Welcome to incoming Executive

With no contention for Executive places, those people nominated were returned unopposed and without the need for an election (phew!). At its last meeting in July, the Executive voted a huge thank you to Matt Smith of Birmingham City Council (pictured left) for his two-year stint as Chair, a period that included continuing growth for the Empty Homes Network despite the cuts and was also brightened by probably the two best national Conferences that EHN has ever run. Matt's steadying influence has been invaluable during a challenging time. Matt will continue to serve on the Executive and on the Governance Sub-Committee as Past Chair. Welcome, then, to incoming Chair, Nick Pritchard-Gordon (Reading Borough Council) (pictured right). He is well-known to many for his insightful, amusing and humane presentations on empty homes issues and has also been a highly dynamic and engaged member of the Executive since joining it and particularly as Vice-Chair over the last two years. His elevation to the Chair is well-deserved. Sue Li, Amber Valley Borough Council (pictured below), has taken over the Vice-Chair role. One of the most experienced practitioners in the country, Sue is a long-term stalwart of the East Midlands Empty Homes Forum and the EHN Executive. As the inspiration behind an award-winning empty homes initiative she has featured at more than one of our Conferernces. Darryl Lawrence relinquishes his role of Past Chair to make way for Matt Smith. Darryl has made a huge contribution to the Network over the four years he has served as Chair and Past Chair and we are fortunate that he has been elected as an Ordinary Member of the Executive Mark Fisher (Basingstoke and Deane) has also been returned as an Ordinary Member of the Executive. Both Mark and Darryl have been key players in the largely successful effort to get lenders to be more accommodating to leasing proposals. The full Executive membership details can be found here.