Our Executive Team and Board

Tim Mulvenna: Group Chief Executive Officer

Tim joined Futures in July 2024. He has nearly 20 years’ experience in housing and joins us from The Barnet Group in north London where he was also Chief Executive.

The Barnet Group is responsible for all aspects of homelessness and housing in the borough. It includes the ALMO (arms-length management organisation) which manages the council’s housing stock, a care and a support company, a registered provider, and a sales and lettings agent. The organisation delivered the first new-build council housing in the area for nearly 50 years and set up its own registered provider of social housing which developed and acquired over 800 new homes.

Previously Tim was Group Director, Customer Services at L&Q, London's largest housing association where, amongst other things, he was responsible for rolling out the direct maintenance service as well as the stock investment programme.

Ian Skipp: Group Director, Finance & Growth

Ian joined Futures from KPMG where he led the social housing practice in the Midlands. In addition to having specialist knowledge of social housing he has wide ranging commercial experience obtained from working with a range of organisations including multi-national plcs.

He is adept at putting in place and maintaining robust governance and risk management frameworks, achieving operating efficiencies, maximising income, developing corporate structures to meet strategic objectives as well as maintaining regulatory compliance.

He is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and has extensive accounting and treasury management knowledge. He is an independent member of the Board of Housing21.

Darren Turner: Interim Group Director of People & Change

Darren joined Futures in 2015 as part of the Business Transformation Team and has since held a number of roles across transformation, business change and digital. Darren now oversees people, culture and strategic planning, alongside business change, digital and sustainability.
 
Before joining Futures, Darren spent more than ten years in financial services, progressing through customer and leadership roles before moving into project management and leading major regulatory and customer service change programmes. He has extensive experience of developing strategy, turning plans into action and delivering organisational and digital change.
 
Darren is passionate about creating inclusive organisational cultures where people feel they belong, and bringing people, customer insight and technology together to make services simpler and create meaningful change for customers and colleagues. Alongside his role at Futures, he is Chair of Trustees for a youth homelessness charity.

Helena Thompson: Group Director, Customer Experience

Helena has worked in housing for 25 years, mainly in customer-facing roles or in leading operational teams. She is passionate about helping to improve customer service and putting customers and their needs at the centre of all our work.

She joined Futures’ in 2009 as part of the Income team where she focused on supporting customers through their financial challenges. During her time with the team, we reduced our rent arrears levels to some of the lowest in the entire sector and helped secure hundreds of thousands of pounds in extra income for customers.

In 2019 Helena moved into a new role as Customer Experience Manager and progressed over the next four years to become Director of Customer Operations and Experience.

Before working at Futures she worked in a range of different settings including the financial sector and the police.

Sarah Dace: Group Director, Housing & Communities

Sarah has spent has spent her entire career focused on housing. Starting out with a local authority where she helped managed neighbourhoods and antisocial behaviour, she has moved through a variety of roles with an emphasis on helping to create thriving communities. Previous roles have included working with communities during major regeneration and new build projects and leading independent living and customer support services.

Sarah joined Futures in 2015 as Head of Neighbourhoods with a broad portfolio including neighbourhood and tenancy management, tenancy sustainment, independent living, telecare and employment advice. In 2022 she became Director of Housing and now, as Group Director of Housing & Communities, she will help to ensure a more effective and joined-up approach to how we provide great homes and support services for customers.

Pauline Davis: Group Chair

Pauline brings over 30 years’ experience in Housing, health, regeneration, and education, as well as a passion for place shaping and working with local communities. She retired from her role as Deputy Chief Executive and Corporate Direction of Economic Development and Regeneration at Hull City Council in 2014, having worked previously in Nottingham and Liverpool for the NHS and Local Government.

She has led multi-million-pound projects and programmes such as Housing Market Renewal, Building Schools for the Future and Economic Development.

Pauline is currently Independent Chair of Efficiency North Holdings Ltd, a member led and owned consortium of social housing landlords providing procurement solutions across Northern England.

Pauline holds a master’s degree in public health and is an Honorary Member of the Faculty of Public Health.

Gary Middleton: Vice Chair and Senior Independent Director

Gary has significant experience in commercial banking and residential property. He has recently worked at the Government's housing delivery agency, Homes England. He has served on multiple Boards and Board committees including risk, governance and remuneration.

He has lived experience of social housing and is passionate that quality, affordable housing impacts health, prosperity and wellbeing, and provides a platform to access education, employment and the ability to play a full role in society.

Gary has a Masters degree in Business Administration and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Sam Veal: Board Director and Chair of the Asset Investment Committee

Appointed to the Asset Investment Committee in 2020, Sam is a chartered surveyor with over 30 years experience in the field of development, asset management and new business working in both the profit for purpose and private sectors. An experienced organisational leader and property professional, Sam is Chief Executive of a regional regeneration specialist and has non-executive experience in special education, student accommodation partnerships and supported living. Sam is also a board member of Futures Living Ltd, the Group’s property development company and of Progress Housing Group and RWP.

