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Our board
To access papers and minutes from the Board meetings, visit the Board and committee meetings page.
The Board is supported by Elevate, our youth Board. See our current Elevate members.
The Board is comprised of the following members:
Suki Kalirai (Chair)
Suki brings over 20 years of experience in non-executive director roles in a variety of sectors including consumer goods, building (both commercial and social housing), education and e-commerce, as well as charities and industry association boards in the leisure and hospitality sectors. He is currently also Chair of Paragon Asra Housing and is NED and chair of the retirement living part of Housing 21. Suki also brings 25 years of knowledge and experience from his careers in senior executive roles at Coca-Cola, Forte & Le Meridien Hotels, and Unilever - Dove Spa. He is a past advisor to the United Nations Secretary General for Sustainable Development (Earth Summit) supporting and liaising with leaders from 100 sovereign states on environmental and climate change policy.
Simon Blanchflower CBE (Deputy Chair)
For the last 20 years Simon Blanchflower has been involved in leading the development and delivery of major infrastructure projects. Following the successful conclusion of his role as the Major Programme Director on the Thameslink Programme, which included the re-building of London Bridge station, he has recently been appointed as the Chief Executive of East West Rail Co Ltd. He has experience of chairing the Boards of charitable companies and for the last 30 years has invested into his local community in North Kensington with particular interests in education and housing. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Gabrielle Appiah
Gabrielle Appiah is a former member of Legacy Youth Board from 2014-19 who went on to study Planning at undergraduate and Masters level. She is currently a Project Coordinator at Soundings, a community engagement consultancy which delivers inclusive programmes of engagement and capacity building with diverse communities. Gabrielle is Co-Vice Chair of Women in Planning London, a Licentiate representative member of The Royal Town Planning Institute General Assembly, and a contributor to the New London Architecture’s Diversity Think Tank and BAME in Property.
Shanika Amarasekara MBE
Over the last 20 plus years Shanika has worked in financial services, impact investment and access to finance policy areas. Most recently the Chief Impact Officer at the British Business Bank. She joined as a founding member of the Bank when it was set up in 2014 to support access to finance for smaller businesses across the UK. Prior to this she was the General Counsel of an organisation set up by several central banks to promote financial stability and has previously held senior positions at RBS Global Banking & Markets and Allen & Overy.
Jude Kelly OBE, CBE
Jude Kelly, OBE, CBE is an internationally acclaimed creative leader who has founded and steered some of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions, arts festivals and charities. Jude is renowned for championing inclusivity and gender diversity, founding the WOW – Women of the World - Foundation to celebrate the achievements of women and girls and confront global gender injustice and now running programmes in 26 countries. She was the Cultural Leader in Residence at 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos and has recently been appointed Master of St Catherine’s College, Oxford. She spent 12 years as Artistic Director at the Southbank Centre. Jude has directed more than 200 productions around the world.
Jamie Kerr
Jamie Kerr is a Chartered Surveyor with more than 30 years’ experience in property development and finance. He has particular knowledge around retail, transport related development, masterplanning and town centre reinvention and has worked for LCR and John Laing Plc as an Executive Director. He sits on the Board of the Solihull Urban Growth Company and has recently established Urban Development Partnerships to focus on the renewal of town centres.
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE
Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE was elected the Mayor of Newham in May 2018. Since her election, she has been leading a transformative and radical agenda in Newham, reflecting a series of manifesto commitments to address inequality and poverty, invest in young people to widen opportunities, embed Community Wealth Building as the economic approach being adopted by the Council, increase participatory democracy and respond to the Climate Emergency.
As part of an ambitious programme of scaling up Council housing delivery in the borough she is leading one the most ambitious genuinely affordable housing programmes in London through a number of significant regeneration schemes. Under her leadership, Newham also became the first council in the country to make the health, happiness and wellbeing of its residents the key indicator of economic success.
As an advocate for racial justice and equalities, Rokhsana was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to Black and Minority Ethnic Communities in the UK.
Cllr Guy Nicholson
Cllr Guy Nicholson is the London Borough of Hackney’s Deputy Mayor for delivery, inclusive economy & regeneration.
Jules Pipe CBE Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration & the Fire Service
Jules Pipe is working on key priorities for the Mayor, including: revision of the London Plan, major regeneration projects across the capital, ensuring London’s infrastructure needs are delivered to benefit all Londoners, and building a skills system that properly addresses the needs of young people and the economy. Jules has unrivalled knowledge of London government, becoming the first directly elected mayor of Hackney in 2002 and serving as Chair of London Councils from 2010 until he joined the Mayor’s team in 2016.
Register of interest formOwen Purcell
Owen Purcell, in addition to his experience with EY, Audit Wales and UniAc, has extensive experience in governance and risk management when chair of the Audit Committee at Innovate UK and Board Trustee of AbilityNet. Owen has a focus on embedding inclusivity in his work especially through his work as a trustee with the National Youth Agency. At EY he led global teams to implement strategic, operational, and risk frameworks for FTSE 100 and Fortune 1000 companies.
Mayor Lutfur Rahman
Lutfur Rahman became the Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets in May 2022. He previously served as the borough’s first directly elected Mayor from 2010-2015.
Lutfur grew up in Tower Hamlets, having moved to the Borough from Bangladesh at an early age. He attended Marner Primary School in Bow, the Lawdale Junior School in Bethnal Green and Bow School. He studied Law at City University and was admitted as a member of the Law Society of England and Wales in 1997.
Jackie Sadek
Jackie Sadek has extensive property experience which spans public-private sector partnerships. She is chair of the UK Innovation Corridor and Director of advisory and development company Rural and Urban Strategic. Jackie was chief executive of UK Regeneration and a former Head of Regeneration for CBRE, the world’s largest real estate consultancy. She has held top leadership roles at the Park Royal Partnership, Kent Thameside Delivery Board and Brierley Hill Regeneration Partnership.
