Prima Board

Rob Young (Board Chair)

Rob has a long and successful track record in the housing sector having worked for a number of North West Housing Associations, Local Authorities and a new town during the last 40+ years. He has recently retired as Group Chief Executive for a large North West Housing Association.

Rob also has extensive board and governance experience and is currently a Board Director of Morhomes, a financing body owned by 60+ housing associations, and is Chair of Port Sunlight Village Trust.

He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

On joining the Prima Group Board, Rob mentioned: “I’m really pleased and excited to be selected to join the Prima Board. The Group has a long and respected reputation in the Merseyside region. The new Corporate Plan continues this commitment and demonstrates real ambition in meeting the housing, neighbourhood and community needs in the area.”

A long time ago, Rob was a solo bugler for the Liverpool and District Battalion of the Boys Brigade - the pictures are a hoot!

Rob is a Trustee and Chair of the Port Sunlight Village Trust.

Barry Callow (Vice Chair)

Barry has worked in Asset Management and Repairs and Maintenance his whole career. He has spent twenty years working with a number of contracting companies. Barry is the interim Head of Repairs for another registered provider, Cobalt Housing.

Outside work, Barry tries to keep busy listening to music, running, cycling and spending time with his two beautiful daughters.

John Ghader

John reports directly to the Prima Group Board, has overall responsibility for delivering the Group’s Corporate Strategy, and is accountable for Prima Housing Group.

John is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and a Board member at Inspiring Homes, part of the Four Synergy Group, a company seeking to be registered as a ‘for-profit’ housing provider.

Janet Hale

Janet joined the Board in September 2019 and is Chair of the Group’s People & Governance Committee.

Janet has worked in and around housing since 1981, in local authority, housing association and higher education sectors and she has been a housing consultant for nearly twenty years. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and holds an MA in Human Resource Management.

Janet has chaired two housing groups and has wide-ranging governance experience, including a term as President of the Chartered Institute of Housing. Janet is looking forward to working with Prima Group in its North-West heartland and becoming part of the Group Board’s governance team.

One fun fact about Janet is that she hasn’t had a television since April 1988.

Paula Roberts

Paula joined the Board in September 2019 and is the Chair of our Audit & Assurance Committee. Paula is a Chartered Accountant who specialises in finance, risk, audit and governance. Her career commenced in practice at KPMG and since then Paula has clocked up almost 20 years of experience in industry roles across a number of sectors including media and social housing. Paula’s current role as Acting Director of Internal Audit for Manchester Airports Group sees her provide risk management, governance and controls advice to 3 UK airports and a growing overseas Car Parks and Escape Lounge business in the USA.

Paula is very much looking forward to working with Prima as it’s a business that clearly cares about people and works hard to ensure that they have a safe and happy place to live; this is something very close to her heart. Paula has seen first-hand the benefits that good housing providers can bring to the communities that they work with and is looking forward to being part of an organisation that genuinely cares.

From a young age, Paula has always wanted to be an RAF Pilot and has recently had her first flying lesson!

Kiera Vogel

Kiera joined the Group Board in 2019 and is a member of our Audit & Assurance Committee. Kiera is the owner and Company Director of Senate Group Ltd a company that offers a wide range of construction services including mechanical and electrical services to public and private sector clients.

Kiera is most looking forward to getting to know the Prima Group team and our customers. Kiera is also looking forward to how she can assist and support the delivery of the corporate plan, and support the board to maintain its already high standards to help the business grow and develop.

Kiera was once an elite athlete, representing Great Britain in Athletics in middle distance events and securing a 4-year Athletics scholarship to study and train in the USA.

Anita Leech

Anita is a member of the Group Board and Chair of the Customer Voice Board.

Anita has worked in financial services for over 20 years, working with blue chip companies as well as Mastercard and Visa and was part of a team that introduced chip and pin into the Banking world.

She left financial services to become a psychotherapist,  providing counselling to adults and children on a voluntary basis for 5 years.

Anita then became a political candidate and Councillor for the Leasowe and Moreton East Ward and was part of a team responsible for the regeneration of Wirral and for developing the Local Plan. Anita was also Chair of the planning committee and Deputy Leader of the Council for 2 years before retiring from politics.

She has done voluntary work/fundraising since the age of twelve. She is currently a member and Vice Chair of the Leasowe Joint Management Committee, and a school governor at Castleway Primary School and Leasowe Nursery School, which has recently federated to become the Unity Federation.

Anita fundraises for the Domestic Abuse Programme – Freedom and has done so for the last 15 years, she is currently the Chair of the Friends of the Freedom Programme.

She has previously been a Board Member of the Leasowe Development Trust and the Chair of Leasowe Community Homes, prior to joining Pierhead Housing Association to form Prima Group.

John O’Driscoll

John is the Director of Strategic Planning & Solutions at the Co-op, where he is responsible for creating strategies across the group’s portfolio of businesses and leading the organisation’s strategic planning cycle. At the Co-op, he has enjoyed a variety of roles in operations, service, transformation & change, governance and strategy since joining in 2012. Prior to this, he was a teacher in London and on the Wirral, where he primarily taught philosophy and sociology.

John has always carried out voluntary and community-focused work and is excited about the ability to contribute to the clear social purpose of Prima Group, as well as their transparent and refreshing approach to diversity in their governance. He is also a Trustee of Health 24, a charitable organisation set up to improve the health and wellbeing of residents in Liverpool and surrounding areas.

Outside work, John enjoys being kept on his toes by his young daughter, attempting to golf, and running, having recently completed the London Marathon on behalf of the Claire House Children’s Hospice.

Lisa Knight

Lisa is an academic at Liverpool John Moores University, where she leads a partnership between Liverpool Business School and the NHS. Alongside her academic role, Lisa is a Non-Executive Director at St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust.

Her background is in healthcare, working across the wider health and social care system to support transformation she has helped to drive improvement and transformation of services and organisations.

Lisa is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and Higher Education Academy, a Chartered Management & Business Educator, and a Member of the Institute for Health and Social Care Management.

Lisa is looking forward to utilising her professional knowledge and personal experience of social housing to work alongside fellow Board members in setting the direction of the Prima Group.

Sarah Russell

Sarah Russell is a solicitor specialising in employment law. She represents employees with a wide range of claims, including discrimination and unfair dismissal. Sarah firmly believes everyone should have a safe, warm place to call home. She was a Board Member of Wythenshawe Community Housing Group, the largest housing association in Manchester, for nine years, eventually becoming joint Vice-Chair. She was a Manchester City Councillor for almost a decade, where she chaired the Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Audit Committee.

Sarah is also the Chair of the Congleton Constituency of the Labour Party.

Sarah is married with three young children and is a primary school governor. She likes to go to the beach. 

Paula McGrath

Paula is an experienced financial professional who has significant knowledge in deal advisory and private equity work. Handling corporate finance issues relating to buying and selling companies, management buyouts/buy-ins, strategic advice and fundraising to support growth across a range of sectors.

Paula has a strong background in her field as she has worked in deal advisory for over two decades. She is also a member of the Corporate Finance Faculty of the ICAEW and has gained the Corporate Finance Accreditation. She was an Independent Board Member for Torus 62 for the 9-year maximum term, sitting on its Audit & Risk Committee, and later chaired the board of HMS.

Paula hopes to offer a different challenge and contribution to the development of Prima Group and the city region by drawing on her personal experiences gained from her career in mergers and acquisitions and her previous board experience at Torus. 

Paula currently works for Brabners Solicitors. 

Pippa Taylor