The Board
The primary role of the Board of Nehemiah Housing Association is to set the strategic direction of the organisation, to ensure compliance with its mission, vision, values and objectives, and to ensure its long-term success. The Board also has responsibility for the overall control of the organisation and the conduct of its business to ensure that it is:
- Financially viable
- Well governed; and
- Properly managed
In addition, the Board’s role is to carry out certain functions as set out in the organisation’s rules and to delegate any of its powers under written terms of reference to its committees and/or Executive Team, where necessary.
The purpose of the Board is to lead the organisation within a framework of sound governance, continuous improvement, and prudent control, which enables risks to be properly assessed and managed. The Board also has responsibility for the oversight of equality and performance.
Nehemiah’s current Board members are:
Bishop Wilton Powell OBE, is a leading advocate for international development in a theological context, across denominations, for the relief of poverty and upholding the dignity of humanity. He is also the Chair and founder member of RAFFA International Development Agency Charity. RAFFA was set up to assist and facilitate international denominational links between the Church of God of Prophecy and churches in developing nations.
Bishop Powell is a founding member of Nehemiah Housing Association and currently serves as Chair of the Board. He was also instrumental in the merger of Keynote and Prime Focus housing associations to form Midland Heart. His OBE was awarded because of his longstanding services to housing. He is a Trustee for Christian Aid International Development, Evangelical Alliance, One People Commission and Queens Theological Foundation for Education.
Bishop Powell is a qualified Mechanical Engineer and Industrial Administrator with a Degree in Engineering, a Master’s in Business Administration and is currently completing a Masters in Theology.
Bishop Powell is a well read, well-travelled individual with a passion for people.
Prof. Martin Levermore MBE DL is Vice Chair and Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee for Nehemiah Housing Association. He is also CEO of Medical Devices Technology International Ltd (MDTi). Martin is a Senior Associate of the Royal Society of Medicine, a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Prof. Levermore has been published widely in several academic journals and holds an appointment with Birmingham City University (BCU) as Visiting Professor for Health, Education and Life Science and is also an Honorary Consultant for Health Innovations with the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.
Martin also Chairs the Birmingham Commonwealth Association Trade and Business Group, Medilink West Midlands (the regions’ largest industry body for MedTECh) and is also is an Executive Committee Member of the Greater Birmingham Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce.
He is a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for Services to West Midlands’ Businesses and Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of the West Midlands.
In May 2021 Martin was also appointed by the UK Government as the new Independent Person to advise on the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Llewellyn Graham is an experienced Chief Executive Officer who has a proven track record of success in leadership at the highest level within the voluntary, social housing and not-for-profit sectors. He is a visionary leader and social entrepreneur who has the ability to analyse and solve complex organisational problems and implement change successfully. Llewellyn was instrumental in providing leadership and strategic direction in developing Nehemiah Housing Association from its embryonic stage to being a successful multi-million pound social business.
He has and continues to hold several board appointments as a non-executive director, including non-executive directorship at a large Midlands-based social housing group.
Ammo has worked in building and construction for 40 years, focusing on social housing for the past 35 years. This has given him extensive experience at senior level of development and asset management, especially in relationship to major works and property maintenance, including procurement. He is well-practiced in large scale financial expenditure and contract management. He remains passionate about delivering quality products to end users by cultivating and communicating a clear vision and values to colleagues, partners, and stakeholders. With strong strategic, business, financial and risk management skills he has excellent experience of governance in the housing sector and completed the Effective Board Member Programme with the Governance Forum.
Ammo’s qualifications include MCIOB (Chartered Institute of Building) and BSc Civil Engineering. He is a Member of the Board at Nehemiah Housing and Chair of the Operations Committee.
Winston Weir has been a non-executive director with Nehemiah since 2016. He sits on the Audit & Risk and Remuneration Committees. He is an experienced NHS Director of Finance and a trustee of a charity which supports children’s education and social welfare in Africa.
He is a CPFA qualified accountant by professional background and brings public and private sector experience to bear in making contributions.
Winston grew up in North West Birmingham but has worked extensively in London and South East England.
Martyn is a CIPFA qualified finance director with ten years post-qualification experience in the housing association sector.
He has worked as a Head of Finance at Rooftop Housing Group (6,500 homes) and is now Finance Director at the Pioneer Group (2,500 homes), two housing associations based in the Midlands.
In these roles he has led on treasury management (with loan portfolios up to £300m), internal and external audit, risk and assurance, ICT, business planning and supported an organisation through a Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in-depth assessment inspection process. Martyn serves on the Audit & Risk Committee and the main Board of Nehemiah Housing Association.
Tina has over 30 years’ experience in senior leadership roles. Covering a range of roles and organisations, including Walsall MBC, Wolverhampton City Council and Wolverhampton Homes. She is currently Assistant Director of Neighbourhoods for Tamworth Borough Council. Tina has substantial transformational and development skills achieved through gaining an MA in Leadership and Change and she is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management.
She is a member of HQN, HouseMark, the National Housing Federation and ARCH.
She is a member of the Board and sits on the Operations Committee at Nehemiah Housing Association.
Juliana comes with an extensive background in the social housing sector. She is currently employed as Housing and Communities Director at Rooftop Housing group (a social landlord based in the Midlands).
Juliana’s experience has given her exposure and responsibilities in the delivery of frontline services, housing management, asset management, strategy and policy development and support in a number of RSH in-depth assessment inspections.
She has also served in a non-executive capacity in a number of not-for-profit organisations (Raglan and Stonewater Housing Associations Charitable Trust).
Juliana has a degree in social science and administration, is fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and also holds an MBA.
Juliana serves on the Audit & Risk Committee and the main Board of Nehemiah Housing Association.
Norman King has almost 30 years experience in the education sector, specialising in ICT, and brings this specialist knowledge to his role as a Board Member for Nehemiah Housing Association. He has worked as Head of Computing at a high-performing Grammar school in Birmingham since 2013 and has successfully developed educational partnerships with several technology giants including Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Oracle.
Norman previously worked as a consultant lecturer at Birmingham City University (BCU) for 14 years, combining his lecturing responsibilities with the delivery of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and Technology Reviews to West Midlands-based companies, advising them on how to improve their ICT capabilities and carried out professional training to 2000+ delegates on a wide range of ICT methodologies, skills and tools.
In addition to his full-time employment, Norman volunteers as Diversity and Inclusion Officer on the BCS Information Technology Leadership Forum (ITLF), representing views from leaders within and beyond the IT industry to other audiences.
Norman’s qualifications include a BSc in Information Technology, a MSc in Industrial Logistics (Information Systems) and is a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS, CITP).
Jana Zacheva is a qualified solicitor, with more than 15 years experience of providing specialist legal and governance advice to various commercial companies and not-for profit organisations across the Midlands. She brings extensive legal, governance and strategic commercial knowledge and experience to the board of Nehemiah Housing Association.
In her career Jana led a number of functions, including Governance, Legal, Data Protection and Policy for one of the largest social housing and care providers in the West Midlands. She also worked in the governance and commercial team of a highly recognised specialised law firm in Birmingham where she supported major projects such as business growth, joint ventures and collaborations between housing providers, local authorities and developers.
Currently Jana is the principal consultant in Governance and Legal Ltd, a company she founded in 2020, which delivers practical and effective governance, compliance and legal advice to not-for-profit organisations mainly in the social housing, care and charity sectors. Jana is also a trustee on the Board of Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid. She continues to be a registered solicitor with the Law Society in England and Wales and a member of the Association of Corporate Governance Practitioners.
