Our Board

Susan Wise was first elected as a Member of Lewisham Council in 1998, and since 2006 represents the ward in which she lives.

Susan was the Mayor of Lewisham’s Cabinet Member for Housing from 2002 until 2006 and oversaw the delivery of a successful Decent Homes Strategy for the authority, and major improvements to the council’s Housing Needs and Homelessness services.

As the Mayor’s Cabinet Member for Customer Services from 2006 to 2014, her portfolio incorporated the environment, strategic housing and regulatory services, public services and strategy and performance where, amongst other major improvements to those services, she led on a successful Customer Services transformation programme to improve services to residents across the whole council.

From 2010 until 2014, Susan led on the council’s response to the government’s Welfare Reform and Universal Credit legislation, informing affected residents of their benefit changes and ensuring they accessed all their entitlements.

From 2005 until 2014 she was a co-chair of Lewisham’s Homelessness Forum, and chaired the South East London Housing Partnership between 2010 and 2014.
Susan has developed housing policy for Ken Livingstone’s Manifesto, for the previous Labour government and the current shadow administration.

She was proud to have been nominated for the Local Government Information Unit Cll’r Achievement Awards, being shortlisted in 2011 and 2012 as Sustainability Champion, and receiving in 2013, Highly Commended in the Partnership Achievement of the Year category.

Susan is a born and bred Londoner who appreciates and understands the environmental and housing issues affecting our capital, and works towards improving them for Lewisham residents.

Kevin Stearns is actively involved in the local community in the New Cross Gate area. Kevin spent 15 years in the armed forces before seeking employment in civilian life and has worked for a range of companies over the last 28 years as part of Senior Management Teams as an Administration or Office Manager.

Kevin has built up a range of skills and experience in business governance and business compliance. He became involved in his local Tenant & Residents’ Association in 2012, and was Chairman for 4 years. Kevin is a former Chairman of Lewisham Tenants Fund.

Kevin is also a Resident Panel Member for the Housing Ombudsman, and due to his H&S working background is the Board Champion, working with the Strategic Head of Health & Safety at LH.  He is also currently employed at the Fire Industry Association Ltd, as their Compliance Manager, ensuring that members and new members are compliant with current fire safety schemes and providing support to help members achieve their necessary fire safety certification.

Owen is an independent director and retired business consultant.

Owen was a board member of housing associations for nine years before joining our board in 2016. Now retired he was previously a consultant in the construction industry, specialising in commercial management.”

Princess, our youngest board member, was appointed in October 2016. She has been a Lewisham Homes resident for 12 years and is currently a Project Manager at Network Rail.

Princess has a keen interest in governance, building new homes and the customer experience. An involved resident, Princess completed an employment workshop with Elevating Success in 2014 which led to a work placement with one of our building contractors. In 2016, she was also a member of the Resident Scrutiny Committee, looking closely at our antisocial behaviour service and completing the Improving Housing services course in partnership with the London Metropolitan University.

Nigel became a resident Board member in Autumn 2016. His passion for tackling social inequality motivates every aspect of his voluntary work to empower and support his communities.He has a particular interest in supporting public engagement with health, local government and housing.

A Lewisham resident and council tenant of 30 years, Nigel’s voluntary work includes being a trustee of Lewisham Healthwatch which makes sure that health and social care listen to people’s views and experiences and act on them.He is an Associate Tutor for Greenwich University where his role involves providing a lived service user’s perspective to health and social care.

Nigel is also a committed member of Lewisham Tenants Fund. His involvement with how Lewisham spends money from rent payments demonstrates his unwavering support for tenants self-managing and directing their own resources. He has considerable experience in procurement and outsourcing and has worked at senior level in local government in human resources and facilities management.