Patrick Duffy: Board Director and member of the Asset Investment Committee

Patrick has been working in residential development since 2006 and has previously held director-level roles for large housing associations Peabody and Southern Housing, with responsibility for the successful delivery of development programmes of up to £2.25 billion. He now leads estate regeneration, land acquisition and planning nationally for Anchor, England's largest not-for-profit provider of specialist housing and care for people in later life.

Patrick has spent the majority of his career developing new affordable housing and is strongly committed to the social purpose of the sector in providing a safe, warm and secure home for those people most in need. He is an advocate for good and sustainable design. He is interested in innovative ways to deliver more homes and manage development risk, as well as how the sector can better use its data to support decision making.

Tim Mulvenna: Board Director

Tim sits on the Board in his capacity as Chief Executive of Futures Housing Group.

Jackie Perry: Board Director and Chair of the Customer Experience Committee

Jackie cares about delivering great services that make a real difference to people and places, with a strong commitment to ensuring the residents' voice matters and is truly embedded within an organisation's culture. She joined Futures as our first trainee board member in 2021 and was appointed to the Board and Insight Committee in 2023.

Jackie has 25 years’ experience in the social housing sector, more recently as the Executive Director - Customer Experience at Muir Group Housing Association where she leads on consumer regulation compliance, customer communications and engagement, customer experience, housing services and supported housing. She is a qualified housing professional, a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, as well as a qualified Executive Coach and Mentor.

Laurice Ponting: Board Director and member of Audit and Risk Committee

Laurice has significant experience of corporate and strategic leadership, property development and customer focused service delivery in the social housing sector having worked with large metropolitan councils, housing associations and commercial businesses.

Stephen Jackson: Board Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee

A professional qualified accountant, Stephen is the Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee. He has significant Board level experience in both the private and public sectors working in complex and regulated environments. Stephen’s work has led him to live and work in Europe, Asia, Africa and the USA and, over his career, he claims to have had financial oversight of businesses in most countries of the World.

Stephen is currently a Non-Executive Director of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board and also with DHU Healthcare. He is a governor or trustee in two local educational establishments. Stephen is also a Non-Executive Director and Chair of Nottingham BID Company Limited and the owner and CEO of Imperial Business Consulting Limited.

Ian Skipp: Board Director

Ian sits on the Coterminous Board in his capacity as Group Director, Finance & Growth at Futures Housing Group.

Guv Dhaliwal: Board Director and member of the Customer Experience Committee

With over 25 years’ experience in senior technology leadership across housing and large global businesses, Guv brings extensive expertise in digital transformation, strategic leadership and guiding organisations through periods of change and growth. He has a strong track record of leading transformation at scale, developing high-performing teams and aligning technology with long-term business goals.

Alongside his Non-Executive Director role at Futures, Guv is Chief Information Officer at Amplius, where he leads technology, data and transformation. Passionate about the role housing plays in people’s lives, he is motivated by using technology and data to improve services, strengthen communities and create long-term value for customers.

Chelsea Clarke: Independent Member of the Asset Investment Committee and Trainee Board Director

Chelsea is a seasoned property professional with over 15 years' experience in the real estate industry. She has a strong track record in property management, investment and development, and has successfully navigated diverse market conditions and delivered outstanding results. Throughout her career Chelsea has demonstrated expertise in identifying lucrative opportunities, optimising property portfolios, and providing strategic guidance to clients. 

Chelsea currently works as a Senior Property Lead at Heathrow Airport and overseas Terminals 1-3 and Business Rates.

Lou Zonato, Independent Member of the Customer Experience Committee

Lou brings extensive senior leadership experience across executive operations, customer strategy, and housing sector governance to our Customer Experience Committee.

Currently serving as Director of CX Operations at loveholidays, Lou leads customer experience and support operations globally. His career spans high-profile executive and interim roles driving customer service strategy, digital transformation, and operational performance for major organisations including ITV, Deliveroo, Kiwi.com, Thames Water, and EE.

Throughout his career, Lou has specialised in transforming customer service delivery, deploying new technology frameworks, and aligning cross-business operations directly to customer needs.

As well as his commercial track record, Lou brings governance experience in social housing. He serves as a Non-Executive Board Member at Platform Housing Group, where he focuses specifically on customer service excellence and chaired the Customer Voice Panel to bridge direct feedback between tenants and the board.

Lou uses his background in customer operations, continuous improvement, and resident engagement to ensure tenant voices remain central to strategic decision-making and service delivery.