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George Grant

Housing Technology

George Grant is the CEO and publisher of Housing Technology. He co-founded Housing Technology with Alastair Tweedie (editor & co-founder) in 2007 to equip the UK’s social housing providers with the technology resources and information they require to improve their tenants’ lives. George has a track record of providing trusted information, research and news to the UK housing sector via the Housing Technology magazine, reports, events and broadcasts. Combining creative thinking with strategic planning, he thrives within a dynamic environment, delivering the maximum results for both housing professionals and leading IT suppliers.

Emma Birchley

Sky News, Housing Technology

Emma Birchley is a national television news correspondent with more than two decades in the business and is regularly seen on Sky News. She has a wealth of experience in conducting an array of interviews on major global stories and looks forward to co-hosting Housing Technology 2021.

Midge Ure

Synonymous with Band Aid, Live Aid, Ultravox and tireless charity work, Midge Ure’s commitment and campaigning to ensure better lives for those in poverty have earned him an OBE. In this candid and moving talk, he communicates details about his career and the story of how musicians came together to try and change the world.

Andrew Grill

Practical futurist and former IBM global managing partner, Andrew Grill is a sought-after speaker and trusted board-level technology advisor. Unlike traditional futurists who paint a picture of the future in 10, 20 or even 50 years’ time, he delivers practical and immediately actionable insights in every session. As a ‘100 per cent digital’ evangelist, Andrew believes that, “to get digital, you need to be digital”, and his engaging keynote talks provide actionable insights on how to achieve corporate goals on a global and long-lasting scale.

The Lord John Bird

John is best known for being the co-founder of The Big Issue, an international magazine created to help homeless people have a legitimate source of income. John is also the founder of The Big Issue Foundation, The International Network of Street Papers and Big Issue Invest. Outside of his social enterprises, John is an independent Crossbencher in the House of Lords who was appointed a Life Peer

Julieta Moradei

Hometeam Ventures

As a partner and founding member of Hometeam Ventures, Julieta Moradei drives the VC fund’s deal-flow and operations, bringing breakthrough technologies to the world’s largest but least innovative sector – housing and construction. Julieta was previously head of R&D at New Story and an engineer at Arup. She has an MSc in structural engineering from UC Berkeley, and postponed her Harvard MBA to kickstart Hometeam Ventures.

Tina Kennedy

Aareon UK

Tina Kennedy joined Aareon in 2020 to lead the innovation and development of Aareon’s digital products and services. Before Aareon, she spent five years as head of digital transformation at Vodafone. Tina is highly data- and insight-driven, with a strong ‘customer first’ ethos, and delivers insightful strategies designed to increase customer satisfaction.

Chris Jones

HomeLink

Chris Jones is one of HomeLINK’s co-founders and is responsible for product development, marketing and sales. With a background in technology strategy, advisory and commercialisation, he was previously a management consultant in the energy sector and more recently a director at a high-growth AI company where his responsibilities included business development, marketing and fundraising.

Justin Fisher

Civica

Justin Fisher has worked in the social housing sector for 28 years, specialising in IT, asset and repairs management but has crossed industries including highways, infrastructure and environmental services.

Kenny Virdee

Vaillant

Kenny Virdee has worked at Vaillant for over 21 years. In the role of IoT partnership director, he is working to deliver collaborative and efficient digital solutions.

Mark Arnold

Thirteen Group

Mark Arnold is responsible for ensuring the long-term sustainability of Thirteen’s 34,000 stock from economic and social standpoints. He also leads the technical development of systems, products and process for the group’s property services section. Mark began his career as a neighbourhood officer in 2005 and has since had roles in customer service, operations, development, GIS and property services.

James King

FireAngel Safety Technology

James King heads up the connected homes team at FireAngel. With over 11 years’ experience, from leading the UK specification team to developing a strong partnership with the UK Fire and Rescue Service, he is committed to supporting housing providers in protecting their tenants and properties against fire risk.

