FCHO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Bernadette Callaghan, Board Chair
Now retired Bernadette spent most of her working life in
Siemens in Hollinwood. There for many years, she was
Secretary of her Union. Bernadette has been involved in
worked and cared for sick, elderly and young disabled
enjoyed.
the metering industry based at
a works convenor and Branch
lots of voluntary work, and has
people; something she always
She was elected as Vice Chair of the Oldham Stock Transfer Forum and together with other
dedicated tenants, worked tirelessly to produce the Offer Document which finally resulted in a
definite ‘Yes’ vote, taking us to the registered provider that we are today. Bernadette was
elected to the FCHO Board in 2010, became Vice Chair in 2012, and is now the elected Chair
of the FCHO Board.
Matthew Jones, Board Vice Chair
Matt has worked in social housing for 17 years, initially as a frontline Housing Officer in Salford and an
Anti-Social Behaviour specialist in Manchester. Matt has held a number of housing management roles
with Salford City Council and New Prospect Housing, before being appointed Head of Housing at City
West following the West Salford stock transfer in 2008. He has played a key role in the development of
City West post transfer and currently holds the position of Director of Customer Operations.
Matt is passionate about social housing and is committed to challenging media stereotypes. He is
keen to ensure the customer offer is exceptional and supports communities and individuals to achieve
their potential. Matt is a father of three young boys and in his spare time is a keen cricketer and a
Manchester City season ticket holder.
Published by: Joanne Goodall, Governance Manager (June 2016)
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FCHO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Caroline Edwards
Caroline has lived and worked in Chadderton for 44 years and has been a tenant for 35 of
those. She has seen so many changes over the years, none more so than when FCHO become an
ALMO in 2002. Caroline became a member of Chadderton Local Board in 2008 and was one of the
tenants on the Stock Transfer Forum in 2009.
Caroline is what you call a 'people person' and enjoys working with people of all ages. She is the
FCHO Board Champion for Customers and Communities and used to be key part of the Apfel Lane
Community Group in Chadderton organising and running events from 2009—2012, and still
volunteers for them to this day. She also assists with Oldham’s Racial Equality Partnership.
“When FCHO became a Registered Social Landlord, this gave customers an opportunity to get more
involved and the ability to achieve more together and make a difference ensuring the neighbourhoods
and communities of Oldham are better”.
Philip M Pearson ACA
Philip is a born and bred Oldhamer who has lived all around the borough, including the
Coppice, Royton, Chadderton, Shaw and Saddleworth areas. After an education in Oldham and Manchester, he
qualified as a Chartered Accountant and moved into the financial services industry as head of an accounts
department. He worked in a similar senior management role in Leeds before taking a sideways step into finance
business partnering for a FTSE100 company based in Cheshire.
He now works as an independent business adviser helping local businesses unlock further growth by
understanding their goals and translating them into measurable business plans. Philip is also a school
governor at The Blue Coat School, Oldham and The Kingfisher Community Special School, Chadderton. He
is married and his main interests are his young family, history, travelling and socialising around the area.
Philip believes that an accountable, financially solvent and pro-active social housing provider is one of the
pillars upon which Oldham's future development and will be built. As such, being an FCHO board member
is a huge opportunity to help the town plan and deliver prosperity for all.
Published by: Joanne Goodall, Governance Manager (June 2016)
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FCHO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Pauline Richardson
Pauline has lived in Chadderton for over 25 years. She has been actively involved in the local
community where she has served as a school governor, as a committee member for the local tenants
and residents group, and has chaired both the FCHO Local Board for Chadderton and the
Community Council. More recently, she has been involved in borough wide community cohesion
projects.
Pauline brings to the Board, the skills that she has developed over 27 years managing in social
care and housing related settings for Manchester City Council.
Pauline’s interests include understanding how people from different communities and backgrounds
relate to one another across our borough, and how local democracy enables residents to influence
decisions taken in relation to services they use and the communities they live in.
Mohammed Alyas
Mohammed and his family have been living in Oldham for more than 30 years. He is
currently self employed as a Postmaster in Wythenshawe, Manchester and worked in
Rochdale Council for 8 years prior.
