Longleigh Foundation Announces New Board Trustees

Longleigh Foundation, the independent charitable foundation for the social housing sector, founded by Stonewater, has announced two new appointments to its Board of Trustees.

Fiona Ellison replaces David Emmerson as Chair. She was previously an independent member of Longleigh’s Finance & Investment Committee and is also the director of the Unite Foundation. Prior to this, Fiona was director of partnerships and operations for Step up To Serve.

Heather Bowman joins the board as Stonewater Nominee. She is an experienced Executive and Non-executive Director, having worked in social housing and the Third sector for over 35 years. Most recently, she was the Chief Operating Officer of one of the largest housing associations in the UK and currently has Non-executive roles with three social-value driven organisations.

Fiona Ellison said: “I am a firm believer that safe and secure housing should be a platform for individuals to thrive but not everyone gets that opportunity. I am excited to see the realisation of the first five years of grant making, learning and understanding what works and how we use this to adapt to support more people in social housing, exploring how we can utilise our knowledge, insight and grant making expertise to support other social housing providers.”

Heather Bowman said: “I am proud of the very real difference the support from Longleigh makes for individuals, families, and communities. Our project and research grant funding has the potential to provide social housing organisations with many opportunities to transform the lives of its residents and wider society.”

Longleigh supports both individuals and communities served by the social housing sector and sees refreshing and strengthening its board of trustees as a key part of its development.

Andy Peers, CEO of Longleigh Foundation said: “In Fiona, we have a new chair who brings an abundance of energy to Longleigh’s purpose along with her foundation and governance experience, whilst Heather brings a special blend of social housing sector experience in a senior leadership role as well as her demonstrable commitment to customer and community development and investment programmes. Along with our team of Trustees, I am looking forward to working closely with Fiona and Heather to support Longleigh on the next stage of its journey.”