Simon Penaluna

Grand Union Housing

Simon Penaluna is responsible for the strategic direction of the IT service at Grand Union Housing, advising on innovation and technology that transforms customer services across the group.

Sue Rice

Grand Union Housing

Sue Rice leads Grand Union Housing’s transformation team delivering innovative technology projects that change the way colleagues deliver and customers access our services.

Paul Croston

Halton Housing

Paul Croston ensures that Halton Housing stays at the forefront of digital and innovation. Leading on the delivery of a refreshed IT strategy, he focuses on ensuring Halton Housing’s core systems are fit for the future, optimising the digital experience for customers and colleagues, managing data as a strategic asset, and enabling intelligence-led decision-making and a pre-emptive service model.

Eleanor Darling

Havebury Housing

An experienced manager in customer service and resident involvement, Eleanor Darling is passionate about services being fit for purpose and accessible for tenants. She believes in collaborating to produce what’s needed and to adapt those services when the need changes.

Paul Rowley

Havebury Housing

Paul Rowley is an experienced IT professional with wide management and technical expertise gained in the banking, commercial property and social housing sectors over 25 years.

Gary Pliskin

Islington & Shoreditch Housing

Gary Pliskin is the finance director of Islington & Shoreditch Housing. He has worked in housing for most of his career and also set up the Barnet Furniture Centre, a furniture re-use charity.

Steve Allcock

Johnnie Johnson Housing

Steve Allcock is director of ICT, data and digital at Johnnie Johnson Housing. He has over 15 years’ experience of digital transformation, having worked in a variety of sectors, including utilities, telecoms, healthcare and financial services.

Jennifer Shorten

Lioness Recruitment

Jennifer Shorten is one of the founders of Lioness Recruitment, specialists in recruiting for technology roles in social housing. Between them, they have over 20 years’ hands-on experience successfully recruiting over 1,000 IT professionals for housing providers, local authorities, sector-specific consultancies and specialist software houses.

Laura Bruford

Lioness Recruitment

Laura Bruford is one of the founders of Lioness Recruitment, specialists in recruiting for technology roles in social housing. Between them, they have over 20 years’ hands-on experience successfully recruiting over 1,000 IT professionals for housing providers, local authorities, sector-specific consultancies and specialist software houses.

Shendi Keshet

Manningham Housing

Having joined Manningham Housing in 2020, Shendi Keshet has held interim roles as head of financial planning at Beyond Housing, director of financial transformation at the Industrial Dwellings Society, and deputy director of finance at Soho Housing.

Amanda Hodge

MHS Homes

Amanda Hodge has worked for MHS Homes for 17 years and has experience in several IT roles including training and managing business applications.

Ros Adby

MHS Homes

Ros Adby joined MHS Homes in 2019 and has worked in the public sector for the past 19 years. She is passionate about being collaborative and is experienced in driving forward and embedding organisational transformation.

Toni Dickinson

MHS Homes

Toni Dickinson manages the applications delivery and has worked for MHS Homes for four years. As an AgilePM practitioner, she provides excellent customer engagement, project management, delivery and support for the strategic programme.

Ellen Wilson

Microsoft UK

Ellen Wilson is Microsoft UK's public-sector sustainability and smart cities lead. She is passionate about the impact technology can have on sustainability and the places we live in.

Kishore Rajendran

Microsoft UK

Kishore Rajendran is the CTO for housing at Microsoft UK. His passion for technology has given him a breadth knowledge across a wide technical landscape. His focus areas include enabling smart scenarios, such as smart buildings and smart cities, for customers to benefit from the cutting-edge innovations driven by Microsoft and its partners

Robin Denton

Microsoft UK

Robin Denton, head of housing at Microsoft UK, has spent the past 15 years at Microsoft working across local government and housing. He has experience in bringing together disparate solutions to really resolve challenges faced by organisations, and the individuals they provide services to, with experience across local government, health, housing and fire service, resident services and safety.

James Massey

MRI Software

James Massey plays a pivotal role within MRI Social Housing, having previously been chief operating officer at Castleton Technology and worked in social housing for over 22 years. He is passionate about adopting forward-thinking technologies to meet sector challenges and demands.