Mohammed previously managed the Pakistani Community Centre in Glodwick and has been
a board member of OCL, Hathershaw and Fitton Hill NDC and Oldham Partnership in the
past.
Most of his life has been spent working within community development and regeneration. He
hopes to make positive contributions in further improving the service delivery of FCHO.
Published by: Joanne Goodall, Governance Manager (June 2016)
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FCHO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Clare Doyle
Clare is a Chartered Surveyor with significant housing and property experience. After graduating from
Liverpool University with a geography degree she has spent over 25 years working for in the housing and
property field for Local Authorities, Housing Associations and in the commercial sector. She is a member
of RICS and is one of their Licensed Assessors.
Her specific experience lies in the areas of property development, asset management, maintenance and
regeneration. Clare has run her own property consultancy advising housing organisations on property
investment, development and management for the past 16 years and also has experience working for
housing organisations including Mosscare Housing, Great Places, The Guinness Trust and Your Housing
Group. Throughout her career Clare has worked closely with customers to ensure regeneration projects
and new developments are community led and is keen to see this continue.
Carl Brazier (October 2016)
Carl has worked in housing for 20 years for both Councils and Housing Associations, including a spell as a Board
Member in the South West. At Stroud, his work resulted in the Council being used as role model for Co-regulation by
regulatory Agencies, building homes for the first time in 30 years and to be the only Council Housing Service to obtain
two HQN Accreditations for Co-regulation and Income Management.
Carl is the Director of Housing at Stoke where a key role is leading housing growth across the City by developing a
Housing Strategy to build homes of all tenures including home ownership, some directly by the Council and in other
cases in partnership with the support of the HCA, Housing Associations, Developers and Financial Institutions.
Some of his Innovative work includes providing strategic direction to the Council’s Custom Build programme which has
Government Vanguard Status and also Regeneration and Home Ownership programme, which has gained national
recognition and become known as the £1 house project. He is leading on the formation of a Housing Development
Company to deliver the City’s aspirations and to support this work Stoke has been awarded Housing Zone Status
and became the first Council to be assessed by the Housing and Finance Institute (HFI) as Housing Business
Ready.
Carl sits on the LGA Housing Officer Finance Group and the DCLG Housing Sounding Board and was also an
Expert Advisor for the Elphicke – House Report.
Published by: Joanne Goodall, Governance Manager (June 2016)
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FCHO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Mumtaz Ali
Mumtaz has lived in Rossendale in Lancashire for over 40 years. He graduated from
Salford University in 1994 and qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 2001.
Mumtaz has over 20 years’ experience of working in Finance especially in the Public
Sector, having worked in the NHS, Probation Services, Education and Housing.
In his position as a Board Member, Mumtaz is keen on helping FCHO continue to provide a
high quality housing service to the residents of Oldham.
Hilda Kaponda
Hilda is a qualified accountant with over 20 years’ experience in social housing finance. Her current
role is Executive Director of Finance at Equity Housing Group. Her previous roles include working as a
Lead Regulator at The Housing Corporation, Group Finance Manager at Harvest Housing Group and
Director of Finance and ICT at Eastlands Partnership Homes.
She has been on the Board of Mosscare Housing, Stockport Homes and Parkway Green Housing
Trust. She was Chair of Audit and Risk at both Stockport Homes and Parkway Green and is currently a
Board Member and Chair of Audit at Arawak Walton Housing Association.
Hilda has led various community groups in Manchester. She has extensive experience and expertise in
strategic management, business systems, group structures, project and finance management audit
processes and governance. In addition to her accountancy qualification she has an MBA.
Published by: Joanne Goodall, Governance Manager (June 2016)
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FCHO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Barbara Brownridge
Barbara recently retired from her career as a Chartered Town Planner. She moved to
Oldham in 1972 to work for Oldham Council's planning department and subsequently
worked for Leeds Council and a private planning consultancy in Manchester.
Barbara has lived in Chadderton since 1973. She has four children, three who still live in
Oldham and three grandchildren.
She became a Councillor for Chadderton North ward in 2010 having been involved in local
politics for over 30 years.
Published by: Joanne Goodall, Governance Manager (June 2016)
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