A NEW WAY OF LONDON LIVING

Simon is J49’s CEO. Over the years, Simon has been involved in a multitude of roles, including as a charity founder, international speaker and education consultant. He has worked with a vast portfolio of national and international organisations in various community training and social environments, with a focus on providing practical solutions to enhance community and family cohesion.

Simon is the founder of the City to City Network, a global network designed to inspire individuals and organisations from across society to re-shape cities and see them flourish. He is also a co-founder of Habitat for Humanity Homes UK, a housing charity that works with individual and corporate volunteers to build and renovate homes.

Simon is currently working on a diverse set of community initiatives all aimed at transforming the living conditions of communities, by bringing together, economy, land and enterprise to create sustainable solutions for living.

Declan joined the J49 Board in 2019 and was appointed Chair in June 2021. An experienced charity CEO, Declan has led Bench Outreach, a London homelessness charity since 2010. He is best known for pioneering the development of the Housing First approach in England. Housing First is an innovative solution to ending repeat homelessness and Bench Housing First is seen as a model for charity/statutory sector partnership. Declan’s background as a therapist specialising in the psychology of addiction informs his approach to organisational development and partnership working and he is passionate about co-production and tenant empowerment.

He lives in South East London where he enjoys playing music and running along the Thames.

Louisa joined J49’s board in 2019, and is Vice Chair of the board. She currently works as Director of Services for a long-standing and well-respected charity in East London supporting homeless people in recovery from addiction/s. Louisa leads the organisation’s services teams including a residential treatment service for homeless men in recovery, a therapeutic programme, supported housing services, a Training and Development service, and a Housing First project. Louisa started her current role after several years’ leadership in homelessness, which she initially began as a volunteer in a Deptford-based charity.Prior to taking a career break to raise her children, Louisa completed a PhD in Forensic Psychology, focusing on suicide prevention and management of self-injury in prisons, and worked as a consultant to the then women’s prisons estate.

Malcolm is on J49’s board of directors. Malcolm worked for over thirty years in various roles for Inland Revenue and HM Revenue and Customs, including as an investigator on Financial Future Traders in the City of London. He grew up in Kent and Bath before moving to London in 1972, where he has lived ever since.Since retiring, Malcolm has volunteered regularly at a Trussell Trust food bank in South East London, which has made him passionate about seeing social housing improved in his local area. He was also a trustee of Peckham and Dulwich Community Church from 2004 to 2013 and is currently a trustee of Catford Community Church.Malcolm has three children and three grandchildren.

He lives in South East London with his wife.

Julian joined J49’s board of directors in 2018. He started his career in engineering, before forming his own building company, focusing on residential renovations and a housing management company with private tenanted properties. Julian started to develop residential property in 2012, including the creation of an investment fund for office to residential property developments. Julian’s experience in the building sector has given him a well-tuned understanding of the building process, experience in managing the finance of sizable projects and of management in the private rented sector.Julian has been active in his local church community for many years and brings a commitment to seeing social change in his own area, helping those facing the most hardship in our society.

He is married, with two adult sons and enjoys gardening in his limited spare time.

Stephanie is on J49’s board of directors. Stephanie is currently the Group Finance Director at beloFX, a start-up technology-focused visual effects business operating in the UK, Canada and India. Her role is to make sure that finance operates efficiently and strategically to support the business. She loves seeing how new technology can help make finance more straightforward for everyone and make more time for commercially focused decisions.Stephanie is a Chartered Accountant and has worked in senior finance roles in media and technology companies including Channel 4, Viacom/CBS and Cable & Wireless, and more recently with a range of smaller and start-up companies as a portfolio FD. She has also voluntary non-executive roles at ScreenSkills, the skills body for the UK screen sector, and at Southwark Cathedral.

She lived in South East London for many years and is married with two children.

Stephen joined the J49 board in 2021. He is a solicitor with over 30 years experience. Stephen worked in Legal Aid firms for many years, specialising in Housing and Welfare Benefit law. He currently works for a local charity advising refugees and migrants. Since 2018, Stephen has been a local Councillor for the Brockley Ward in Lewisham and is currently the Chair of Lewisham Council’s Housing Scrutiny Committee. Previously, Stephen has been a school governor and is currently a regular volunteer at Lewisham foodbank.

Stephen has lived in Lewisham for 45 years. He lives with his partner and daughter. In his spare time he plays drums in a 60’s/70’s covers band.

Reshima joined J49’s board of directors in 2021. She has had a range of roles in the political and charity sector over the last ten years, and currently works for the housing and homelessness charity Shelter developing political strategies for its campaign to make private renting safer and more secure for renters. She previously worked on campaigns to build more social housing and is passionate about getting more high quality, genuinely affordable social homes built in London and across the country. Before working for Shelter, Reshima worked as a researcher to a Member of Parliament and also as a campaign organiser on several election campaigns.

Reshima first moved to South East London eight years ago, and currently rents near Deptford with her partner and two friends.

Richard helped to set up J49 and continues to be involved as a consultant and project manager for J49’s construction projects. Richard started his career as a civil engineer working on a number of diverse civil construction sites. Since then, he moved into project management in the construction of residential housing in and around London. Richard now has over 25 years’ experience in project management on housing schemes. Over the years he has worked with a number of companies including O’Rourke, ISG plc and the Berkeley Group. In the last seven years he has worked as project manager and consultant for Jubilee Resource Community Ltd, helping to deliver their first projects.

Richard is married and has two grown up children. Since moving to London to study for his degree, he has remained in South East London for the last 35 years.