Who leads Origin?

Vicky Bonner - Chair

Vicky joined the Board in October 2019. She has nearly 30 years experience within the social housing sector where for many years she held senior positions. She is particularly interested in how to drive improvements in resident satisfaction throughout the whole organisation. Vicky began her career in housing by studying for an MSc in Housing and Social Policy at the LSE.

Declared interests: Vicky is the Director/Secretary for Danisa Limited.

Committee membership: Vicky chairs the Customer Services Committee and is a member of the Health and Safety Oversight Group.

Will Loughnane

Will is Chief Commercial Officer and a member of the Executive Committee at Places for People. My job is about balancing growth, change and sustainability, and delivering our commercial objectives. I'm responsible for a number of our commercial businesses (including property management companies covering a range of tenures and segments, such as student, PRS and later living) as well as some of our support functions, including strategy and transformation, ESG and public policy, partnerships, and customer experience. I'm also Executive Sponsor for our merger integrations programme.
 
Before joining Places for People in 2022, I have 20 years' experience in financial, commercial and leadership roles in Banking, Fintech and Business Advisory, creating value, delivering good outcomes for customers and supporting and developing people along the way.

Tony Bacon

Tony joined the Investment Committee in September 2020. He has over 25-years’ experience in construction, development and asset management, and has held a number of executive and senior management positions within the housing sector. He is currently Development Director for Central & Cecil Housing Trust, and prior to that was Director of Development & Asset Management at the Salvation Army Housing Association. He also worked at L&Q Group for over 10-years on a variety of major mixed-use development, regeneration and asset renewal projects. 

Tony has an honours degree in Quantity Surveying, and MSc in Construction Law & Dispute Resolution from King’s College. He is a member of the Society of Construction Law and the Chartered Institute of Building (ICIOB).

Declared interests: Development Director for Central & Cecil Housing Trust.

Committee membership: Tony is a member of the Investment Committee.

Meena Anand

Meena joined the Board in September 2020. She has recently returned to London after almost a decade in Asia and the Middle East.  A seasoned Human Resources leader by background, Meena has operated at the c-suite level for over a decade for some of the best known FTSE 30 organisations.  She is a passionate disruptor often sought to write, speak and comment upon next-gen HR. Her articles have recently been published in several magazines.  In addition to her non-executive role at Origin, Meena is a Trustee of a local Multi Academy Trust covering three secondary schools in and around East London and a Board Advisor to Human Resources Online, a magazine aimed at senior HR professionals across Asia. Meena is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel, is a qualified Organisation Development Practitioner and executive coach.

Declared interests: Meena is a Directpr at the Careers Company, Board Trustee at Community Schools Trust, a Non-Executive Director at Central and North West London NHS Trust and a trustee of Hyfa Foundation CIC, a financial inclusion charity.

Committee membership: Meena is Chair of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee.

Paul Nourse

Paul, Non-Executive Director brings 44 years of extensive experience and expertise in consumer-focused businesses, with a particular emphasis on housing services over the last 14 years.

Paul's journey began as an affordable homes customer in North Hertfordshire before transitioning to a career in public service in London. He holds an MBA and is a fellow of the Institute of Risk Management. Prior to joining Origin Housing, Paul held pivotal leadership positions, including Managing Director of Places Leisure and Group Chief Risk Officer for Places for People.

Throughout his career, he has held leadership roles in various sectors such as home services, energy, insurance, wealth management, and public service, predominantly focusing on risk management and regulatory compliance.

Caron Bradshaw

Caron Bradshaw joined Origin’s Board in September 2021. She is Chief Executive of Charity Finance Group. She joined CFG in June 2010 from the ICAEW, where she was Head of the Charity and Voluntary Sector and had been secretary to a number of committees including the Social Housing Committee. In addition to supporting a number of small charities and community organisations Caron has been a member of the NCVO’s National Assembly, sits on the Charities SORP Committee, has sat on a number of government working parties, is a member of the Church of England Pension Board’s Audit and Risk Committee and the Finance and Risk committee of the British Asian Trust. Caron is a trained Barrister and has a wide array of experience across social change/charity, regulation & law, policy, member support, and professional ethics. 

Caron is an avidly ‘social’ CEO and was been named in the top 30 social CEOs in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2015 she was named Charity Principal of the Year at the Charity Times Awards. In 2016 she received the Association Excellence Award for Leadership. She was named in the top 30 UK social influences in Risk, Compliance and Regtech 2017 and in the Charity Times top 25 Influencers in the charity sector 2019. In October 2020, Caron was named Woman of the Year (non-CCAB) at the Women in Finance and Accountancy Awards.

Caron was honoured with an OBE for 'services to charity' in the New Year's Honours list 2021.  

Declared interests: Caron is CEO of Charity Finance Group, Director of CFDG Trading Co and a Director of Directory for Social Change.

Committee membership: Caron is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Carol Carter - Group Chief Executive Officer

Carol Carter joined Origin as Chief Executive in April 2017.  She has over 40 years' experience in a wide range of roles and organisations across the housing sector with experience in driving organisational change and delivering high-quality services to residents; effective and efficient housing and property management and community investment; ensuring value for money and building strong external partnerships.

