Who we are

Althea Efunshile CBE has had a 40 year public sector career, during which she has gained extensive senior leadership experience in education, children’s services and culture. She has worked at both local and national levels of government.

She has been Deputy Chief Executive at Arts Council England; a Senior Civil Servant within the Department of Education, employed in a number of director-level roles all aimed at improving outcomes for disadvantaged and socially excluded children; Executive Director for Education & Culture at the London Borough of Lewisham; and Assistant Director of Education at the London Borough of Merton.

Althea stepped down from a full-time executive career three years ago. She is now a Non-Executive Director of a small number of organisations, including University College London Hospitals (UCLH) and Channel 4. She is Chair of professional dance company Ballet Black.

Althea was awarded a CBE in the 2016 Birthday Honours.

Lesley-Anne was CEO of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) from 2004 until 2016. She was instrumental in developing the UK Vision Strategy, a cross-sector initiative to improve eye health and sight loss services in the UK.

She has had a long career in the public and charity sectors. Before joining RNIB, she was Director of Operations for the Peabody Trust.

Lesley-Anne holds a number of non-executive positions. She is a director of the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, a trustee of the MicroLoan Foundation, a charity providing small business loans to women in Malawi and Zambia, and an ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Society. She is also a member of the Guild of Entrepreneurs.

Lesley-Anne was awarded a CBE in 2012 and was voted by her peers as Britain’s Most Admired Charity Chief Executive in 2015.

A chartered accountant, Mike previously joined the Metropolitan Board in 2014. Mike was formerly Group Finance Director of St. Modwen Properties plc, a leading regeneration specialist, and also spent five years as Group Finance Director of May Gurney Integrated Services plc.

He has significant experience gained in other major companies and is currently Chair of the Audit Committee at London and Continental Railways Ltd.

Grainia was previously Chair of the Thames Valley Board. She served on the Board for three years, and was Chair of the Customer Services Committee. She is currently Resilience Commissioner for the city of Belfast.  Prior to this, she was Chief Executive of the ISPCC, the national child protection charity in Ireland, and previously spent eight years at the Chartered Institute of Housing, first as National Director in Northern Ireland and then as Chief Executive.

Grainia has also worked for Shelter and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. She has been an advisor to the Commission on the Future of Housing in Northern Ireland, a Member of the Lyons Commission on Housing and has been a ministerial appointee to the Board of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.

Ian was Metropolitan’s Executive Director of Finance. He joined the organisation in 2015 and became a member of its Board the following year.

Ian has spent most of his professional career in the development and contracting sectors, with more than a decade’s experience at board level. He has raised capital, completed re-banking exercises and conducted a business turnaround. He has also led a number of change projects, including merging two $2bn US homebuilding businesses and a finance transformation project for National Grid.

Ian has worked in the USA, India and South Korea for extended periods. He is a chartered accountant and an ex-Royal Navy submarine officer.

Ingrid joined the Board in August 2018 and is Chair of Remuneration and Nominations Committee.  She is a senior director at Savills UK in the housing division, specialising in housing development and regeneration consultancy. Over the past ten years, she has advised a wide variety of clients on residential development strategy and delivery, mainly regarding private/public partnerships, mixed tenure schemes, affordable housing development and funding.

Her career spans more than 30 years working for housing associations at senior executive level, running major development programmes at Notting Hill Housing Trust, Circle 33 Housing Trust and Acton Housing Association. Ingrid has held Board positions on Southall Regeneration Partnership and North Fulham New Deal for Communities.

Gurpreet Gujral has spent two decades in global customer service roles across the retail, telecommunications and the hospitality sectors. In his current role, Gurpreet is leading the customer service transformation at IKEA Group, helping it transition successfully into a retail business that provides a seamless experience for all of its customers. Gurpreet’s skills and experience match our Board’s aspiration to refine MTVH’s digital customer service.

Prior to IKEA, Gurpreet was the Customer Contact and Partnerships Director at the mobile network Three, overseeing delivery and transformation of services across various channels. He was also responsible for creating partnerships with other businesses that helped Three achieve its growth ambitions by expanding its reach to a larger pool of new customers. During his time there, the organisation won several industry and customer awards.

Tania Brisby joined the Board in October 2020, bringing significant experience in finance and treasury, with her background in financial services and investment banking at organisations such as NatWest Markets, Deutsche Bank and Samuel Montagu (now HSBC).

Most recently, Tania was a non-executive director of the Wesleyan Assurance Society, and spent nine years as a non-executive with Clarion Housing Group and Circle Housing Group. Prior to that, she was Director of Cardew Group, a strategic financial and public relations consultancy, and ran her own corporate advisory practice specialising in emerging markets.

Her public sector experience includes advising the NHS on commercial dispute resolution as Chair of the NHS Midlands and East Competition Panel, and serving as an advisor to the NHS South East Commissioning Support Unit, as well as work with the European Commission. She is also a Tribunal Panel member on disciplinary hearings for the Financial Reporting Council.

Davinder Dhillon brings strong financial expertise to the Board, with significant experience in advising organisations on strategic and capital-raising opportunities. He was an investment banker for more than a decade, including at Goldman Sachs, before switching to strategy consulting with Boston Consulting Group.

His principal focus during his time in investment banking was on advising corporate and financial institution clients about debt and equity market solutions, and mergers and acquisitions. In his current role, he leads a global team, advising wholesale banks on their most pressing strategic needs across commercial growth and business transformation. He also holds a number of steering committee positions.

Nigel Ingram brings broad experience in property maintenance and development. His housing association background includes time at The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Notting Hill Housing and Places for People.

More recently, he was a founding director of Aurora Estates – which specialises in large-scale residential and care-led schemes – and Development Director of Lifestyle by Engie, focussing on housing solutions for people of all ages.  Nigel is currently Head of Housing Delivery at the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority. He is also a member of The Housing Forum and an independent judge for NHBC awards.

Ofei Kwafo-Akoto is a solicitor with broad corporate experience, as well as more specific property experience in acquisitions, disposals, development and asset management. He is currently Senior Legal Counsel at GLP, a leading real estate fund manager. Prior to this, Ofei worked as a corporate lawyer in the City where he advised private equity houses, and real estate and sovereign wealth funds.

Ofei is a founding committee member of the Black Solicitors Network’s ‘Junior Lawyers Group’, which provides support and guidance for black junior lawyers, promoting increased diversity within the UK legal sector. He also serves as a trustee director and company secretary for Southside Young Leaders Academy, a charity which works with black boys aged 8–16 in south London to develop leadership skills.

Geeta is Chief Executive of Metropolitan Thames Valley. Across a career of nearly 30 years she has held a variety of leadership roles in the housing sector. She joined Metropolitan as Chief Executive in October 2017, and led Thames Valley Housing as Chief Executive for nine years – overseeing a top quartile performance in the sector for customer service, and the establishment of a successful market rent subsidiary, Fizzy Living.

Geeta is a board member of the National Housing Federation, a non-executive director of McCarthy & Stone, a FTSE 250 retirement housebuilder, and has served on the boards of a number of other housing organisations. She is also an ambassador for the charity World Child Cancer. In 2013, Geeta was awarded an OBE for achievements in social housing.