Board - About Tees Valley Housing

Sue Jeffrey (Chair)

Sue recently retired as Executive Director at the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly and is now an elected member of Redcar and Cleveland Council.

John Foster (Vice Chair)

John is a former board member of the Housing Corporation, former board member of the Audit Commission and former Chief Executive Officer at Middlesbrough Council, but is now retired.

John has been a board member with Tees Valley Housing for a number of years and is currently Vice Chair. John is Chair of Fabrick Housing Group’s Audit & Risk Committee.

Charles Bate

Charles, who is now retired, had a career in Local Government in the town planning and housing departments followed by a 12-year stint as a local councillor for the City of Sunderland. He is currently Chair of the Tyne and Wear Valuation Tribunal, Chair of a local community centre and a school governor.

Denise Caudle

Denise is a former Director of the Government Office for the North East with responsibility for housing and regeneration policy, Now retired, Denise does occasional freelance consultancy work, as well as holding various public and voluntary appointments.

Wendy Holmes

Wendy, who was a Medical Secretary, was a former Chair of Banks of the Wear Community Housing Association and is currently Chair of the Langridge Initiative Centre.

Wendy became interested in social housing 18 years ago through involvement with a local housing co-operative and remains firmly committed to tenant participation.

Barry Keane

Barry is Vice Chair of Fabrick Housing Group and is also a board member for Tees Valley Housing, having been a previous Chair.

Barry was educated at Grangefield Grammar School, Stockton and at Cambridge University. He spent 24 years in the Probation Service and since then has been a drama teacher and theatre director, but is now retired. Barry has been involved in social housing for 30 years.

Bob Longridge

Following his retirement from a career in social work and the management of social services, Bob chairs The Robert Stephenson Trust based in Newcastle and also enjoys trying to make sense of contemporary art.

Robert Murphy

Robert has been with Darlington Building Society since 1980 and is currently Commercial Manager, responsible for corporate and business lending.

Robert has a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Teesside (where he also lectured for a time in Financial Services).

He has previous experience as a regional committee member for two national RSLs, and was previously Chair of the Tyne Tees region of North British Housing Association.

Choon Dee Neoh

Choon Dee is a graduate of Dublin University and is a specialist teacher in English as an additional language. She is a Director of the Tees Valley Chinese Community Centre Ltd and the Chair of the BME network Stockton.

Jim Scollen

Jim is a Tees Valley Housing resident and is also a member of the Company's Housing Advisory Panel, its main consultation body for residents.

John Stoney

John was appointed to the Board in September 2006. He had previously served on the Board from 1999 to 2001 before taking an overseas posting with ICI. John is now retired. He is Chair of Partnering Plus Ltd and also a member of the Board of Portico Homes Limited.

Les Southerton

Les is an economist and Chartered Town Planner and has worked on Teesside since 1970. Recent jobs have included a Director of the local council, Chief Executive of the City Challenge Programme in East Middlesbrough, Chief Executive of Middlesbrough Town Centre Company and he is currently Project Director of the Stockton-Middlesbrough Initiative. Les is a Director of Nature’s World, Northern Architecture and Chair of Saltburn Artists and Tees Valley Dance. He is also currently Chair of the Middlesbrough Local Strategic Partnership.

Jim Seed

Jim has 40 years of experience in telecommunications and is an ex-board member of Nortel Italia (part of Nortel Networks) including 12 years as a director. Jim has lived and worked across Europe over the past 20 years.