Our Board

The board oversee our performance and are responsible for setting our strategic direction. They work to ensure we achieve high standards of quality, care and value for money.

We welcome applications from anyone looking to contribute to Cornerstone as a voluntary board member. Interest should be addressed to the Chief Executive.

Peter Howard-Williams, Chair

Peter joined the board in 2015 after 40 years as a General Dental Practitioner in Exeter. He had little knowledge of social housing but his experience of running a highly regulated healthcare organization prepared him for the role. He has Chaired numerous committees including the Devon Local Dental Committee, Exeter British Dental Association, the SW NHS Local professional Network and he represented dentists as local and national level.
He was active in training colleagues, newly qualified dentists and dental nurses and holds a training qualification. His interests are family, travel, golf and gardening.
Since joining Cornerstone he has become committed to the provision of high quality, safe and affordable housing and providing an excellent service to all our residents. He is particularly interested in providing adaptations for the elderly to remain in their homes as long as possible. He was appointed as Vice Chair in 2019 and Chair of the Board at the AGM in 2020.

Louise Cumberland – Vice Chair

Louise joined the board in September and brings a wide range of experience at an executive  level in housing care and support for vulnerable people.  Her 30 year career spans Housing Associations, Local Authority and Voluntary Sectors. She is an Accredited Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation and is  committed to working in partnership with clients to help them overcome barriers that are blocking them from achieving their goals. Her early career as a campaigner for women’s rights resulted in many new women’s refuges and associated services all over the North West.  She stands up for diversity and promotes equality of access. Her focus in on customers and how we can deliver the best services that meet needs.
With an honours degree in Sociology and an MSc in Housing, Louise has a strong understanding of how to deliver successful strategic plans which make a difference to the lives of the people we serve.
Louise and her partner moved to Devon in Summer 2019. They are vegan and have a smallholding where they are working toward being self-sufficient.

Adam Carrick, Chair Elect

Adam joined the Cornerstone Board in 2023 having spent over twenty years in management and leadership roles in health and social care commissioning.  Joining Cornerstone has been an enthusiastic return to the housing sector having been a non-executive in a housing, supported living and supported employment organisation some fifteen years earlier and keen to understand the evolution of the sector.

Adam’s training and professional background includes a practical interest in the ‘Social Determinants’ of physical and mental health, which includes the link between decent, affordable housing and people’s overall wellbeing and life opportunities.  A key reason for being attracted to Cornerstone is that shared ethos and perspective on the roles of housing in people’s lives.  In his career Adam has been committed to how the outcomes of healthcare are understood and improved for patients, and is similarly interested in how the perspectives of residents and staff influence Cornerstone’s services.  Adam is an accredited coach and group facilitator and undertakes work with organisations and teams who work together across professional boundaries, particularly in stressful professions.  Adam lives in Exeter with his wife and children.  He is a Member of the Institute for Health & Social Care Management and a Fellow of the Royal Society Arts.

Janet Gale

First of her family to be born in Exeter. Janet went on to become an Administrator/Trainee Assistant Manager for the local bus company, leaving in 1977 to have a baby daughter. Returning to work a few years later at the Northcott Theatre where she was a Secretary/Assistant to the Production Manager, spending 21 very happy years in this great world of make believe, before being made redundant in 2009 along with all the staff. Two weeks later she found herself working for a Recruitment Agency sending qualified airplane fitters, inspectors, fuel repair people all over the world. She became a manager of a new system she had started on compliance, checking passports, work permits, qualifications and A1 licences. She left to retire some 5 years later, only to be called back out of retirement to set up a similar compliance system in a school, then another, then a Residential Home, until finally being allowed to retire in 2017. She comes from a private house background, and knew nothing of how the social sector worked until she got married, and moved to their first house in 1977. She says she has learned so much from the staff and becoming a member of the Performance Panel, which she is now Chair of. She has been fighting hard for the equality between Private and Social housing residents, and thoughts and comments have been sent to and read by various governments, helping them to rethink the way in which Social Housing is viewed.

