Our Executive team

Michelle has 27 years of experience working in the social housing sector in both England and Scotland. She joined Berwickshire Housing Association (BHA) as their Chief Executive in November 2020 having previously worked in a variety of roles relating to homelessness, housing/customer operations and broader executive responsibilities.

Michelle is passionate about everyone having the right to a decent home and a good quality of life and believes Housing Associations have a key role to play in achieving both of these outcomes in the communities in which they serve.

Michelle is a Board Member at Believe Housing in the Northeast of England and is also on the Board of a social enterprise, “Addressing Domestic Abuse” (ADA) who work with the social housing sector, associated supply chains and a range of other organisations to equip them to recognise domestic abuse in all its forms so that residents and colleagues can be assured of a positive response.

Michelle is also actively engaged in a number of national and local partnerships working with a range of organisations including Scottish Government, CIH Scotland, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), Scottish Housing Regulator, other social landlords across Scotland and Scottish Borders Council.

In her spare time Michelle enjoys playing in a brass band, walking and going on holiday.

Richard is Executive Director for Business Support at BHA, joining the organisation in August 2023. He has overall responsibility for the delivery of accountancy and finance services within BHA and to our group entities.

Richard is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW), being admitted to membership in 2004. He started his accountancy career with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where he progressed to audit manager, working across a range of public sector, corporate and not-for-profit clients, including housing associations.

Richard has held senior finance roles across all sectors including private sector companies such as Sage Plc and Mayborn Group, public sector, in Nexus and in the housing sector with Isos Housing (now Karbon) in the north-east of England. He is passionate about making a difference within the housing sector.

In his spare time, Richard is a keen outdoor enthusiast, enjoying walking and hiking along the Northumberland coast and the Lake District, as well as mountain biking in the Scottish Borders.

Evie is Director for Customer and Communities at BHA. She joined the organisation as their Customer Experience Lead in March 2022 with more than 12 years of experience working in the social housing sector in Scotland. She has held roles in housing management, customer engagement, communications as well as project and change management.

Evie is a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and received her postgraduate diploma in Housing Studies from the University of Glasgow. She remains an active member of CIH and was a founding member and former Chair of CIH Futures and has served on both the CIH Governing and CIH Scotland Board.

Evie’s passion and commitment to making a difference has earned her several awards over the years – the Bob Allan Young Achiever in Housing Excellence (2014) and the CIH Malcolm Smith award (2021). She has also been listed as one of Inside Housing magazine’s Women in Housing Leaders (2020) and their 40 under 40 list.

Joanna is Director of Assets and Sustainability at BHA, having joined in December 2022. She is responsible for the delivery of the reactive repairs service, ensuring our properties are compliant with any regulatory requirements and our component replacement programme, ensuring our homes are modernised.

Joanna has over 20 years of experience in the Scottish housing sector and spent much of her early career in the delivery of adaptations and new build programmes. She has experience in a number of volunteer opportunities both in the sector and beyond. She has worked for national and community-based, specialist and general needs housing associations.

Joanna is passionate about excellent housing quality and design and how this can support inclusivity.