Doug Sarney

MRI Software

Doug Sarney plays an integral role in the introduction of new products and services to the housing sector, working closely with industry thought-leaders. He has many years’ expertise working with large data sets and developing strategic, mathematical modelling solutions.

Kirsty Marsden

TSG

With over 25 years’ experience in the IT sector, Kirsty Marsden has spent the past four years focused on TSG’s work in social housing, ensuring we deliver the best possible customer outcomes.

Tony Hughes

TSG

Tony Hughes has worked in the IT sector for over 25 years, primarily in the fields of data, document and content management and more recently evangelising Microsoft 365 productivity solutions in social housing.

Trevor Hampton

Northgate Public Services

Trevor Hampton has been on the leading edge of technology for over 30 years, from developing some of the first mobile and web solutions to being involved in research and development for the internet of things and artificial intelligence.

Dr Vivienne Adams

Paradigm Housing

Dr Vivienne Adams is a business transformation specialist with significant experience in portfolio and programme management in the private and public sector. She has delivered multi-million-pound transformation programmes with corresponding efficiency improvements across a range of industries.

Jon Cocker

Platform Housing

Jon Cocker is the chief information officer for Platform Housing Group. He has an MBA and nearly 20 years’ technology experience covering telecoms, contact centres and local government.

Clive Thacker

Peabody

Clive Thacker is a champion of technology innovation and change, with 20 years’ expertise working in the social housing and care sectors. He is passionate about delivering business efficiency using technology, allowing organisations to focus on value-adding activities.

Emma Richman

Peaks & Plains Housing Trust

A qualified architect and building surveyor, Emma Richman is the executive director of operations at Peaks & Plains Housing Trust. She has had many board roles and has also been an external examiner at Sheffield Hallam University. She has a keen interest in BIM, having applied BIM to an existing tower block last year.

Craig Taylor

Phoenix Software

Craig Taylor is passionate about helping the housing sector to harness the power of the cloud, data, AI and digital technologies to improve their services and deliver better results for staff, tenants and partners.

Oliver Barrett

Phoenix Software

Oliver Barrett is a public-sector technology specialist focused on providing solutions to enable change, digital transformation and innovation for housing providers and their tenants.

Dave Hollings

Phoenix Software

With a housing- and public-sector background, Dave Hollins is a self-confessed ‘Azure-holic’ and is passionate about helping organisations on their cloud migration journeys and boosting productivity using DevOps and automation techniques.

Dean Garvey-North

Places for People

Dean Garvey-North is a strategic, creative and people-focused technology leader with over 19 years’ experience across housing, bioscience, IT managed services and fintech. He has proven success of delivering digital and cloud transformation strategies on a global scale.

Inma Martinez

After a career in banking, Inma Martinez joined Cable & Wireless to become global head of IP services in the late 1990s. Shifting to entrepreneurship in 2000, she has been behind the development of mobile web services, AI personalisation and predictive consumer behaviour, streaming, intelligent wearables, connected cars and smart living. In the UK, she has served on the board of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s innovation fund and has been industry ambassador on entrepreneurship for the UK Trade & Investment Catalyst Group. She recently joined SynSapien, an organisation of 500 scientists across European and US universities developing medical equipment at low cost to fight coronavirus.

Boris Worrall

Rooftop Housing

Boris Worrall has been involved in housing for over 10 years and is a regular commentator on policy, politics and business change. He began his career as a journalist before working for the Home Office. He enjoys surfing, yoga and keeping chickens.

Rob Mottram

Social Telecoms

Rob Mottram has supplied telecommunications, data and digital inclusion services to the social housing sector for 21 years, starting off in customer service before moving into business development and marketing. He enthuses the adoption of cloud communications by housing providers.

