The appointment of Kate Davies as chief executive of Notting Hill Housing Trust has taken the sector a step closer to the Housing Corporation's target of female bosses at half the top 200 associations.
When Davies, currently chief executive of Servite Houses, takes the helm of Notting Hill in July, she will have responsibility for more than 18,000 homes and 635 staff – making her head of the largest association run by a woman.

Davies, 48, says she would like to be a role model for other women in the sector. As a mother of three, she is certainly no stranger to the challenge of balancing family and career: her CV includes spells as director of housing at Brighton & Hove council and head of housing at the London Borough of Bexley before joining Servite in 1999.

She said: "Notting Hill is unique in having five women directors. I'm totally committed to diversity and I'm thrilled that we're leading the way."

Notting Hill's former chief executive, Peter Redman, left the country's seventh-largest housing association last October by "mutual consent" after poor inspection results (HT 7 November 2003, page 7).

Davies, who admits that Notting Hill's public image "lacks coherence" at present, has promised to act on the Audit Commission's recommendations for improving the troubled association, to develop a vision for its future and to continue to develop homes in the capital. She said: "I want to build a united, externally focused organisation."

Davies will take over from acting chief executive Ingrid Reynolds. Reynolds will be returning to her permanent post as the trust's group director of property and new business.

Servite's chair Marta Phillips said: "We are pleased for Kate, though we are sorry to see her go. She has helped us transform our governance, deliver a strategy for growth, create a people-focused image and made sure Servite Houses is a real contender."

The Housing Corporation launched the Leadership 2010 campaign last year with the aim of having women in half the chief executive positions of the top 200 registered social landlords by 2010 (HT 19 December 2003, page 8).

Source

Housing Today