Board members
Our board consists of up to 12 members and acts as our governing body. It has responsibility for the overall direction of the organisation, making sure all business is conducted in accordance with the rules, regulations and statues for the benefit of current and future stakeholders.
Barbara Roche
Barbara has been Chair of Metropolitan Support Trust since its inception in April 2007 and is Deputy Chair of Metropolitan Housing Partnership (MHP). Barbara is also a member of the Granta Board and of MHP’s finance and governance & nominations committees.
Barbara is also Vice-Chair of the Bernie Grant Trust. She chairs a fundraising committee to establish a new neonatal unit for north London, is a visiting university fellow and a visiting professor. Barbara is a former MP and Government Minister; at the Home Office, Treasury, Cabinet Office, ODPM and the DTI. Barbara is a barrister by profession and worked for a number of years at an inner city law centre.
Chris Birchall
Chris Birchall joined the board of Threshold Support in 2004 before it became part of Metropolitan Support Trust in 2007. He is an IPFA qualified accountant with over 20 years’ experience of social housing and is also a qualified Town Planner. His career in social housing includes working at the Housing Corporation, Family Housing Association (now Family Mosiac) and, before retirement, as Finance and Administration Director at Hexagon Housing Association. Chris has held a number of board positions, including acting as a statutory appointee for the Housing Corporation, before being appointed vice chair of MST in February 2008.
Andrew Paul Brough
Andrew joined the Refugee Support Board in 2005 (then Refugee Housing Association). He has substantial general management experience, encompassing the provision of strategic and operational guidance to a range of organisations. He has worked with corporate, governmental, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and academic organisations including Accenture, BBC, Lodestone Innovation Partners and UCL, in areas as diverse as strategy development, technology innovation, new venture/business development and project delivery expertise. Andrew has worked in the UK, Australia, USA and France, and has recently focused on enterprise development and investment for innovative SMEs in the UK and Europe.
Isabelle Bryan
Isabelle originates from the Democratic Republic of Congo and has achieved a Masters Degree in International Political Economy. She has been extensively involved in project management work for charities such as Citizens Advice, and in international development work for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. At senior level, she used her professional experience and knowledge to assist small Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) charities in London. Isabelle is also currently company secretary of a lifestyle business.
Furthermore, Isabelle is a member of Metropolitan Support Trust’s Ashmore Fund sub-committee and has a strong interest in investment and asset management. She holds the Certificate in Foundation and Asset Management from the London Business School, and is currently specialising in property as an asset class by studying for the RICS accredited MSc in Commercial Property Management/Investment.
Ed Chmara
Ed Chmara is currently a partner with Lichfield Planning responsible for the firm’s international projects. He is a member of The Royal Town Planning Institute and sits on its International Affairs Committee.
Ed holds a first degree in Economics and a Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning. His particular professional interests are community development, housing and sustainable development. His long association with Metropolitan Housing Partnership began as a consultant in the late 1990s when he was commissioned to advise Metropolitan Housing Trust (MHT) on the creation of a social investment foundation, after which he became a member of the MHT Midlands Regional Committee and MHT’s Audit Committee. He is now a board member of Spirita having been a board member of Rushcliffe Homes until its recent merger with MHT Midlands and Walbrook Housing Association to form Spirita.
Maureen Dalziel
Maureen is a public health physician who has held board level appointments since 1989. She has been associated with the supported housing sector for twelve years. She is presently working across the NHS in an independent capacity and is on the Board of the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC) and the British Pregnancy Advisory Centre (BPAS). For 20 years she held senior board appointments within the NHS, including several CEO and senior medical/public health appointments and she was a member of the senior civil service at the DOH. She was a general practitioner before training in public health. She has a doctorate in public health and policy from the University of London and holds an honorary senior lectureship in health services research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
Donald Douglas
Donald Douglas joined the Board of Threshold in 1991 and was Chair of Threshold Support until it became part of Metropolitan Support Trust 2007. Donald has extensive experience in housing and is currently Chief Executive of Lea Housing Association. He has served on a wide range of boards and management committees for over 27 years. These have ranged from various social club committees, single regeneration boards and of course general needs and supported housing organisation’ boards.
Eugene Johnson
Dr. Gene Johnson is an Occupational Psychologist. He has nearly 20 years' experience in government, academia, consultancy, and corporate sectors. Gene started his career with the U.S. government, later moving to an academic position in the School of Management at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. While on sabbatical in the UK he decided to remain and to enter consultancy in assessment and development, working several years for a training firm set up by Ford Motor Company. He currently works as a senior manager of training and development at Dell Computers, in charge of their EMEA management development curriculum. Gene is a chartered occupational psychologist, and is the Chair Elect of the British Psychological Society's Division of Occupational Psychology, a group of 3,500. He joined the Refugee Housing Association's board in 2005 before it became Refugee Support, and transferred to the Metropolitan Support Trust board in 2007.
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. Dawn was formerly employed as the Director of the Black Londoners Forum, a pan-London organisation that campaigned on equality and policy issues affecting London’s Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities. Dawn has more than 20 years’ public and voluntary experience working with a wide range of organisations. She is an Executive Committee Member of the PATH National and a Trustee for the Housing Association Charitable Trust (HACT). She was 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 & Accountabilities Forum.
Alan Wallace
Alan joined the Refugee Support Board in 2005 (then Refugee Housing Association). He has been involved in the social enterprise and regeneration sector in Britain for twenty years. Recently, Alan has been delivering business planning and strategic development support to voluntary and community organisations moving towards enterprise in Yorkshire. He was the founding Chief Executive of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and of Priory Campus (a successful Barnsley Social Enterprise) where he is now Chair of the board of trustees. Alan is particularly experienced in the overlap between the social and commercial aspects of enterprise having had a long association with the Development Trusts Association – as a national board member and now as a member of the Yorkshire Regional Advisory Group. He is currently a director of the Camberwell Project, responsible for strategy and leadership development for clients.
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 & 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.