Board Members

Cora Carter MBE, Chair

Cora was appointed as Chair in April 2010, having previously served as Vice Chair of TAROE since 2009, and the Secretary of TAROE since its formation in 1997.

Previous to this, Cora served as the secretary of the National Tenants and Residents Federation from 1989 to its merger with the National Tenants Organisation and the creation of TAROE in 1997. Cora is the Chair of Kirklees Federation of Tenants & Residents Associations who represent 120 tenants & residents associations within the borough.

Kirklees has 37,500 tenants & residents.

KFTRA was formed in 1987

Cora has been secretary of her own tenants & residents association since its inauguration in 1984.

Cora has been involved in a range of housing related working groups, consultation with the CLG and other Government departments, and other professional housing groups.
Tenant participation has always been at the forefront of all the work that Cora does and always will be.

Frank Fletcher, Company Secretary

Representative Area Bolton
Federation Batra, Bolton Federation
Number of tenants 20,000

Frank is the Chairman of his federation, he is a director of Bolton Community Homes, and is treasurer of the Greater Manchester Federation of Federations.

Frank is also a director of a neighbourhood management board in his own borough of Bolton. He is also secretary of the only BME Residents Association in Bolton.

In his borough, Frank actually sits on twenty seven committees or sub groups.

Dennis Rees OBE, Treasurer

Dennis is Chair of Derby Homes and of the National Federation of Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs). He has been involved in tenant participation in Derby for the past 18 years.

Dennis is a Board Member of the Tenant Services Authority (TSA). He is also a Board Member of the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS).

Dennis is Treasurer of Derby Association Of Community Partners (DACP Ltd) as well as Derby's Tenant Federation.

Dennis talks locally and nationally about the benefits of ALMOs to tenants, local authorities and Government Ministers. Dennis is a tenant member of the review group looking at freedoms and flexibilities for ALMOs. He is also a Tenant Inspection Advisor to the Audit Commission.

Alan Jess, Vice Company Secretary

Alan is currently Chair of the Federation of North East Derbyshire Tenants & Residents and has been involved in Tenant Participation since he became a tenant of North East Derbyshire District Council (NEDDC) in the early 1990s. He is also Secretary of his local Tenant & Resident Group and has served as both Secretary and Chair of the local branch of a national disability charity. His employment background was in procurement and further education.

He became a Director of TAROE in October 2007 at the AGM held in Derby.

Following a ballot of tenants in 2005, NEDDC decided to create an ALMO (Rykneld Homes Ltd). The Federation is working with the ALMO to help ensure its success and the best deal for its tenants.

Alan believes in the protection of tenants' rights. He works hard to ensure that they receive the best possible housing provision and to encourage all tenants to have their say in how they want their housing managed.

John Townend, Vice Treasurer

John was elected to the TAROE Board at the 2009 AGM in Sheffield. He is the previous Vice Chair of Berneslai Homes, and is currently assistant secretary of the Barnsley Federation, Chair of Carlton TARA, and also governor of his local hospital.

Working as an integral member of a small focused team, John has assisted in the development of a sub-regional group, the South Yorkshire Network, to allow a greater voice regionally, and encourage tenant empowerment.

John is committed to the principles of tenant involvement and works tirelessly to ensure that the concerns and issues facing tenants today are highlighted and their rights upheld.

Michael Gelling OBE

Michael is the Chairperson of his local estate Neighbourhood Forum, Palace Fields in Runcorn, Halton and is also a founder member of Runcorn Residents Federation, which traditionally covered a New Town area. Michael served on the local Council for sixteen years and held a number of key positions in that time including that of Vice Chair of Housing. Michael has continued in the housing arena through his membership of the Tenants and Residents Organisations of England.

Michael is currently the Chair of the National Tenant Voice.

Michael has served as a Director of the Independent Housing Ombudsman's service representing T. A. R. O. E. for a full six year period.

In Runcorn where he lives, Michael is involved in many voluntary and community groups which cover the disciplines of community safety, poverty, disability, youth, welfare rights and drug issues.

Michael is very proud to be the Chair of the very successful Halton Credit Union, Chair of the seventy place Acorn Community Nursery and is equally proud to be the Company Secretary of Halton Community Partnership Trust, which is a one-stop shop for the voluntary sector.

Michael has a background in personnel and has served, since 1979, as a lay member of the Employment Tribunals service and is also the Chairperson of the Liverpool Employment Tribunals Members Association.

