Speaker profiles
Ilene Campbell – Chief Executive of TIS
Ilene Campbell is the Chief Executive of TIS and leads in the development of innovative tenant participation and engagement practice. She has over 25-years of senior leadership experience, working in the public, social rented, and third sectors to ensure tenants and wider communities have a voice.
Ilene led the feasibility study that shaped the introduction of the legal framework for tenant Participation in Scotland. In partnership with the University of Glasgow, she produced the Good Practice Framework for Tenant Participation. She works closely with the Scottish Government to shape national housing consultations around tenant participation and tenants’ rights. Ilene sits on the Scottish Government’s Cross Party Working Group and is the Co-Chair of the Scottish Hub of the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence. She is also a Board member of Linstone Housing Association.
www.tis.org.uk
Pennie Taylor – Award winning Journalist and Broadcaster
Pennie Taylor is an award-winning freelance journalist and broadcaster who specialises in health, housing and social care. Based in Glasgow, she was BBC Scotland’s first Health Correspondent and has also worked on the news desks of national newspapers. A former Head of Communications for the Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust in Edinburgh, Pennie has inside knowledge of how public services work. This gives her a uniquely informed perspective from which to approach and stimulate debate.
Sally Thomas – Chief Executive at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA)
Sally Thomas is Chief Executive at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), the national representative body for Scotland’s housing associations and co-operatives. She has worked for several housing associations in London and the North East of England. Her career has also included roles at the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), on regeneration at an urban development corporation, and as director of a consultancy specialising in community-based development.
She has co-authored several publications for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Chartered Institute of Housing, the Housing Associations Charitable Trust, think tanks and government departments.
She is currently a member of the Scottish Government’s Homelessness Prevention Strategy Group, the Housing to 2040 Strategic Board and the Heat in Buildings Strategic Advisory Group. In 2021, she co-chaired the Social Renewal Advisory Board, convened by government ministers to make recommendations for delivering transformational economic and social change in a post-pandemic Scotland, and the Zero Emissions Social Housing Taskforce (ZEST) which reported on achieving net zero in social housing. She was also on the Stewarding Group of Scotland’s Climate Assembly.
Deborah Hay – Senior Policy Adviser (Scotland) at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Deborah is a Senior Policy Adviser with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a UK charitable foundation working to speed up the transition to a just future, free from poverty, in which people and planet can flourish. She leads JRF’s work around housing in Scotland, seeking to improve how the housing system works for low-income households and has a particular interest in migration. Prior to joining JRF, she was a Policy & Learning Adviser with the Big Lottery Fund with a keen interest in all things children, young people and family. Her thirty years in the voluntary sector have included setting up the third sector’s recruitment business www.goodmoves.org.uk, project managing the formal merger of advice agencies in Edinburgh and – even further back – representing clients at employment and social security tribunals.
Brian Gannon – Chief Executive at West of Scotland Housing Association
Brian has been Chief Executive of West of Scotland Housing Association since September 2019. Brian is a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has a Postgraduate Diploma in Housing. He has over 30 years of experience in social housing working at a range of large and small housing associations and a local authority. He has particular experience in stock transfers, community regeneration, digital transformation, and carbon reduction strategies.
Harry Woodward – Member of Edinburgh Tenants Federation
Harry Woodward began his career in housing in 1983 with Edinburgh Council as a Housing Visitor, following earlier roles managing a community centre in Edinburgh and actively campaigning on housing issues as a trade unionist and local election candidate. Over the years, Harry held various roles, including Policy Officer, Void Controller, and Senior Housing Officer, before joining Canmore Housing Association (now Wheatley Homes East) in 1999 as a Tenant Participation Officer. This position saw him engaged in the tenant participation advancements ushered in by the 2001 Housing Act, which transformed tenant engagement in Scotland. His passion for tenant empowerment led him to serve on the boards of the Chartered Institute of Housing and TPAS, where he contributed significantly to the field.
Upon retiring in 2019, Harry became involved with Edinburgh Tenants Federation (ETF), building on his early connections to the organisation as both a housing professional and tenant advocate. He has also served as a Director and Board member of a Credit Union, as well as a local housing association, and taken on leadership roles as Chair and Secretary of a Community Council and Residents Association. In his free time, Harry enjoys spending time with his family and indulging in the ‘3 Rs’ – reading, rugby, and horse racing.
