna is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. She is also a Patron of Switchboard the LGBT+ helpline, a facilitator in schools for anti-bullying charity Diversity Role Models and recently enjoyed following the England women’s football team up and down the country on their journey to winning the women’s 2022 Euros competition.  

Lenna is a member of the Nominations and Performance Committee and the Board’s representative for People, Culture and Diversity.

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Wayne Harris (Independent member of Rooftop Housing Group and Rooftop Housing Association) – appointed 2022

Wayne brings a wealth of experience in social housing gained in senior roles over the last 30 years and is particularly passionate about sustainable development and the decarbonisation journey for existing homes. He has been invited to speak at a number of conferences on asset management. Wayne also spent eight years as a volunteer outreach worker walking the streets of South Wales providing assistance to people with life controlling problems.

Wayne is a RIBA, CIH qualified architect who spent his early professional career in private practice designing retail centres, industrial / manufacturing sites, schools and private housing before moving into the social housing sector in the early 1990’s. Since that time, he has held a number of roles managing assets, repairs and maintenance, delivery of new housing and some care services. Employers have included three councils, a newly formed stock transfer housing association and, in his current role, a traditional housing association called Pobl Group - Wales largest social housing provider. Previous non-executive experience was gained at Accent Housing Group.

Married with two children and living in Gloucestershire he likes walking with his Labrador and in good weather riding a classic 1961 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle.

Wayne is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Board’s representative for Development and Investment.

Daisy Halford (Tenant member of Rooftop Housing Group and Rooftop Housing Association) – appointed 2020

Daisy has lived in social housing since 2013 and became a Rooftop resident three years later with her husband and young son. She joined the Resident Excellence Panel, Rooftop’s independent scrutiny group, in 2016 to help shape and improve the services we deliver to our customers. Daisy was Chair of the Panel until she joined the Boards of Rooftop Housing Group and Rooftop Housing Association in September 2020.  Passionate about social housing and the rights of residents, Daisy is part of the National Housing Federation’s “Together with Tenants” initiative created to support housing associations to play their part in rebalancing the relationship between residents and landlords.  She is a member of the Tenant Advisory Panel which is working with the NHF to develop a new ‘Together with Tenants Charter’ which will set out in clear terms what residents can and should expect from their landlord.

A busy wife and mother, Daisy still manages to maintain an active presence in her community and chairs a local community group.  

Daisy is a member of the Nominations and Performance and Remuneration Committees. In 2022 she was appointed the Board’s representative for Customer Voice and for Environmental Sustainability.

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Jonathan Wallbank (Independent member of Rooftop Housing Group and Rooftop Housing Association) – appointed 2018

Jonathan is a qualified accountant and spent a number of years in financial services before moving into corporate finance.  Prior to joining a large housing association in 2015, where he is currently Group Finance Director, Jonathan gained experience in both retail and manufacturing sectors.  He headed up the European treasury function for the US retailer GAP Inc and, in addition, he was responsible for cash management for both GAP Hong Kong and Taiwan.  

He brings a wealth of experience and expertise, including merger implementation, regulatory frameworks, adoption of new accounting standards, robust financial management and management of risk.  All of which will support Rooftop as we move forward to build good quality, affordable homes.

Jonathan is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and became Vice Chair of the Committee in September 2022.

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Tessa Rollings (Independent member of Rooftop Housing Group and Chair of Audit and Risk Committee) – appointed 2020

Tessa is a fellow with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, qualifying as an accountant with a large accountancy firm. After six years auditing a variety of companies and not for profit organisations, she utilised her gained experienced and joined a large, national social housing and care group. Over several years she led the financial reporting function, headed up the finance team of a newly acquired business and was the finance lead for the development and implementation of the group’s digital transformation programme.

After a few years working in the charity sector at senior leadership level, Tessa is currently Director of Finance and Operations at the Corinium Education Trust, a multi-academy trust. Tessa’s experience includes responsibility for finance, risk management, IT, facilities, HR, governance and project management. She brings expertise in strategy development, financial planning and risk management to the Board.

Tessa was appointed Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee in September 2022.

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