Colin Marchbank-Smith

Colin is Chair of the Salix Homes customer Senate and Secretary of Salford Tenants And Residents Federation. He also Chairs a number of other tenant led organisations.

Colin has a keen interest in Tenants advocacy and disability issues and has been a volunteer with the Samaritans for 10 years.

Colin joined the Board of TAROE in 2007 and despite his own disabilities he continues to support TAROE in its important role as a democratically run, accountable, national organisation, which unites tenants and residents groups from social housing across England.

Val Imeson

Val hails from Castleford in West Yorkshire. Val is Chair of her local tenant association, Three Lane Ends, and has worked to uphold the rights and interests of tenants for over twenty-five years.

Ron Bool

Ron currently lives in Leeds where he is a Committee Member of Leeds Tenant Federation, representing Osmondthorpse Tenants and Residents Association.

Ron is active in a broad range of local tenant groups. He is also a Trustee and Committee Member of H.O.P.E. Elderly Charity and formerly a Board Member of Leeds South East Homes.

Ron is actively engaged in projects for the care and housing of the elderly, as well as various local and city-wide youth projects.

Ann Thomas

Representing Kings Forest Tenant Assembly and Eastern Regional Tenant Assembly (shadow)

Ann was elected as a Board Member of TAROE at the 2009 AGM in Sheffield. Ann is a Board member of Kings’ Forest Housing, Secretary of Kings’ Forest Tenant Assembly, and Chair of the Disability Advisory Group. She is also a Member of the Flagship Customer Board, Secretary of Suffolk Tenant Forum, and is also working to establish an Eastern Regional Assembly.

Ann is a National Council member of National Housing Federation and a Board member of Optua, a Disability charity.

I have been involved in tenant involvement for 8 years both at a local and national level. I am a founding member of the Kings’ Forest Board and in fact am the longest serving member. I am very much involved at Flagship on group wide committees and am part of the new Flagship Customer Board. I have a passionate commitment to tenant involvement at all levels.

Tony Alcock JP

Tony has been a tenant for 28 years. He was a member of Barnsley Council's 'Tenants Jury' which undertook a stock options exercise which led to Barnsley Council agreeing to set up its ALMO, Berneslai Homes.

Tony has subsequently gone on to serve as a Board Member of Berneslai Homes, a position he still holds. He was Vice-Chair of the ALMO for two years and also Chairs his local Neighbourhood Association. Tony has also been appointed as a Director of South Yorkshire Credit Union.

Self-employed, Tony also sat on the inaugural South Yorkshire Police Authority Standards Committee for 4 years, and is a member of his local Crime and Safety Sub Group. Tony is also a Magistrate on the Barnsley Bench.

Tony is committed to tenant-led involvement in all types of housing tenure.

Derek Corkell

After retiring as a teacher in Scotland, Derek returned to his roots in South Yorkshire, finally settling in Rotherham. Here Derek became very involved with various boards and committees. Derek's real interest is in the regulated housing sector and is secretary of his local Tenants & Residents Association and vice Chair of the Rotherham Federation of TARAs. Derek became interested in becoming a Board member of TAROE following his attendance at TAROE meetings which highlighted the opportunities it presented for influencing both national and local government thinking and planning regarding
the regulated housing sector. Derek was appointed to the Board of TAROE at its 2009 AGM in Sheffield. More recently, Derek has been involved in supporting TARAs in Sheffield to establish their own Federation.

Martyn Kingsford TD FRICS FCIH, (Co-opted Member and Honorary Policy Advisor)

Martyn is a Chartered Surveyor and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing. He started his career in Nottingham Council over 45 years ago and was Director of Housing at Kensington and Chelsea from 1984 and was Chief Executive of the TMO.

For eight years, Martyn was Policy Advisor to the London Boroughs Association and Co Chair of the London Homeless Working Party.

Martyn has chaired four Housing Associations over the past thirty years, a member of the RICS Residential Panel, CIH London Committee, and was a member of the NHF Tenant Involvement Commission.

Martyn has been Honorary Policy Advisor to TAROE since 2000.

Andrea Creedon, ACA (Co-opted Member)

Andrea is a chartered accountant with more than 20 years experience in business planning and financial management.
She has worked closely with senior leaders in major organisations across the public and private sector, including Littlewoods, Norweb and Remploy. Andrea has held a number of board level roles and now works as a part time finance director and leadership coach.
Andrea is a strong believer in working collaboratively to deliver sustainable change. She was co-opted to the Board in January 2010