Participants & Alumni

Becky Utuka has worked at Gateway Housing Association (Gateway), since January 2017 and was promoted to Director in January 2019. Since joining Gateway, Becky has led the Development Team to secure a development pipeline that will ensure Gateway increases its stock by 16.7% by 2020. 
Becky has extensive experience in development and project management, having worked within the Development Teams of several Housing Associations including Swan Housing Association, Network Homes and Peabody (formerly, Family Mosaic). 
Becky is currently a Non-Executive Director of Citizen Housing Association, serving on the Development Committee.  Becky has an MSc in Real Estate Development and Investment and a PGDip in Surveying. Outside of work, Becky enjoys spending time with her family, has a passion for mentoring and sharing her life’s experience to help inspire others.

Jahanara Rajkoomar is the Director of Community Investment at MTVH. Making a difference to people who are socially disadvantaged or excluded is her primary motivator and has defined her career to date. She has over 20 years’ experience in social welfare work having started this journey at the Citizens Advice Service whilst studying Law. This influenced her career direction to focus on addressing social exclusion on an individual and community basis. Over 10 years, she brought this passion and commitment into the housing sector in a variety of roles and has used her experience and knowledge to influence how housing can play a role in enabling customers to be better tenants and take control of their lives.

Currently, Director of Home Ownership at Optivo, Os Osman has held other senior roles at A2Dominion and Circle Anglia. He is an advocate for improving standards in block management services in the housing association sector, looking to blend the best standards of the private sector with Optivo’s mission of putting residents at the heart of all that we do. Os has been working in housing for 30 years, 27 of which has been predominantly in leasehold management, affordable home ownership and other block management of intermediate/market products. Os is a member of the Institute of Residential Managers and holds a Diploma in Surveying from the College of Estate Management. Os is also keenly interested in delivering organisation change and creating efficient structures, teams and processes that deliver high standard of service to residents.

Sandy Sohal is the Director of Homeowner Services at The Guinness Partnership and a member of the leadership team. Sandy joined Guinness in 2016 with the goal to consolidate, modernise and transform her service area. During the last three years, Sandy has designed and implemented a new service model, delivering savings to the business, whilst also increasing employee engagement and delivering customer experience improvements.
Prior to joining the social housing sector, Sandy worked for 10 years in the transport sector in various customer experience roles. She has designed and delivered service improvements, service standards, customer propositions and customer-focused strategy for companies including Eurostar, Heathrow and Transport for London (Crossrail). She is passionate about the value of equality, diversity and inclusion, in business and life in general.

Sandip Shergill is the Director of Procurement at Notting Hill Genesis (NHG). He has worked for NHG and its subsidiaries for 5 years and really enjoys working in the housing sector. Prior to NHG, he worked through various procurement roles including CityWest Homes and the Metropolitan Police Service.
Sandip is a keen advocate of driving efficiency through the supply chain and establishing close supplier relationships, especially important in these uncertain economic times. Working in Procurement gives him the opportunity to work across all business functions and improve the bottom line through the effective and compliant purchasing of goods and services.
Sandip is a keen procurement professional and often attends Procurement conferences, workshops and seminars with the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS).

Toyin Falade is the Sales and Marketing Director for One Housing, responsible for new build shared ownership and outright sales. With over sixteen years’ experience in the new homes industry, Toyin has been able to blend best practices from both the private and public sectors, and is continually motivated to meet the aspirations of new home buyers. In her current and previous roles with Home Group and Savills, she has been responsible for launching sales brands and systems, managing national teams and delivering 100% turnaround in sales activity.
With an MSc in Housing Futures (The Bartlett, UCL) her main driver working for a registered landlord, is knowing that the surplus from the sale of their homes is used to continue a social mission.
Toyin has a genuine interest in the creation of more diverse and balanced communities. She aims to affect positive change through her specialism and demonstrate just how innovative and socially responsible housing associations aspire to be when developing homes for sale.