Stephanie Henshaw

Stephanie moved to Devon in 2007 from Brentford and now lives in Exeter with her husband and two children.  A chartered accountant, she is the head of Audit & Assurance for leading south west firm PKF Francis Clark and has many years’ experience working with corporate and not for profit entities.  Before she joined the board of Cornerstone in 2016 Stephanie had not worked specifically with the social housing sector, but she brings a background in regulatory compliance, risk management and governance issues to her role as chair of the Audit Committee.  In her spare time, Stephanie can be found on her allotment or in a ballet class

Darren Galliford

A born & bred (& proud) Exonian hailing from St Thomas, Darren joined the Board in February 2015. A banking career of over 35 years started with NatWest on Exeter High Street in 1985 and, after a 10 year spell in Bristol & Bath, he returned home in 2005 to run their Commercial Real Estate Team covering Devon & Cornwall. In 2013 he joined Handelsbanken as their Branch Manager in Exeter, before taking up his current role as Area Manager for the South West in early 2019. Throughout his career he has predominantly worked with SME and real estate businesses across the South West. He is a Trustee of the well known local charity, Dream-A-Way, & has also been chair or a committee member of various other local community organisations over the years. Alongside family life, he enjoys travelling, playing golf and watching all sports, especially the Exeter Chiefs where he is a season ticket holder.

Asad Butt

Asad joined the Cornerstone Board in September 2022. He brings 38 years experience in the social housing sector with local authorities, the Housing Corporation and the Homes and Communities Agency. In addition, he is currently Vice Chair of North Devon Homes and sits on the Board of their commercial subsidiary – Anchorwood Limited.

Asad began his career in housing at two London Boroughs developing a comprehensive housing management computer system, focusing on rent collection at one and setting up a Central Arrears Team which was charged with a fundamental overhaul of all the rent collection procedures  across the whole Council at the other.

Asad has also fulfilled many senior finance / development and management roles at the Homes and Communities Agency (and its predecessor body the Housing Corporation).

He has lived in Devon for over 30 years, being married for 42 years -with a daughter, son and 2 young grand daughters.

Chris Lovegrove

Chris joined the Cornerstone Board in September 2022. Chris is an Occupational Therapist who started his career in the social housing sector and has specialised in neurology for the last 13 years at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital. He is a current NIHR Clinical Doctoral Research Fellow with the University of Plymouth, where he is studying for a PhD. His project is to develop a new intervention to help people with Parkinson’s to live well with anxiety.

 

Chris’s birthplace is Exeter, with his family spread across both sides of the river. His interests include weightlifting, martial arts, playing the guitar, and watching live music.

Samantha Johnson

Sam joined the Board in 2021. Sam is a Chartered Valuation Surveyor, after graduating with a BA (Hons) in Property Development and Planning. She is currently the Head of Valuation and Senior Associate of Vickery Holman Property Consultants, leading a large department across four offices, covering the South West. She values a broad range of property types including residential development and commercial property. Sam’s clients include all major banks and lenders, as well as pension funds and property owners and she brings extensive property industry experience to the Cornerstone Board. Her interests include pilates, sea swimming, and she has more recently taken up tennis lessons, which is a work in progress.

Fred Carter

Fred formally joined the board in September 2023 and brings a wide range of experience in affordable housing covering new-build development and planned and responsive maintenance within local authority, housing associations, speculative house builders and contractors predominantly within the West Midlands area but also in the South-East and South-West.

Fred has a particular interest in the energy-efficiency of new homes and has helped to deliver properties that achieved the Government’s Future Homes Standard some years before it is currently due to be mandated in 2025. He has also delivered two residential units utilising hydrogen boilers.

Fred currently still lives in Worcestershire but is looking to relocate to South Devon soon.

Tom Woodman

Tom joined as Chief Executive in early 2020. He has extensive experience of the sector, having had a range of senior housing association roles. He has overall responsibility for operational delivery, organisational performance and setting strategic direction with the board.