Welcome to WISH Midlands.

Katie is the Head of Business Development & Innovation at Platform Housing Group, responsible for developing their approach to MMC and delivering future-proofed homes. She is a firm believer that collaboration is the key to tackling all challenges, and is committed to bringing together colleagues and customers to create networks that deliver sustainable, affordable and good quality homes for our communities.

Katie has a pepperpotted history, starting her career in tech finance and moving from media to FMCG before finding her calling in social housing. She’s passionate about growing the profile of the sector, and especially the role women in it play. She said; “from the housing crisis to the gender pay gap, women are all too often bearing the burden of inequality. Working in social housing we’re in a unique position to address those social challenges for our customers and our colleagues".

Rose is a Partner at Bevan Brittan specialising in housing corporate governance. She primarily acts for housing associations and other community based organisations across England and Wales. Rose believes that housing is one of the most important issues affecting communities across the country and the housing sector helps the most vulnerable in our society. Rose was one of the co-founders of the WISH Midlands region back in 2016 and has found working with WISH to be enriching both personally and professionally.

Hannah is a Board Member of WISH Midlands and Head of Connect at 3C Consultants. She is a technology consultant, leading the cloud-based services team at 3C to deliver digital optimisation and transformation across the social housing sector. Hannah completed the WISH Future Leaders course in 2022 and jumped at the opportunity to become more involved. She is passionate about creating space for young people in the sector to connect and have access to mentoring. Hannah is also a mentor for the Charityworks graduate scheme, a programme she completed in 2018 whilst at Advance Housing & Support.

Hannah is a firm believer in building supportive communities to help bring about change by facilitating the sharing of knowledge, lessons learnt, and best practice. She is committed to being plugged in with her local community and has been involved with regional homelessness charities as a trustee and corporate ambassador. She is excited to be part of supporting women at WISH midlands to collaborate and network together.

Katy is the Practitioner Support Manager at the national charity, ASB Help.  She is passionate about making a difference to victims by improving service delivery to address ASB across the housing and community safety sector. 

In joining the WISH Midlands Regional Board, Katy is looking forward to supporting and encouraging other women working within the housing sector as well as being able to contribute and share her own knowledge and experience with others.   

In her spare time Katy enjoys spending time with her two daughters, partner, family and friends.  Katy has found a love for running in recent years and would encourage anyone to give it a go. 

As Director of Sales and Marketing, Catherine is responsible for overseeing all the sales and marketing activity for new and existing homes sales at Bromford.  Catherine is particularly involved with ensuring that we help as many customers as possible to realise their home ownership dreams.

Whilst at Bromford, she has been responsible for leading the Sales and Marketing transformation goal of delivering a new portal for Bromford properties and to be shortly followed by a new CRM system.

Catherine has brought over 25 years experience to her role, including working for Barratt Homes, St Modwen Homes and other large developers, as well as in financial services.  As a result of this background, her approach is very commercial and customer focused.

Sarah Onions is Assistant Managing Director – Business Development, Skills and Apprenticeships at Sandwell College Group, the largest provider of study programmes in the West Midlands for learners aged sixteen to nineteen and adult programmes.

Sarah heads up the employee engagement team at the college, whose collective task it is to partner with local organisations and help them with recruiting, upskilling and retaining staff, while addressing sector skill shortages.

“Previously I worked in recruitment, which I loved, but ultimately I wasn’t able to support businesses if the candidates weren’t available. Alongside my board position with Women in Social Housing and the teams I manage at Sandwell College, I am now able to give solutions to the skill shortages we’re all facing – for example, by supporting businesses to take on apprentices, offering the training and development of staff, and facilitating the short-term placements of students for the benefit of learners and businesses alike.

Jade is an Officer for Wolverhampton Homes and has been for over a decade.  She has always believed housing is one of the most important issues affecting our communities.  As Jade works with women and supports women in her daily life, she has an opportunity to make a change and strives to do so.  Jade looks forward to learning and sharing the knowledge she has with everyone

In her spare time Jade is raising her children and spending time with family and friends as well as furthering her education which she believe is a key to success

Jade says “It's a phenomenal opportunity to be able to network with these amazing women and I can't wait to see the changes we can all make together.”

Eleni is leading all marketing output at BM3, a multi-disciplinary company with over 30 years’ experience in all types of housing and extensive knowledge of designing affordable housing. Working closely with the Architects teams, she is responsible for the strategy, social media, website, brochures, implementing events, managing bid and award submissions, ultimately supporting the company’s continued growth. She is also a member of BM3’s fundraising group and a Mental Health First Aider.  

Eleni has a particular interest in issues relating to equality and wellbeing within the workplace, a strong believer in teamwork while encouraging collaboration and more diversity in the construction sector. She would like to make a positive difference to professional women in her area and beyond. ‘‘I am very excited to be joining WISH Midlands, a supporting and inspiring network for women in social housing. I look forward to expanding my current network and promoting the brilliant work WISH does’’.