Angela Moohan – Founder and Chief Executive at the Larder
Angela founded The Larder in 2010 to address rising youth unemployment in West Lothian. Since then she has led the organisation to support over 3,000 people access training, good quality food and learn to cook. Since 1984 Angela has been active, in a personal and professional capacity, in communities, campaigning for a fairer and more just society that encourages and provides opportunities for everyone to flourish, regardless of their heritage and personal circumstances. She has a BA Degree in Community Education and recent qualifications in leadership and strategic development. She has a proven track record in community development and engagement and was a key driver for the community food sector between 2005 and 2010, working with likeminded organisations from the UK and Europe to collaborate and find ways to increase access to healthy food options whilst developing a social enterprise model. She has over 20 years experiencing of managing projects and teams in the public and third sector.
Vicki Appleby – Contracts and Commercial Advisor at Xodus and in partnership with Grampian Women’s Aid
Vicki Appleby is a survivor of domestic abuse helping to raise awareness of domestic abuse and highlighting organisations’ part to play in addressing the global issue of violence against women and girls.
Working independently by participating in campaigns for change, Vicki provides insight from her personal experience as guidance and is an advocate for organisations to take on board their part to provide a safety net to victim-survivors through the duty of care. Vicki also works directly with the charity, Scottish Women’s Aid, as part of the Survivor Reference Group.
Vicki has worked with a private organisation to develop a framework, including roll-out of a campaign to its employees, this is to help recognise domestic abuse of anyone within the workplace.
www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/opinion/6401661/domestic-abuse-work-opinion/
Fiona Doring – Chief Executive at Impact Arts
Impact Arts transform people’s lives through participation in creative activities and use creative engagement to build people’s confidence and empower them to achieve their potential. They specialise in using the arts to tackle inequalities, improve health and as a way to excite, involve and create meaningful impacts for the people and communities they work with. Established in 1994, Impact Arts have engaged across 30 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities and with over 300,000 people.
Fiona Doring has over 20 years’ experience of working in the third sector in Scotland and is Chief Executive of Impact Arts, widely recognised as one of Scotland’s leading arts charities. Impact Arts has been supporting people and communities to transform their lives through engagement in creativity and the arts since 1994. Fiona gained an MA in Fine Art from Edinburgh University and MFA (Hons) from Edinburgh College of Art and began her career working as a practicing artist alongside work in arts education. It was while doing this that she realised the power of art to engage with people and communities in a meaningful and life changing way, acting as a catalyst for social change.
She received recognition for her work by winning The Scottish Women’s Award for contribution to Arts and Culture in 2019 and was runner up in 2023. Fiona is currently Chair of Scottish Contemporary Art Network (SCAN), a member led organisation that champions the arts in Scotland, is a Board member at Edinburgh College and was previously a partner of Artworks Alliance, a UK-wide member organisation for participatory arts.
www.impactarts.co.uk
Claire Frew is a Strategy Co-ordinator at South Lanarkshire Council, working with colleagues on a wide range of areas including the development of the Local Housing Strategy, Customer Involvement Strategy, and Progressive Housing Framework.
Alison McCallum – Strategy and Policy Officer at South Lanarkshire Council
Alison McCallum is a Strategy and Policy Officer at South Lanarkshire Council and has worked in housing since 2009, taking on a range of different roles. Alison currently works with the Health and Social Care Partnership to deliver the revised Medical Assessment Service that supports the Progressive Housing Framework.
https://www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk/
Michelle is the Service Manager for the Housing Service with Dundee City Council. She has been in this role for just over 2 years but has 20 years experience of working in the Housing sector ensuring services are designed and delivered with people who use them.
Michelle understands the importance of a safe, secure place to call home and uses this as a driver to make a positive difference in the housing outcomes for people in Dundee. Michelle is a board member of a housing association in Glasgow chosen for being community led with tenant representation on the board. She is also the current chair of Dundee’s Citizen’s Advice Bureau and the local community planning partnership.
Christina Johnston is the Housing and Communities Manager at Horizon Housing Association. Christina has worked in housing for 18 years, in a variety of roles and with several housing providers. She currently leads the housing management team at Horizon and is responsible for managing the team, providing a high performing, responsive housing management service to Horizons’ customers. Christina’s remit includes supporting the Associations scrutiny panel, the Residents Improvement Group (RIG) and she has a keen interest in tenant participation.
Christina also has a passion for customer service and involving tenants in the decision making process. She has worked in partnership with TIS on a number of scrutiny projects, including Customer Care Standards and most recently in creating a Value for Money Statement.
www.horizonhousing.org
Ruth Glassborow – Director of Population Health and Wellbeing at Public Health Scotland
Ruth brings extensive knowledge and experience of effecting change through both influencing national policy and translating policy priorities into national change programmes that deliver meaningful sustained improvement across public services.
As Director of Population Health and Wellbeing at Public Health Scotland, Ruth provides strategic leadership for the translation of public health data, evidence, intelligence and knowledge into effective improvements in both policy and practice with a focus on getting upstream and addressing the wider determinants of health and wellbeing. These include work, mental wellbeing, health harming commodities, housing, diet and physical activity.
