SLH Senior Management Team

Julie Fadden - Chief Executive

Julie joined SLH Group as Chief Executive in March 2005. She has extensive experience in Local Government and Housing working for Liverpool City Council (1979), Knowsley MBC (1991), Blackburn with Darwen BC (1996) and Harvest Housing Group (1997). Her work on the Partington Estate in Trafford over an 8 year period led to its transformation into a peaceful neighbourhood winning the first InBiz Peaceful Neighbourhood Award in 2004. She has been actively involved in the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) for much of her career, both at Branch and CIH Council level and is currently Membership Officer of the North West Branch as well as a nationally elected member of CIH Council. Julie is a Fellow of the CIH, has a Diploma in Public Administration and a Masters Degree in Management. In 2007, Julie won the NHF 'Leader of Tomorrow Award' and 'Overall Award' at the NHF Neighbourhood Awards in recognition of her work at SLH Group. In her spare time she enjoys health and fitness activities at her local gym as well as spending time with family and friends.

Tony Russell - Director of Corporate Services

Tony joined SLH Group as Executive Director of Corporate Services in July 2007. He has strategic responsibility for Finance, Business Excellence, Human Resources, Organisational Development, ICT, and Governance. He began his career in the housing sector in 1995 as a Finance Administrator at Liverpool Housing Trust. He continued his career in LHT by becoming a Business Accountant, then Finance Manager before moving to its parent company, Vicinity Group to become Head of Finance in 2003. During his time Tony has delivered many corporate projects including group reconstruction including merger, amalgamation, transfer of engagements, charitable conversion, refinancing, business planning, performance management, business improvement and systems implementation. Tony is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a Corporate Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, and a graduate of the University of Central Lancashire.

Wayne Gales - Director of Operations

Wayne joined SLH Group as Executive Director of Operations in November 2007. Wayne is responsible for all frontline customer facing services including Customer Services, Tenancy and Income Management, Responsive and Planned Maintenance, Community Safety, Supporting People Services, as well as Regeneration and Development activity. Wayne has over 20 years experience within the sector, starting his career in the Midlands working for a Local Authority as a Building Surveyor, he later moved to the northwest and joined Riverside HA as Property Services Manager, before moving to PLUS (CDS Housing) where he held a number of positions before joining SLH as Executive Director of Operations. Wayne is a Chartered Building Surveyor, a corporate member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, an Associate of the Chartered Management Institute and graduate of John Moores University.

Julie Marsh - Head of Neighbourhood Management

Julie started her career in the Housing Department of Liverpool City Council in 1982. During her time working within the housing sector she has been based within the Speke and Garston area. Her career path has seen her work within the teams of Neighbourhood Services, Community Development and Property Services. Julie's current role is to develop and deliver new services in our neighbourhoods. Julie is truly committed to making this area a better place and has seen some dramatic changes over the last 20 years.

Duncan Chapman - Head of Property

Duncan started his career in construction as a carpenter and joiner in 1976. He joined the housing sector in the mid 1990's from Wilsmith's, a regional construction company based in Malvern working for Harden and Elgar housing associations. He qualified as a Chartered Builder in 2005 and joined SLH in January 2006 from Harvest Housing Group, where he was responsible for running their reinvestment programme.

Michael Whitehead - Head of Finance

Michael graduated from UMIT in 1981 in Management Sciences. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1984, he transferred into corporate finance and then corporate recovery services. Michael moved into industry in 1989 and has worked for a number of businesses including BICC / Balfour Beatty, ABB and Alstom; in a variety of sectors including building service, facilities management, property development and construction. Michael joined SLH Group in March 2005.

Ian Cresswell - Head of ICT

Ian started work in social housing in 1994 as a Technical Support Officer for Liverpool Housing Trust. He spent eight years there learning his trade before joining Hornby Homes as IT Manager in 2002. During this time he was responsible for the systems integration with CDS as part of the formation of PLUS Housing Group where he worked until 2008, before accepting a job as Head of ICT at Muir Group Housing. He joined SLH in January 2009.

Ian has project managed numerous housing systems implementations and is committed to delivering value for money ICT solutions that improve the services we deliver to our customers. He is a registered PRINCE2 practitioner, Chair of the Orchard User Group, and Chair of the NHF Northwest IT Forum.

Claire Ryan - Head of Business Excellence

Claire has over 10 years experience of working within social housing. She previously worked at CDS Housing, supporting them through the 2005 Audit Commission Inspection as well as projects such as stock transfer and merger.

Claire joined SLH in March 2010 after previously spending time here on secondment in 2006. As Head of Business Excellence, Claire has a varied role responding to changes in customer and regulatory demands. She is also responsible for performance management, equality & diversity and marketing & communications.