Go to homepage
Login to MyPlace

Board Members 2024

Mervyn Jones

Chair

Mervyn has extensive experience within the housing sector, most recently as Chief Executive at Yorkshire Housing, a position which he held for over 10 years. Prior to this, Mervyn was Chief Executive at Willow Park Housing Trust in Wythenshawe, as well as sitting on a number of housing-related Boards as a non-executive member. Mervyn joined Equity’s Board in April 2019 and then joined Great Places’ Board following the partnership in April 2020. Mervyn was appointed as the Chair of Great Places in January 2024.

Christine Amyes

Deputy Chair, Chair of Remuneration & Appraisal Committee

Christine is a senior manager with a wide range of executive and non-executive experience, most recently as Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director People for New Charter Group. Christine’s early career was in the Civil Service where she specialised in Learning and Development. She is currently an Independent OD Consultant and Executive Coach and is an Advisory Board member of Girls out Loud, a social enterprise working to raise the aspirations of teenage girls.

Grenville Page

Chair of Audit and Assurance Committee

Grenville is a highly experienced finance, business and governance leader and consultant, with a wealth of Board level and senior change experience both as an executive and as a NED/trustee gained across the public (local government, NHS, central government), charities/social enterprises and housing sectors. He is CIPFA qualified and has held Finance Director positions in health, social enterprise and private care sector organisations. He has extensive knowledge of the health, social care, housing, well-being, and welfare to work agendas, the challenges and opportunities for service transformation and integration across sector boundaries. Grenville joined Equity’s Board in September 2015 and has since joined Great Places’ Board following the partnership in April 2020.

Matthew Harrison *

CEO and Exec Board Member

Matthew joined Great Places in 1993 and led the organisation through award winning development before being appointed Chief Executive in April 2013. He has vast experience in development and urban regeneration and has led on many iconic developments that have supported the growth of the business. Most recently, he led on Great Places merger and integration with Stockport based Equity Housing Group.

Matthew is currently Chair of the South Yorkshire Housing Partnership, Chair of South Yorkshire Housing Association and a Board Member for This City (Manchester City Council’s housing development company) and the South Yorkshire Housing Provider joint venture, Forge New Homes. He has also Chaired the Greater Manchester Housing Provider Joint Venture, Hive Homes, been a Director of the Sheffield Local Housing Company, been involved with a Local Strategic Partnership, been a PFI Company Board Member and has supported the NHF in a variety of ways.

Emma Mountford

Chair of Cube Homes

Emma graduated with first class honours in Urban Land Economics from Sheffield Hallam University and is well versed in design, planning, procurement and legal governance. She brings with her a wealth of development experience, having been Head of (Pre Construction) Development at Berkeley Homes (North East London) and Residential Development Director for Westfield. Emma is the Founding Director of development company The Vesta Group which works alongside local authorities, land owners and Pension Funds.

Emma became Chair of Cube Homes Board in September 2023, and was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Great Places Board in November 2023.

John Williamson

Cube Homes Limited

John has worked in the Housing and Development sector for 36 years, with extensive experience of delivering Open Market, Partnership and Regeneration schemes.

He spent 15 years as MD of Barratt Partnerships, securing public land to deliver over 18,000 homes. Prior to this he was Development and Planning Director for the Liverpool Housing Action Trust.

Patrick Ricketts

Chair of the Customer Committee

Patrick has a wealth of business experience with more than 26 years at Berendsen, spending 9 years as Regional Director and was a Director at Jewson. He is passionate about supporting organisations with their strategy for sustainable business growth, people and team development and their well-being. He is Non-Executive Director at Ubico Ltd and a Trustee at Forward Education Trust. He has strong strategic, planning, operations, and commercial skills in the UK markets in B2B and B2C, including the public sector, and has extensive experience in leading account management, strategy for multi-million-pound contracts and delivering service excellence.