Greg Iddon

Sophos

Greg Iddon is a strategist in the Sophos Technology Office and a manager for Sophos Managed Threat Response. Driven by a desire to make the digital world a safer place, he has a passion for cybersecurity that has consumed the past 15 years of his life. A rampant, idiosyncratic nerd with a thoroughly ‘British’ sense of humour, Greg strongly believes that the complexities of computing and security can be made accessible, funny, and interesting to the masses, and takes every opportunity to share his passion with anyone who willing to listen.

Chris Milborrow

Southside Housing Association

Chris Milborrow leads the ongoing digital transformation efforts at Southside Housing and has recently completed the pilot Digital Inclusion Project Management SCQF Level 8 with SCVO and Glasgow Kelvin College.

Audrey Lloyd

Sovereign Housing

Audrey Lloyd is an experienced housing professional with a particular forte in reporting and analysis. Helping to predict business impact for areas of tenancy management and income, her team uses BI technology to transform data into informative insights.

Lawrence Gardner

Wrekin Housing

Lawrence Gardner is passionate about understanding the business in which he serves and building and developing a well-bonded team of experts with a shared commitment to delivering a service that is highly attuned to the needs of its users.

Rebecca Farrell-Greenhalgh

Yorkshire Housing

Rebecca Farrell-Greenhalgh is a digital transformation professional with 15 years’ experience in the housing sector. She works at all levels to ensure that effective change is delivered and that it matches and exceeds the needs of internal stakeholders and customers.

Dino Kyprianou

PA Housing

Dino Kyprianou joined PA Housing in 1996 and moved into IT in 2004. He has been in his current role for the past eight years; he loves working in the housing sector and loves the collaboration between everyone!

Katherine Hiscock

PA Housing

Katherine Hiscock joined PA Housing in 2010 as an income officer. She has since been fortunate to progress and now oversees the income team and customer contact hub functions as well as the data and analytics side of the department.

Alison Stock

Riverside Group

Alison Stock’s role is to enable Riverside to achieve more for its customers, using technology, both for now and for the future. Her early career was all about developing software for Plessey Avionics, Conde Nast and Woolmark. She then moved into IT leadership roles with the privilege of completely reshaping an IT function, at a time of great change in the newspaper industry in an independent, VC-backed organisation with a strong internet strategy, then becoming part of Johnston Press. Her subsequent roles included IT consultancy and leadership in media/internet, estate agency, European environmental/food testing, e-commerce and retail.

Housing Technology Conference 2021

Housing Technology Events Mar 3 - 4, 7:00 AM (GMT)

About this event

Speakers

George Grant

Emma Birchley

Midge Ure

Andrew Grill

The Lord John Bird

Julieta Moradei

Tina Kennedy

Chris Jones

Justin Fisher

Kenny Virdee

Mark Arnold

James King

Simon Penaluna

Sue Rice

Paul Croston

Eleanor Darling

Paul Rowley

Gary Pliskin

Steve Allcock

Jennifer Shorten

Laura Bruford

Shendi Keshet

Amanda Hodge

Ros Adby

Toni Dickinson

Ellen Wilson

Kishore Rajendran

Robin Denton

James Massey

Doug Sarney

Kirsty Marsden

Tony Hughes

Trevor Hampton

Dr Vivienne Adams

Jon Cocker

Clive Thacker

Emma Richman

Craig Taylor

Oliver Barrett

Dave Hollings

Dean Garvey-North

Inma Martinez

Boris Worrall

Rob Mottram

Greg Iddon

Chris Milborrow

Audrey Lloyd

Lawrence Gardner

Rebecca Farrell-Greenhalgh

Dino Kyprianou

Katherine Hiscock

Alison Stock

Sean Dalby

Andrew Curtis

Jordan Wheat

George Grant

Housing Technology

Emma Birchley

Sky News, Housing Technology

Midge Ure

Andrew Grill

The Lord John Bird

Julieta Moradei

Hometeam Ventures

Tina Kennedy

Aareon UK

Chris Jones

HomeLink

Justin Fisher

Civica

Kenny Virdee

Vaillant

Mark Arnold

Thirteen Group

James King

FireAngel Safety Technology

Housing Technology Events
Mar 3 - 4, 7:00 AM (GMT)