Our Board
The Board’s main roles are to approve and review the Group’s strategic objectives and to ensure that the necessary financial and other resources are made available to enable it to meet these objectives.
Specific responsibilities reserved to the Board include: setting Group strategy; reviewing operational and financial performance; approving certain land acquisitions; approving appointments to the Board; and approving policies relating to Directors’ remuneration.
For more information on Board members' responsibilities see Corporate Governance.
Committee membership
A
Audit Committee
G
Governance and Risk Committee
R
Remuneration Committee
I
Independent
Simon Bennett
Chairman
A
G
R
I
Simon is a chartered accountant with over 30 years of investment banking experience and providing corporate finance and broking advice to growing companies.
He was Head of Corporate Finance and Head of Mid and Small Caps team at Credit Lyonnais Securities (now Credit Agricole) as well as Head of Corporate Broking at Fairfax IS plc and Sanlam Securities.
Stephen Wicks
Chief Executive Officer
Stephen has worked in the construction and house-building sector all of his working life and has extensive experience in the acquisition of large-scale development opportunities. He was the founding shareholder and Chief Executive of Country and Metropolitan plc, which floated on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in 1999 with a market capitalisation of £6.9m until its disposal in 2005 to Gladedale Holdings plc for approximately £72m.
Nishith Malde
Group Finance Director
Nishith is a chartered accountant and has over 25 years’ experience in the property sector with wide professional knowledge and understanding of both listed and unlisted companies. He was Finance Director and Company Secretary of Country & Metropolitan plc, which floated on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in 1999, until its disposal in 2005 to Gladedale Holdings plc.
Gary Skinner
Group Managing Director
Gary brings considerable experience to the Board having worked in the housing sector for over 30 years. He joined the Group in February 2016 and was appointed to the Board in May 2018. Previously he was Director of Operations at Willmott Dixon Housing and Production Director at George Wimpey (now part of Taylor Wimpey plc).
Brian Johnson
Non-executive Director
A
G
R
I
Brian brings a wealth of sector expertise, having held senior management and non-executive positions within the housing, social care and commercial sectors. He was Chief Executive at CityWest Homes, Moat Homes Limited and at Metropolitan Housing Trust. In addition, Brian was previously a Non-executive Director at North Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
Carol Duncumb
Non-executive Director
A
G
R
I
Carol has a 35-year track record of brand building experience across a range of consumer-related businesses. Carol acts as an external adviser to a number of private companies and is an active business angel investor in consumer technology.