Board

The board decides the overall direction of our organisation and makes sure we are managed well. It is made up of up to 12 members.

In 2008, two of our service users were elected to positions on the board.

Chris Birchall (Chair)

As the current Chair of MST, Chris brings 25 years housing experience to the role and the Board. This includes his time as a finance director for a registered social landlord up until he retired.

Chris enjoys his allotment and long-distance walking as well as singing in a local choir. He is determined that MST will continue to be viable and deliver the best service possible to its customers.

 

Alan Wallace

Alan has a solid background in the charity and social enterprise sector and has been involved in local economic development for many years. He has been a Board member of a number of charities and businesses, including the Refugee Housing Association which merged with other organisations to become the Metropolitan Support Trust.

Alan’s varied interests and expertise led him to an 18 month stint working as an organisational development advisor for VSO in Kathmandu. He has served as Chief Executive for several organisations, including social enterprises such as Priory Campus in Barnsley and SHINE, a Yorkshire-based development and social enterprise consultancy, which he was a founding member of. Before setting up SHINE he was the founding Chief Executive of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, a national grant making body.

Alan is a member of the Development Trusts Association and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Donald Douglas

Donald provides 20 years’ senior level housing experience to MST on the Board, alongside his current role as chief executive of a specialist housing group.

He has worked in general needs and supported housing as well as previously reporting to and servicing a variety of boards.

As a fan of the game dominos, Donald represented England in a contest. He continues to support this interest on the Anglo Caribbean Domino Association Board and chairs a community association with a special interest in the game.

Donald Graham

Donald brings 30 years experience of social housing to the MST Board, as a former tenant, advocate and executive.

Following his council and housing association tenancies, Donald became an expert in housing rights and founded a tenant’s advisory service in Northern Ireland. Here he produced a series of pamphlets on housing, benefits and various campaigns while he working in the voluntary field.

His background led him to appointments as Directors of Housing, Community and Social Services and as the Chief Executive of two authorities. Major projects included Donald leading two housing stock transfers, the setting up of an Arms Length Management Organisation and regeneration projects in London and Wales.

Donald also represented Wales on issues of asylum seekers, dispersal and housing provision and served on the UK Boarder Agency Board, established to tackle similar concerns.

He enjoys snowboarding and is learning to kite surf. He believes that if you are told something is impossible, then it can be done.

Phillippa Marlowe-Hunt

Phillippa became the first service user appointed to the MST Board when she was appointed in 2008.

Phillippa remains an active member of MST’s Service User Strategy Group – a group of service users that give MST strategic guidance – and continues to attend regional service user group meetings.

Phillippa is also on the tenant management committee of her housing estate and is a member of LATMOS' group – a group of housing Tenant Management Organisations set to form their own housing association.She has previously been on the management committee of Stockwell Women's Refugee Centre and has been Chair of "Belong", a Christian-based charity which seeks to empower and strengthen local housing communities through supported help and self-governance.

Phillippa has had a variety of jobs from painter and decorator to bouncer to restaurant manager to retail manager. She is home educating her son, trained and performed in classical ballet and Indian dancing, loves cycling around London, is a voracious reader of history and English literature, grows organic vegetables and classes herself as a budding eco warrior. She has an interest in supporting people, regenerating and stabilising of communities. And to her the world is a community!

Olani Nemera

Olani became the second service user to be appointed to the Board in September 2009, as a user of Refugee Support’s services. He is also a member of the Regional Service Users Group, the Migration Foundation Committee and The Llangattock Charitable Trust.

Olani previously worked as a science teacher and has a long-standing history of volunteering and offering community support. This includes over 23 years supporting agricultural development, to help rural farmers in his country of origin, while he worked for the Ministry of Agriculture.

In his continued efforts to ensure the well-being of communities that he is a part of, Olani offers his time to Wandsworth Age Concern and South Western Magistrate Court Help Desk as well as actively participating in Refugee Support events.

He hopes to continue to devote his time to championing good causes.

Mike Reardon

Mike is sharing 30 years pharmaceutical healthcare experience with MST. He is also the Non Executive Chair of the international consultancy, Xiota, and has a special interest in mental health and HIV support.

As the Chair of Mental Health Charity Bridge 86 and Public Governor of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Mike is involved in campaigns to remove the stigma of mental health. This involves working with schools to ensure that young people develop an early understanding of mental health concerns.

His role as Vice Chair of Positive East supports HIV positive customers and their families. In addition, Mike serves as a magistrate in the north east of London.

Mike is keen to bring commercial and strategic planning skills from the private to the not-for-profit sector.

In his spare time, Mike is a keen supporter of Westcombe Park Rugby Football Club.

Dawn Stephenson

Dawn was appointed to the Metropolitan Housing Partnership (MHP) Board in 2005 and the Metropolitan Support Trust Board in 2007. Currently, she is the Chief Executive of Age Concern Hammersmith and a non-executive for NHS London (London's Strategic Authority) and has more than 20 years' public and voluntary experience working with a wide range of organisations. She is an executive committee member of PATH National and a Trustee for the Housing Association Charitable Trust (HACT). She is a former Chair and Vice Chair of Croydon Peoples Housing Association.

Dawn is Shadow Diversity Champion and a member of MHP’s nominations committee and quality and accountabilities forum.

Mark Austin – Executive Board Member

Mark joined Metropolitan Housing Partnership in 2002 bringing with him extensive experience in supported housing. He previously managed supported housing at London and Quadrant Housing Trust and has held a variety of posts at Hyde Housing. After graduating from the London School of Economics, Mark's first job was as a support worker for people with learning difficulties. He has also been involved in community work, hospital closure programmes and developing quality assurance.

A long-term resident of south London, Mark is a Millwall Football Club season ticket holder and has a teenage daughter. He is a 'green' gardener and has had great success in increasing the local frog population.

As Managing Director, he aims for Metropolitan Support Trust to be recognised as the leading provider of support services, of the highest quality, customer focussed and cost effective.

Metropolitan Support Trust is a part of Metropolitan Housing Partnership, a unique network of locally focused member organisations working together to provide housing, regeneration, community, care and support services.

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