In her previous role as Director of Improvement at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Ruth provided strategic leadership for the development and delivery of a range national programmes and approaches that enabled the application of quality improvement and large scale system redesign methodology to key health and social care system change priorities.
Ruth has a Masters in Public Administration from Warwick Business School and a Masters in Leadership (Quality Improvement) from Ashridge Business School. She is also a Health Foundation Generation Q fellow, a Health Foundation Sciana fellow and a qualified executive coach.
Marie Linder – President at the Swedish Union of Tenants
Marie Linder is the President of the Swedish Union of Tenants (SUT) since 2014 and has been active in the tenant movement for more than 30 years and is still engaged in her local association “The Coriander” where she still lives as a tenant.
Previously head of communication for the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO), Marie knows the power of organising grassroots movements to create political leverage. This came to a point in 2019 when the SUT challenged the government’s introduction of market rents in the Swedish housing market and culminated in the resignation of the Swedish PM Stefan Löfven. In addition to being the President of the SUT, Marie is also the President of the International Union of Tenants (IUT), a position that she has held since 2019, and to which she was re-elected in April 2023. Marie continues to fight for sustainable housing policies and the universal human right to adequate and affordable housing.
Colette Lowe – Service Delivery Manager at Link Living has over 15 years’ experience operating in the third sector, the majority of which has been spent in Learning and Development. Over this time, she has developed a high level of skill in designing and facilitating development courses to all levels. Colette has worked with LinkLiving for over seven years and is responsible for the management and development of LinkLiving Skills Academy. She is a qualified SQA Assessor & Internal Verifier and acts as the Centre Co-ordinator for all SQA activity within Link Academy.
Colette has a particular interest in leadership and is a strong advocate for taking a trauma-informed approach. Colette was recently part of the working group which created the new SQA Accredited Qualification, The Professional Development Award in Trauma Informed Approaches, and also leads on the trauma-informed audit work across LinkLiving. Colette currently sits on Link Group’s Employee Engagement Forum and Wellbeing Group.
Outside of work, Colette is passionate about community involvement. Colette has held various voluntary positions over the years. Examples include Independent Custody Visitor for the Scottish Police Authority, Board Member for Addiction Support and Counselling (ASC) Forth Valley and Mentor as part of the MCR Pathways programme. At present, Colette has a young family that takes up whatever spare time there is left!
Bryan Dando – Community Investment Manager at Barrhead Housing Association
Bryan Dando is the Community Investment Manager at Barrhead Housing, who provide just over 1,000 homes in East Renfrewshire, Scotland. He leads the development, delivery and implementation of Barrhead’s Community Investment Strategy and service delivery in the following areas:
- Community services, including the development of localised community hub/centres and community projects.
- Identifying external funding opportunities, preparation of all grant applications and delivery of grant funded activities.
- Community Support, including: money, energy and digital advisory and support services and community/volunteering organisations.
- Welfare benefits and tenancy support services.
- Community Engagement Projects, Community Stakeholder Engagement/Development and Consultation with tenants and stakeholders.
www.barrheadha.org
George Provan – Head of Services at Simon Community
George Provan is the Head of Services at Simon Community Scotland, where he oversees a range of outreach services, supported accommodation programs, and the innovative Managed Alcohol Program. With 25 years of experience in the homelessness sector, George began his career as a volunteer in a soup kitchen, later transitioning into youth homelessness services as a support worker. Over the past two decades, he has built extensive expertise in operational management, playing a pivotal role in driving continuous improvement across his organisation.
www.simonscotland.org
Chris Fitzgerald – Head of Services at Simon Community
Chris Fitzgerald – As Head of Services at Simon Community Scotland, Chris has led initiatives across a range of services over the last 17 years. His experience spans a wide range of roles including Street-Based Outreach, Support Hubs, Residential Settings, SCS Homes and Housing First. Chris is passionate about providing services for people experiencing homelessness using a trauma informed approach, he believes that everyone deserves a safe place to live and call home. He thrives on finding innovative solutions to challenges. Chris’ leadership style is characterised by empathy and compassion, which he believes are essential for creating a supportive and empowering environment for the people they support.
www.simonscotland.org
Gail Fotheringham – Community Development Practitioner at Kaipara District Council
Gail grew up and worked in Glasgow before moving to Aotearoa, New Zealand, her adopted home for the last nineteen years. An experienced community development practitioner with 34 years of practice across local government, not for profit, health, and education sectors. Throughout her varied roles, a consistent and key focus has been to initiate and maintain programmes to foster resilient and thriving communities. Committed to community-led approaches that enable people to play an active role in decision-making that affect their quality of life.
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