Chief Executive

As Chief Executive of resident-led housing association Eastlight Community Homes, Emma is committed to making a difference to the lives of residents and communities across the East of England.

The former Chief Executive of Greenfields Community Housing, before it merged with Colne Housing to become Eastlight in July 2020, Emma knows how to work with her team, customers and communities to create better places to live and work.

Prior to Greenfields, Emma was a member of Flagship Group’s Executive Team for more than a decade, holding executive roles including Chief Executive of its wholly-owned subsidiary RFT Service Ltd and Executive Director of Customer Services.

Emma’s experience spans a range of housing associations and local authorities in the East, South and London, including East Thames, Estuary, Moat and Ipswich Borough Council. She began her career as a Housing Apprentice at Suffolk Heritage Housing Association.

She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and Vice Chair of BuildEast. She is a leading advocate for improving the disabled experience for colleagues and customers, engaging with housing providers across the country through Eastlight’s partnership with national disability organisation, Purple.

Emma is also a Board Member at EastendHomes.

In June 2023, Emma was granted the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at Inside Housing's Housing Heroes Awards, in recognition of her career in the industry. You can read more about the impressive accolade here.

Emma holds a BSc (Hons) in Housing Management and Development.

Executive Director, Finance & Governance

Steve joined Eastlight in 2022 from Sovereign Housing Group and leads Eastlight’s finance, governance and transformation teams.

Previously, Steve served on the executive management teams of Hyde Group and Raven Housing Trust. He is also a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Sutton Living and BexleyCo Homes.

Steve is a CIMA-qualified accountant with 20 years’ experience in the housing sector, spanning large and small organisations, and leading finance, strategy, development and corporate services teams. 

He is passionate about helping housing associations deliver their social purpose and being a force for good in the lives of customers and for society in general.  He became a member of the NHF’s Finance Policy Advisory Group in 2023.

Executive Director, Development & Asset Management

Dan has executive responsibility for development, asset management and sustainability. 

He joined Eastlight in September 2020, having held executive roles in housing, most recently as Executive Director of Integration at Metropolitan Thames Valley. 

His previous experience was in the private retail sector where his focus was on operational improvement, performance analytics and customer insight.

Dan has a Masters in Biochemistry from Oxford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Executive Director, People & Business Services

Sharon has executive responsibility for ICT, communications and external affairs, organisational development and our people. 

Her leadership experience spans the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Sharon held similar roles in housing at Optivo and Guinness Care before joining Greenfields Community Housing in 2019.

Investing in our people to deliver excellent customer service and embracing diversity and inclusion are at the heart of Sharon’s work.

Executive Director, Customer Services

Jane has executive responsibility for service delivery including repairs and maintenance, asset management, estate services, customers services, tenancy management, lettings and tenancy sustainment.

Jane joined Eastlight in November 2021 and has always worked in the sector.  Her previous roles include Resident Services Director at London & Quadrant, and Director of Operations at East Thames. 

Jane is also an Audit & Risk Committee member at Local Space Housing Association and is passionate about delivering excellent customer services.

Jane holds a HNC in Housing Studies.

Development Director

Andrew heads up the delivery of Eastlight’s new homes programme and leads our development team, bringing to bear his experience in both affordable housing and commercial property.

Having established his career in the affordable housing sector – working for Moat, Circle Housing (now part of Clarion Housing Association) and Thrive Homes – Andrew set up his own development consultancy, which he ran for six years before joining Greenfields Community Housing.

During his time at the helm of his own business, Andrew worked on many different types of development projects, from housing to healthcare, hotels to transport hubs. His wide-ranging experience means that Eastlight is able to grow in an increasingly diverse and competitive development environment.

Andrew’s role means he is often at the forefront of building positive relationships with stakeholders across the East of England, enabling Eastlight to deliver the homes that meet the needs of communities in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and beyond.

