Tom Titherington to step down
Tom Titherington has today announced that he will be stepping down as the Chief Investment and Development Officer at SNG (Sovereign Network Group) at the end of this year. Tom joined Sovereign in January 2019, following senior roles at Catalyst Housing, Network Homes, and The Hyde Group.
Over the last five and a half years Tom has built an Investment and Development team that is now 230 strong, focused on building high-quality, affordable homes and improving the quality of SNG’s existing stock. In 2020 he launched the Homes and Place Standard, a sector-leading approach to improving the quality of homes and communities.
The Standard grades every home and neighbourhood against a range of criteria, including quality of home, sustainability, and customer experience. Over the last four years his team has delivered against a long-term strategic asset management plan – a major investment programme that will deliver 25,000 new homes and retrofit 15,000 existing homes over 10 years.
Also involved is the disposal and replacement of 4,500 homes that cannot or should not be retrofitted, and a mixture of redevelopment or broader community-based regeneration schemes in specific areas.
SNG has appointed specialist recruitment consultancy, Michael Page, as search partners to find Tom’s successor as Chief Investment and Development Officer and expect to appoint by the end of the year.
Speaking this morning, Mark Washer, Group Chief Executive Officer, said:
“Tom has made a huge and vital contribution to SNG over nearly six years with us. The Homes and Place Standard is a legacy he can be rightly proud of. We are seeing his work in action as we complete some of the first new homes that meet the highest Homes and Place Standard and as we start to retrofit our existing homes. He can also be hugely proud of the team he has built, who will take this work forward at SNG as we embark on one of the sector’s most ambitious development plans.”
Mark went on to say:
“On a personal level I am hugely grateful that Tom chose to come and work with me after a long and distinguished career in the sector. He has stayed longer than his original commitment and I am very glad that he did. His contribution to our recent merger and the energy and passion he has put into our Investment and Development team make it an enviable role for his successor and I know he will continue to contribute right up until the day he finishes here.”
Tom Titherington said:
“I don’t want to use the word ‘retire’ because I don’t feel that I am retiring. But even after my long career, I know there is more to life than housing. I’m not certain what the future holds, although I suspect my role here at SNG was my last ‘big job’.
“I am grateful to Mark Washer and the Board at SNG for the opportunity and I am really proud of what we have achieved together. I have had such a good time at SNG. The merger between Network and Sovereign is really positive and the Investment and Development team at SNG has a great future. I am very glad to have played a part in helping to shape that.
The Homes and Place Standard is a stand-out commitment to quality and sustainability that the sector can learn from, and I will watch with interest and fondness as my former colleagues develop it further.
Above all, I am really glad to have played my part in a business and in a sector that is fundamentally about the difference a good home can make to someone’s life.”