Executive Directors
Helen Ward
Helen joined us in January 2025. Helen has extensive expertise in business improvement, culture change and people management, alongside a strong background in the housing sector. Her previous roles include Director of Transformation at Anchor, and Group Director of People at Torus, where she earned her Fellowship with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCPID). She’s also held a senior leadership position at the Regulator of Social Housing, driving corporate change programmes and gaining valuable insight into the regulatory landscape.
Howard Roberts
Howard was appointed as Executive Director of Finance & Performance in January 2019. During his early career he specialised in the delivery of corporate finance, and audit and advisory services for a wide range of organisations across the UK – from listed businesses through to OMB’s and charities. More recently he has held a number of executive and non-executive roles within the social housing sector and related fields – in the North West – gaining considerable expertise in the formulation and delivery of financial and commercial strategy, resolution of M&A’s and corporate restructures, business development, and business assurance.
Sharon Marsh
Sharon joined Livv Housing Group in 2012 and has over 20 years’ experience in leadership and HR roles across the public and private sectors. Over the past seven years, she has developed a robust ‘People Framework’ that supports our employees across the Group to develop, deliver and fulfil their potential.
With a passion for people, her role plays a vital part in our Executive Director Team and is key in helping the Group fulfil its strategic ambitions. Sharon is also our lead for Consumer Standards.
Léann Hearne
Léann was appointed as Group Chief Executive in October 2018.
She began her career in sales and marketing in the engineering and construction sectors and became Managing Director of an international manufacturing business in 2000. Whilst there she took up a Non-Executive position in a housing association, with roles of Chairman of Audit Committee, Board Chairman and Group Vice-Chairman. This sparked a real interest in social housing and communities and led her to move into the sector, working firstly with retirement living, care and support and homeless services and then most recently for The Riverside Group. She is experienced in growing and developing businesses, in creating efficiency and effectiveness using Lean methodologies and in challenging the norm.
People and communities really matter to her and as a Trustee of the Shakespeare North Playhouse Trust and a Board Advisory Member for DIAL Global, she makes sure both are at the core of what she does.
Group Board
Philip Raw (FRICS, FBEng)
Group Board Chair and Remuneration and Nominations Committee Member
Philip is a chartered surveyor, with strong executive and non-executive experience in the profit, not for profit and charitable sectors within Care Quality Commission, Social Housing Regulator and Charities Commission regulatory framework.
Philip’s experience in the private sector bridges national, local, public and private housing work including development and legal court work.
He’s an experienced Chairman, who has worked in partnership with CEOs and Executive teams to deliver transformational change at scale, performance improvement and mergers and acquisitions.
He has over 20 years of experience in the Registered Provider sector as a chair and non-executive director, during a period of increasing demands on Governance and regulatory control.
Steve Agger
Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of Customer Services Committee
Steve has a wealth of experience establishing and managing high achieving teams and partnerships across the country; in local government, private housing and the third sector. His key focuses are empowering communities and working in partnership to improve lives.
Eleanor Bowden
Board Member and Chair of Remuneration and Nominations Committee
Eleanor is an independent consultant on housing projects that are aimed at enhancing affordability, quality, and sustainability in the UK.
She currently works with bluechip companies on retrofit in social housing. She is also part of a national innovation project, backed by the UK government, that seeks to raise the standards of private rented sector homes.
With a diverse background including roles at Homes England, Legal & General Affordable Homes, Local Authorities, RPs and social impact investment, Eleanor brings a great deal of expertise to her work for Livv Housing Group. Her contributions to the sector are award-winning, with recognition from Property Week, Estates Gazette, and Grant Thornton.
Tony Deakin
Board Member and Chair of Audit and Risk Committee
Tony is a chartered accountant. He’s worked in the social housing sector for 25 years in both Executive and Non-Executive positions. As well as his Non-Executive Director (NED) role with Livv Housing Group, Tony’s other NED appointments in the social housing sector in England are at Shropshire Towns & Rural Housing (Shropshire Council’s ALMO) and One Manchester.