Prior to joining Origin, Carol was Group Director of Housing for six years at Hyde with responsibility for managing 50,000 homes. Previously she worked for a range of housing associations, inner London and rural local authorities, as well as a three year period in consultancy, including experience at Savills.

Carol chaired the National Housing Federation’s executive advisory group - the London Leaders Forum – from 2017 to 2022. 

She holds a degree in Social Science and the Professional Qualification of the Institute of Housing.

Declared interests: Carol is a trustee and Vice Chair of P3, a national housing-related support services charity, a member of the Placeshapers Ltd Board and of the Euston Town Business improvement District Board

Committee membership: None

Robert Green

Bob joined the Board in September 2019. He is a Qualified Accountant with over 30 years’ experience in senior financial and general management roles including Finance Director of a FTSE 250 property company. He has been a NED in various public sector organisations for 10 years and is a trustee of Milton Keynes Parks Trust.

Declared interests: None

Committee membership: Bob is Chair of the Investment Committee.

Abi Jacobs

Abi joined the Board in October 2021. She is an experienced housing professional and is the Development Partnerships Director at London & Quadrant Housing Trust. She has responsibility for managing small to medium sized development schemes for L&Q across London, Southeast and the Northwest. Her team assists forty-five smaller housing associations in London with building new homes.

She is passionate about collaboration and partnership working, driving a one team culture. Abi has over 25 years’ experience in the construction and housing sector; she is a member of the Chartered Institute of Building and holds an MBA degree from Keele University.

Declared Interests: Abi is Development Partnerships Director at L&Q Housing Trust. She is also an ambassador for Women in Social Housing and a member of Prince’s Trust. She also volunteers for a charity called On A Silver Plate.

Committee membership: Abi is a member of the Investment committee

Argiri Papathos

Argiri joined RHP as Executive Director of Corporate Services, and Company Secretary, in January 2024. Argiri has spent most of her career leading multidisciplinary functions, including Governance, People, Information Technology, Corporate Health and Safety, Business Transformation, Risk, Audit and Data Protection.
Most recently, Argiri led the Governance and Compliance function for the Peabody Group, following leading on the merger with Catalyst in 2023, where she held a similar role.
 
Argiri’s experience includes appointments as Advisor to the Audit Committee for the Royal College of Nursing and Advisory Board Member for Connex Leadership Networks. Argiri is a Fellow of the RSA.

Declared interests: Argiri is Executive Director of Corporate Services at RHP, an advisor to the Royal College of Nursing, a mentor for the Leadership 2025 programme and an advisory Board Member for Connex Leadership Networks.

Committee membership: Argiri is a member of Origin’s Audit and Risk Committee and the Health and Safety Oversight Group

John Rogers

John has had a diverse career, with more than 20 years in the hospitality sector focused on the creation of premium, differentiated customer experiences. He currently serves as Senior Vice President, Hilton Worldwide, with responsibility for the management of Hilton’s brands and central support teams across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The Hilton portfolio currently comprises over 600 hotels across EMEA representing 12 brands. Prior to taking up his current role, he was based in Washington DC leading Hilton’s global product innovation team and prior to moving to the US, he was responsible for the management of Hilton’s hotels in the UK and Ireland. John spent his early career at Ford Motor Company and with Costa Coffee where he was the Marketing Director.  
 
In addition to his Hilton responsibilities, John serves as a non-executive director at HCL, an educational catering business wholly owned by Hertfordshire Council and Belong, a not-for-profit elderly care organisation. 
 
Declared interests: John is Senior Vice President at Hilton Worldwide and is a Non-Executive Director at HCL Ltd and Belong. 

Committee membership: John is a member of the Customer Services Committee.

Jane Ryland

Jane joined the Board in September 2021. She has been an Origin resident for over 27 years. She has two grown up sons and a wonderful elderly dog. Over the years she has been on many resident panels and most recently was the chair of Origin’s Spotlight panel. She believes that having a home which is safe and secure and kept to a good standard is vital to peace of mind, and that it is important for residents to work with Origin to help shape the resident living experience and to be able to have a say in what happens.
 
Declared interests: None

Committee membership: Jane is a member of the Customer Services Committee.

Polly Bass

Hello - I'm Polly. I joined a local authority on a graduate scheme in 2018 and have worked in and around housing since. I have been fortunate enough to work in a number of roles - as a Neighbourhood Housing Officer, in Homelessness and the Regeneration & Development team and more recently in a corporate strategy and service design role working with housing services. I am passionate about housing and its key role as a determinant of people's outcomes and opportunities in life. I also live in a housing association shared ownership property so can bring that perspective, too - as well as my experience working with residents in my local authority area.
 
I studied for a Masters in Social Policy in 2016/17 and wrote my dissertation on the impact of grant funding on tenure and the cross-subsidy finance model for housing associations since 2010 - so I have a long interest in the contribution that housing associations can make and how they are run! What appealed to me about this programme is my desire to critically assess and understand what it takes to run an effective organisation in practice - what good governance looks like and means, and how this supports the wider purpose of delivering for tenants. But more widely, the opportunity to contribute back to the sector through both my own work but also building my confidence to coach and support others. I was really impressed by Origin's commitment to the programme which came through strongly in the application process and the attentiveness of everyone I have interacted with - I really look forward to the programme and working with you!