Sandra Palmer

Member of the Remuneration & Appraisal Committee

Sandra has extensive Director experience in the private and government funded sector, leading work in business and customer strategy, transformation, communications, marketing, and stakeholder engagement.  As a Consultant Director for Corporate Culture Group she has over ten years experience leading large-scale consultancy work for national and global clients and prior to this held several Director roles for United Utilities, including Strategy & Marketing Director and was Director of Public Affairs for a government agency.  Her non-executive experience includes nine years as a Board member in social housing, as well as being on the Board of a not for profit provider of adult social care, and a social enterprise enabling community empowerment of health and wellbeing issues.

John-Paul Case

Cube Homes Board

John-Paul has extensive experience across the property sector, predominantly within Residential Sales, Lettings and Property Management. He was the founder and Managing Director of Case McNair Estate Agents, a business acquired by Savills UK Ltd in 2018. John-Paul works for Savills holding regional responsibility across the Midlands, North and Scotland. In his time at Savills John-Paul has worked on large scale Build to Rent Schemes and forged partnerships with institutional clients. He works in the Sports and Entertainment team covering Northern markets and has a strong background in consultancy assignments or private clients.

Dean Clegg

Cube Homes Board

Dean is a highly experienced business leader, with an extensive background in retail.  He has worked for some of the UK’s largest organisations including ASDA and Sainsburys. During his 15 years as a Director for Sainsburys, he has held senior positions in retail, international sourcing and was also the Group Property Director with responsibility for a 2100 store estate. Since 2021 he has worked as a consultant and senior advisor, supporting both UK and international businesses across a wider range of strategic areas. He has a passion for ensuring that customers and colleagues are central to business decisions.

Nicki Clegg

Member of Customer Committee

Nicki has over twenty years’ of experience creating and executing data-driven, customer-focused technology and data strategies, and has worked across the private and public sectors in multiple industries. She was Chief Technology Officer at Irwin Mitchell (legal and financial services) for almost 5 years, and prior to that Head of IS Strategy and Digital Services at Electricity North West, and lead technology strategist at the British Library. Nicki has a passion for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and in 2023 switched her career to focus on delivering at scale social mobility. She currently works for STEM Learning UK and the National Centre for Computing Education where she helps hundreds of businesses each year introduce school engagement programmes to support better outcomes for young people across the UK.

Matthew Hemmings

Member of Audit and Assurance Committee

Matt is an experienced senior leader who has spent time in retail, corporate banking, telecoms and housing. He has previous experience as a NED; at Trafford Housing Trust, as well as having sat as the Chairman of their development business, THT Developments. Today, he leads Openreach’s Fibre and Network Delivery business. This is a team of 11,000 people and thousands more contractors who are running, maintaining and building the UK’s digital infrastructure. He brings, to Great Places, significant experience in digital transformation, complex asset management and service excellence.

Simran Soin

Member of Audit and Assurance Committee

Simran brings a wealth of experience and expertise in growth, acquisitions and asset investment. He previously held various senior finance positions in the chemicals sector for Courtaulds, ICI and Ineos, working in the UK, USA and the Far East. He joined Places for People in 2003 where he worked for over 14 years, including as Group Finance Director and Director of Assets and Investments, before moving into independent consulting and building a portfolio of company directorships.

*Matthew Harrison as the Chief Executive Officer acts as an Executive Director on the GPHG Coterminous Board and Cube Board.  Matthew does not sit as a member of any committees, but attends as an observer.  As an Executive Director, Matthew adheres to the Great Places Code of Governance and Probity Policies, and as such withdraws from the Board’s discussions and decisions on relevant matters where there is a material conflict of interest.

Declarations of Interest

To demonstrate compliance with Section 1.5 (3) of the NHF Code of Governance 2020, we are publishing our register of interests for Great Places Board, Cube Board and associated parties.  This is reported annually to Board, with declarations of interest tabled as a standing item at all Board and Committee meetings as well as being updated throughout the year as required.