In today’s world, change seems to be an everyday, everywhere thing. Yet the system of governance that the housing sector uses seems not to have changed very much. Taking into account, but also looking past the statutory and regulatory obligations of a Board and Directors, this session will explore whether current thinking about governance is helping or hindering the sector in its drive to secure better outcomes for customers and enhance our standing with stakeholders.

In this discursive session, we will explore issues including:
- Can governance ‘pay its way’ or is it always an overhead?
- Is governance an event or a continuous process?
- How might governance extend beyond organisational boundaries?
- How might Boards create time to pay attention to their intentions?
- Why a Board needs visionaries (and yes, they do still need to read the papers).
- How do you as a board support the businesses innovation ambitions and projects without being so risk averse little actually changes and failure is not understood?

Our speakers:

Matthew Gardiner, DIN Associate
After a 40+ year career in social housing Matthew is expert in the business of social landlords. He has direct experience of building new homes, managing and maintaining large property portfolios and securing institutional investment into the sector for organisations based in London, Merseyside and Greater Manchester. As CEO at Trafford Housing Trust for 14 years, he grew the organisation from its roots within a single Borough to one operating at scale across much of the NW of England. In parallel with his executive roles within housing associations he has developed non-executive career in education, housing, and entrepreneurial tech companies.

David Levenson, Founder Coaching Futures
David is a former CFO for large organisations in the social housing sector and also has wide NED experience across various sectors. He now acts as coach, advisor and facilitator to Board and Executive teams as well as using his proprietary method to evaluate Board effectiveness.

Leading for innovation? The Board Members role