A passionate mental health advocate, Andrew works hard to make sure that members of his team and colleagues across Eastlight have access to the resources and support they need to look after their wellbeing.

Property Director

Charlotte is responsible for asset management and investment.

This includes fire safety, compliance and our repairs and maintenance service which is delivered inhouse by our Home Solutions Team.

She has extensive experience in housing management and property services and is currently completing her Chartered Membership of the Royal Institute of Surveyors (RICS).

Social Innovation & Community Empowerment Director

James is responsible for empowering communities to be the best they can be.

He leads our Community Investment Team and is responsible for our innovative Community Empowerment Strategy.

He took up this new role at Eastlight in 2020 after driving innovation and sector wide collaboration as Futures Programme Director at the National Housing Federation (NHF).

Housing Services Director

Barbara is responsible for tenancy management and customer service at Eastlight.

She has worked in the housing sector for 12 years, most recently as Head of Neighbourhoods (Essex) at Moat homes and as an Assistant Director at L&Q.

Prior to working in housing, she worked in the charity sector for a number of years, primarily in fundraising.

A passionate advocate for the voice of residents Barbara, is focussed on ensuring that the customer voice is central to service development and delivery.

Technology Director

Jon began his career in the civil service where he held a wide variety of roles and responsibilities before eventually moving onto IT support services.

He then went on to work for a dot com company, one of the world’s largest consultancies, and then onto Janes - a professional service company specialising in defence and geo security.

Following their acquisition by an American based multinational IHS Marke) he ran a global team of IT specialists working across 14 countries and providing end user computing support to around 14,000 colleagues in 33 countries.

He joined Eastlight's legacy organisation Greenfields after a short career break.

People Director

Tracy has responsibility for directing our People Team, which includes human resources, learning and development, equality, diversity and inclusion, facilities and health & safety.

With more than 30 years people experience in sectors including care, learning disability support, sales, marketing, manufacturing and financial services, she has provided people leadership and management within organisations operating in UK and overseas.

Tracy has provided strategic and operational support on the people impact of mergers and acquisitions and change programmes.

An advocate of employee and customer engagement, Tracy achieved her Master degree and fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development focusing on this topic and is keen to encourage and remind all of our people, that every interaction with a colleague and customer, is an opportunity to improve and strengthen their engagement with Eastlight.

Communications & External Affairs Director

Lydia has strategic responsibility for the way Eastlight communicates with its people, customers, communities and external partners.

She’s a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, with experience working with housing providers as an external communications consultant.

Before becoming a member of the Eastlight team, Lydia worked with us to provide external PR support. As Group Account Director at specialist agency See Media, her other clients included PA Housing, Housing 21, Look Ahead Housing and Care, and the ExtraCare Charitable Trust.

Prior to starting her career in communications, Lydia was an award-winning journalist and editor at Inside Housing, where she specialised in writing and commissioning interviews and investigations.

Strategy & Assurance Director

Jo joined Eastlight in 2023 from Flagship Group, where she was Director of Policy and Projects. Jo has responsibility for governance, risk, assurance, housing policy and organisational strategy.

Jo has worked in the sector for over 25 years in local authorities, housing associations and as a consultant.  Jo is also a Non-Executive Director at Freebridge Community Housing and member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Jo has a first class honours degree in Housing Studies and is passionate about our sector and the positive impact we have on people, places and communities.

Finance Director

David leads Eastlight’s Finance, Income Services, Procurement and Insurance teams.

He brings a wealth of experience from the housing sector, most recently as the Assistant Director of Resources at 6,000-home Thrive Homes, and before that as a senior financial professional at some of the UK’s largest housing associations including Peabody, Circle and Wheatley Group.

David has had wide-ranging roles involving strategy, governance, business partnering and financial control.  He is committed to delivering value for money and supporting his team and colleagues to do the best job they can in serving customers and communities.

David is passionate about championing equality and diversity, and his dedication to giving back is clear from his history of supporting charitable causes.