Phil Pemberton
Board Member and Audit and Risk Committee Member
Phil is a housing professional with over 40 years’ experience, with over half of this spent working at Director Level in both the public and private sector. He specialises in Property and Asset Management and is currently working for The Riverside Group where he’s responsible for their London and South portfolio.
Over the last 14 years, Phil has also held several non-executive positions in housing and is currently Chair of a subsidiary board. He sits on several national committees including the National Housing Maintenance Forum committee and the Direct Works steering group. Phil is particularly interested in achieving great customer service, supporting communities, introducing innovation and tackling climate change.
John Ray
Board Member and Remuneration and Nominations Committee Member and Chair of Business Development, Growth and Investment Committee
John is the Director of Commercial & Procurement at Full Fibre Limited, a builder and operator of ultrafast broadband networks. He has previously held Asset Management roles at Manchester Airport Group and was a management consultant in the Major Projects division of EY.
John is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor.
Nicola Waterworth
Board Member and Customer Services Committee Member, Chair of First Ark Social Investment Board, and Chair of Livv and Flourish Committee
Nicola is a social policy leader creating systems change through enabling people to collaborate well. Nicola is Strategic Lead for Ageing in Place at the GM Ageing Hub at Greater Manchester Combined Authority, where her work on the ‘Ageing in Place Pathfinder’ focuses on hearing and valuing the voices of people in mid and later life in order to change and improve outcomes in their neighbourhoods.
Throughout her career Nicola has championed collaboration, co-production and social investment to create change and tackle inequality. Nicola is an experienced coach and facilitator and an advocate for the power of creativity and culture in mobilising social change.
Nicola has held several trustee roles with national and local organisations.
Ann Gibbons
Board Member and Customer Services Committee Member and Board Lead for Complaints
Ann started her career in hospitality working in hotels and restaurants across Europe. Whilst working for Whitbread, she developed her leadership skills attending the Disney Institute of Leadership in Florida and delivered leadership programmes supporting the launch of new brands.
After this she worked in retail financial services at Santander and Yorkshire Bank, then following the banking crisis of 2008 merged three failed Regional Building Societies into Nationwide Building Society.
She has spent 11 years working as an Executive Director in the housing and social care sector at Anchor, Metropolitan and post-merger, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing as Executive Director of Customer Services.
Claire Postlethwaite
Board Member, and Audit & Risk Committee Member
Claire is Director of Operational Finance and Deputy Section 73 Officer at Greater Manchester Combined Authority. She has a background in finance, change management, transformation, customer services, procurement, risk and audit with experience gained predominantly in the housing and local government sectors.
She trained to be an accountant in the NHS and worked in the private sector for Littlewoods Lotteries shortly after achieving her CIPFA qualification.
Claire actively undertakes non-executive work outside of her substantive role, currently working for a local housing association and a charitable sporting foundation in a non-executive capacity.
Claire is an academic mentor and has a diploma in coaching.
Jonathan Westhoff
Board Member, and Audit & Risk Committee Member
Initially starting his career in banking, and undertaking a wide variety of roles, from customer facing ones in branches across the Liverpool area to senior strategy and finance roles, Jonathan moved into the mutual building society sector where he has now been for over 24 years. Having specialised in strategy and finance, including operating as Finance Director at three societies, he moved to Chief Executive Officer of West Bromwich Building Society in 2011.
With a passion for true purpose led business, Jonathan has overseen the transformation of the Society, refocussing its activities on its founding principles of 175 years, which means getting people into the security of their own homes.
In addition to his role as Chief Executive, Jonathan also is a trustee and chair of the Society’s charitable foundation, and chair of its residential letting subsidiary. He is also a past chair of the building society sector’s representative body, the BSA.
Organisational structure
As a community-based social business that plays an active part in the alliance of housing associations working in the Liverpool City Region, we’re about much more than building and managing homes.
