Board Members
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Kate McLeod - Chair
Kate recently retired as CFO of the Royal Mencap Society, where her responsibilities covered property and IT as well as Finance. Prior to that, her career was spent working in various finance roles in Investment Management firms. She now sits on a number of Risk, Audit and Finance committees of Not for Profit organisations. Read more... -
Graham Olive - Vice Chair
Graham has over 30 years’ experience in commercial banking in the UK and internationally. Latterly he established and developed a northern European structured finance business for a major international bank and was Deputy CEO of OakNorth Bank, a challenger bank with a focus on business lending. Read more... -
Vic Baylis
Vic retired from the role of Director of Customer Services at Westminster City Council before joining Thrive as a Board member. Prior to this he worked for many years in the housing service for Westminster and went on to become the Director of Housing establishing CityWest Homes which he later chaired. Vic lives locally in Rickmansworth and is a season ticket holder of Watford FC and in his spare time enjoys playing golf. -
Francesco Elia
Francesco is an accountant with extensive experience as an Executive Director and as an interim management consultant. He has over 10 years’ experience in senior executive roles within a range of housing associations, including one from the G15 (the group of London's largest housing associations). -
Jessica Friend
Jessica is an investment finance professional with over 17 years of experience in investment banking and regulatory finance. Jessica spent 15 years in investment banking arranging bank and capital markets funding for infrastructure businesses, including housing associations. Funding arranged for the social housing sector included revolving credit facilities, private placements, public bond issues, and aggregated funding vehicle issuance. Jessica is currently a senior adviser for Ofgem with a focus on the cost of capital and financial resilience. -
Malcolm Green
Malcolm was a senior executive with BAE Systems until his retirement in 2011. For 15 years he was responsible for all Real Estate activities in the company including residential regeneration schemes in collaboration with housing developers and social housing providers. Read more... -
Rachel Harrison
Rachel Harrison is Global Finance and Operations Manager at the Centre for Public Impact, part of the Boston Consulting Group. She was previously Finance Director and Company Secretary for the Wokingham Borough Council owned housing companies, comprised of a housing developer and registered provider of social and affordable homes. Read more... -
James Invine
James is a sell-side equity research analyst at Societe Generale with a focus on the UK banking sector. He is a non-executive director at Fair4All Finance, which was founded to make a step-change in financial inclusion. He sits on Fair4All Finance’s Finance, Grants & Investments Committee and its Audit & Risk Committee. He is also a Trustee at Limehouse Project, a charity based in Tower Hamlets providing a wide range of advice, education, and support to the local community. -
Craig O'Donnell
Craig is the Head of Digital Innovation at Grosvenor, one of the world's largest privately-owned property businesses. Grosvenor develops, manages and invests in property in more than 60 cities around the world. Read more... -
Jamie Smith
Jamie is Group Finance Director for Vertas Group, a multi-service facilities management company operating across the UK. Prior to joining Vertas Group, Jamie was Deputy Chief Executive at Swan Housing Group, and before that he worked in a number of Finance Director roles in the construction sector. Read more...
Executive Management Team
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Elspeth Mackenzie - Chief Executive
Elspeth joined Thrive Homes as Chief Executive in January 2009, having previously been the Chief Executive of Griffin Homes, part of the Origin Housing Group that focused on low-cost home-ownership and rent for key workers. She has had a varied career in housing management, spanning 20 years and has a wide experience of property management, strategic planning, organisational development and the governance of housing associations. Read more... -
Jo Barrett - Operations Director
Jo was appointed in June 2008, previously having worked at Stevenage Borough Council as their Director of Technical Services and was involved in the setting up of Stevenage Homes in 2006. This was an Arms Length Management Organisation responsible for the management of the Council's housing stock. Read more... -
Jack Burnham - Development Director
Jack joined Thrive Homes in 2017, having previously worked for a large developer based in London and the Home Counties. His previous experience crosses both the public and private sector, including working for local authorities in Essex and Hertfordshire as well as a London-based housebuilder. Read more... -
Mark Farrar - Finance Director
Mark Farrar joined Thrive in 2020 to help develop processes that achieve business objectives, support the wider business and help set strategy for the near- and long-term. Before joining Thrive, Mark served as Head of Finance for the housing association bpha. Prior to this position, he worked for Tesco PLC for 17 years, holding various financial leadership positions. Read more... -
Karen Forbes-Jackson - Corporate Services Director
Karen Forbes-Jackson joined Thrive in 2020, having previously held roles with MDG (part of Premier Medical Group), Network Housing Group and Sanctuary Group. With more than 25 years of generalist HR experience at the strategic and operational level, she brings the ability to proactively meet business needs in a rapidly developing, customer-focused organisation. Read more...