Meet the Trustees
John Lander (Chair)
John spent 30 years in the banking industry culminating as a Corporate Finance Director. He then joined the Board of a public motor group, became non-executive chairman of a management buyout company, and was later Director of Finance at an independent school.
On retirement John was appointed Chairman of Coastline Housing Ltd, a Cornish based housing association with more than 4,000 homes, a post he held for eight years before becoming vice chair of Cornwall Rural Housing for three years until he moved to Hampshire in 2019. While in Cornwall John became a non-executive Board member of the Royal Cornwall Hospitals (NHS) Trust, and Truro and Penwith College.
In addition to his non-executive directorship of WHT, John is now a trustee of Winchester Youth Counselling and a member of the Sparsholt College governing board. Having written over 20 books and papers on social matters and nonconformist church history, John is now engaged on the history of Sparsholt College that will celebrate its 125th anniversary in 2024.
Nigel Green (Chair of Finance and Audit Committee)
Nigel’s early career (21 years) was spent with the Pirelli Group, qualifying as an accountant, subsequently spending time in general management and finally with responsibility for purchasing for the cable manufacturing plants in the UK.
A further period of 11 years was spent with the glass division of the Saint-Gobain group in the UK, including periods in general management and finally with responsibility for UK purchasing. Following a subsequent spell of 7 years in Local Government purchasing, Nigel opted to retire and follow his sporting interests.
He contributes his skills in finance and procurement to promote the overall objectives of the Trust.
Alan Sydney
Alan is a retired solicitor and was formerly a partner and the head of the commercial property team at Hampshire and Dorset-based law firm Dutton Gregory LLP. There he specialised in development work, including for care home operators, as well as dealing with freehold and leasehold transactions and ancillary contractual matters.
Although social housing is not one of his previous areas of expertise, his knowledge of legal matters supports the Trust with its development programme. He has been closely involved in liaising with our solicitors on the documentation relating to our RentPlus acquisitions. Alan is married with three daughters and has lived in Winchester for the last 35 years.
Ian Deans
For over 20 years Ian was a Director of an architectural practice in Winchester working with developers and housing associations, both locally and nationally. His background in architecture and urban design provided the ideal skill-set for the housing sector, concentrating on the strategic stages of projects where a sensitivity for ‘sense of place’ is essential in creating communities.
He led the design and delivery of award-winning masterplans for new villages, inner city mixed use developments and rural housing schemes. His wider concern for the quality and delivery of housing led to involvement with various national advisory bodies, including the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, RIBA Housing Group, Housing Forum and The Academy of Urbanism.
Although now retired, Ian is still very much involved in the built environment. He is currently chair of Winchester & Eastleigh design review panel, sits on the Hampshire review panel and is Vice Chair of his local Parish Council with particular responsibility for planning matters.
Jane Samuels
Jane has extensive experience of social housing at a senior management level. She retired in 2018 having worked for Southampton City Council’s Housing service for 33 years, during which time she covered all aspects of housing management as well as having specific policy and tenant engagement responsibilities. She is passionate about delivering excellent services and making a positive difference to the lives of people in the local community.
Gary Rumbell
Gary has an entire career spent in construction management, building schools, offices, industrial buildings and residential accommodation. The first 25 years were spent in building contracting, initially managing building contracts and performing quantity surveying duties progressively to senior level, including setting up and running a regional office.
Further progression led to appointment as company director, first working for a regional building contractor followed by the formation of his own building contracting business. During this time he served as Vice President and then President of the National Federation of Builders (Hampshire Association).
For the last 15 years he has worked for a London-based property development company, running Hampshire development operations out of its Winchester office, taking schemes post acquisition from concept through planning and into construction on site, delivering completed schemes and dealing with after sales issues.
John O’Donovan
John is a retired planning consultant with over 40 years’ experience working in private practice and Local Government. He led a team of 17 planners and urban designers whilst with Turley Associates based in Winchester and Southampton.
John has extensive experience of site development appraisals, planning application preparation and successfully negotiating planning permissions for a range of private and public sector clients.
His particular focus was on housing site identification and delivery including greenfield, town and urban schemes and affordable housing.
Ian Tait
Ian has a background in retail banking however now works as a property and housing consultant. He was an elected member of Winchester City Council for many years with a specific interest in housing. He led the Council’s new homes program for 2 years and is widely recognised as a champion for affordable housing.
His connection with the Trust goes back 20 years and having always lived in Winchester, Ian knows many of the Trust’s tenants as friends and acquaintances.
Paula Ferguson
Paula Ferguson is the Deputy Leader of Winchester City Council with responsibility for Housing & Community. She was the Cabinet member for the Economy during the Covid pandemic and has several years of Local Government experience. She is also a school governor, sits on the board of the Winchester Charity School Educational Foundation and has previously served on the boards of Winchester Action on Climate Change, Hampshire Cultural Trust and Unit 12 CIC.
Her early career was spent in the financial services sector at Barclays Bank and then as a management consultant at CACI Inc and Price Waterhouse. She was instrumental in creating the first national mortgage market database. She retrained as a psychologist as a second career and has since worked in education with young people with a range of educational and developmental difficulties.
Paula is passionate about supporting the most vulnerable in society and sees the provision of affordable sustainable housing as a key component of this. She’s also a keen environmentalist and an advocate for the fight against climate change.
