Our Board and Committees

Steve Close

Chair of Board

Steve is currently chair of Incommunities Board and has worked in housing for over 40 years, including 30 years as Chief Executive. 

He is committed to the provision of affordable housing and support for people in need and has a range of experience including leadership, strategic planning, change management, team building, delivering results, and innovation.  He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has an MBA from Leeds University Business School. 

Steve recently retired as Chief Executive of Together Housing which manages over 38,000 homes across the North of England and the Midlands. 

He has experience of board membership at a number of organisations including a BME association and has been an appointee of a mainstream association and supported housing provider. He also Chairs an educational charity.

Ade Alao

Board Member

Incommunities Limited Board Member

Ade is Head of Real Estates Major Projects at the Department of Work and Pensions and has over 25 years’ experience in property, regeneration, housing, and local economic development.

He is a trustee of the Architectural Heritage Fund, the UK’s largest social investor in creating new futures for historic buildings, and previously held Non Executive Director (NED) appointments as Chair of Northwards Housing and Vice-Chair of Salix Homes.

Mushtaq Ahmed-Khan

Board Member

Mushtaq is a highly regarded solicitor and former president of the Birmingham Law Society.  He is Head of Litigation and Governance at a large local authority and prior to this was in private practice including as Partner and Head of Department at commercial law firm Freeths.  He has worked with a wide range of enterprises spanning the private, public and third sector. 

Mushtaq is a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Performance Committee at the West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust.

Juliette Healey

Board Member

establishing multi year strategic planning for the Bank of England having moved to Yorkshire as the Bank’s Agent in 2011.  As an Agent Juliette worked with Yorkshire businesses across all sectors, including housing, to provide an aggregate view of economic and financial prospects for the Bank’s Monetary Policy and Financial Stability committees ahead of policy decisions. 

Other non-policy roles have included HR, external communications and stints working on economic policy at HM Treasury and the International Monetary Fund. 

Juliette is strong on strategic and critical thinking and is passionate about providing good social housing.  She is a trustee for St Leonards Hospice and treasurer at Bootham School in York.

Juliette is the Chair of Incommunities Remuneration and Nominations Committee.

Julie Lawreniuk

Board Member

Julie was born and educated in Bradford and lives in the city.  Julie has a masters degree in finance and accountancy and is a qualified accountant.  She joined Incommunities as a board member in September 2019 after retiring from her role as Deputy Chief Officer/Chief Finance Officer for the three NHS Bradford District and Craven Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Julie brings a wealth of experience of working across the Bradford system and is passionate about improving housing and lives in our local community and surrounding areas.

Julie is also a non-executive at Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust and is Non-Executive Chair of the Bradford District and Craven Partnership Finance and Performance Committee.

Cath Owston

Board Member

Cath has worked in the housing sector for over thirty years holding a variety of senior leadership positions across the North-West and Yorkshire. Most recently, she was Executive Director of Customer Experience at Yorkshire Housing where she was responsible for a wide portfolio of customer service teams.

She is passionate to ensure that a strong leadership vision is combined with effective customer engagement and insight to improve the customer experience. She is an experienced Non-Executive Director, and a qualified leadership coach and NLP practitioner.

John Longbottom

Board Member

John has a background in retail and corporate banking.  He has worked as a Branch Manager, Commercial and Corporate Relations Manager, and the last 10 years of his career were based in the bank’s turnaround department working with corporate customers experiencing trading difficulties.

John’s involvement with social housing predates his retirement and prior to his appointment with Incommunities he worked with two other associations as a Non-Executive Director on group board and audit and development committees.

He is very committed to social housing and considers himself a critical friend of Incommunities and its endeavours to be a provider of quality homes to its customers.

Abdul Ravat

Board Member

Abdul has over 30 years’ experience of procuring affordable housing and sustaining places, as well as extensive experience of local government, charity and third sector environments.  He currently works at the Abbeyfield Society overseeing development and asset management and worked previously with the Housing Corporation/Homes and Communities Agency.

He brings considerable non-executive director experience including a recent 6-year term as Vice Chair of Manningham Housing Association and Chair of its subsidiary Firebird Development.  He is currently board member of Unity Enterprise and Jonnie Johnson Housing Trust.

Abdul is also member of the National Housing Federation’s Delivering Great Homes and Vice Chair of the Older Person’s Housing Group shaping policy solutions with government and the sector, Active advisor to Lord Best and the APPG for Housing & Care for Older Person and responsible to establishing the current inquiry examining the ‘Regeneration of the Outdated Sheltered Schemes’.  He co-founded the Ageing Well Network established to ensure older people from all communities enjoy the benefits of living longer and living better.

Kanika Selvan

Board Member

Kanika is a motivated non-executive director, with a passion to ensure that communities in the north are well equipped with homes, neighbourhoods and support that builds resilience to future challenges. Kanika is Managing Director of Beetroot Consulting. Her organisation empowers clients to make decisions that unlock the benefits of technology for their organisation. She has worked across multiple sectors, from energy retail and telecoms to higher education, housing associations, social enterprises, tech start-ups and small charities. She is also a professional speaker, creating challenging thought leadership and championing diversity and inclusion on topics specifically in the areas of change management, technology, leadership, and innovation.

Kanika is the Senior Independent Director and Chair of Incommunities Customer Experience Committee.

Kath Smart

Board Member

Kath Smart has joined Incommunities Board from July 2024, having an extensive background in governance, audit, fraud-prevention, assurance and risk management. Kath has worked within the social housing sector as a Non-Executive Director and Audit Chair since 2016 and more recently is Chair of Acis group, a social housing and community focussed organisation in Lincolnshire. She has held Non-Executive roles in the NHS for 14 years and is currently Deputy Chair and Audit Committee Chair for Doncaster & Bassetlaw NHS Foundation Trust. As a Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) qualified accountant, Kath has worked in financial and governance roles in the NHS and Local Authority prior to taking on Non-Executive roles. She also does some governance and accountancy work for Foresters Friendly Society.

Kath will be Chair of Incommunities Audit and Risk Committee from September 2024