Monday 23 July 2007
New chair for leading housing provider

A new chair has joined bpha to head up the board of the leading housing provider.

Stephen Hallett took over this month from retiring chair Roger Whitbread following the association's annual general meeting.

Stephen said: "I am delighted to have joined the board of bpha at a time when the association is clearly making great strides and has ambitions to do even more.

"bpha has established itself as a major force in the provision of affordable housing across the east of England, with a large scale development programme to meet the needs of this growth area. The association is, however, about much more than just housing and the new corporate priority is about making people proud of where they live and increasing opportunities in the local communities that bpha serves.

"With such an exciting agenda ahead, I look forward to working with the board and the executive team as it continues to drive up standards for all its customers, partners and stakeholders."

An experienced director with a strong track record in business across a range of sectors, Stephen has for the past 20 years operated at CEO and chairman level for a number of major plcs. Most recently, he was interim CEO at the Hanover Housing Group for 15 months. 

Tributes were paid to Roger Whitbread at bpha's annual conference for stakeholders and partners when a presentation was made to him.

John Cross, chief executive of bpha, said: "I would like to thank Roger, who has been pivotal to our success. He has provided an outstanding contribution to the organisation as a member of the board for the last eight years, and as chair for the last six. We are now looking forward to working with Stephen in this vital role. He brings extremely valuable experience and expertise to the board which will help bpha as we continue to strive to do even better."