Tributes for 2 retirements from the board of TPAS Cymru

At today’s AGM, we paid tribute to two board members who today stood down from the TPAS Cymru board: 

1. Vicki Miller, Head of Housing & Communities at Cardiff Community Housing Association (formally at United Welsh)
2.  Derek Hainge, tenant of Adra Housing.

Vicki and Derek have both been excellent board members and have helped steer TPAS Cymru, and the wider housing sector through some very interesting times.  Early on, they oversaw some big challenges such as the impact of significant cuts to our WG funding, our relationship with, and then the ending of Welsh Tenants and TAP. However, they also saw many positive developments in tenant engagement including new ways of working, the rise of digital engagement and using social media for positive change - they've helped shape funding bids, PRS tenant engagement and more recently, the move towards effective home working.

During their tenure, they have overseen:

Vicki Millar was elected a Housing Association representative whilst at United Welsh. Her energy, ideas, and contribution to strategy have been invaluable over the years. She also served as a key member of the Board Exec sub-committee for many years.  Recently, Vicki as Vice Chair has been very hard-working on a number of organisational issues including reshaping the organisation to adapt to the pandemic.

Reflecting on Vicki’s time, Bill Hunt, Chair of TPAS Cymru said:

“I joined the TPAS Board six years ago and literally from day one, Vicki was on hand to welcome and mentor new Board members. I learned so much from her which made my own progress and development so much easier.

When I was elected to the Board Chair position, I was absolutely delighted that Vicki was elected as Vice Chair, a position she immediately filled superbly, supporting the Board, Team and very much myself, at all levels.

Over the past 2 years, she has consistently gone over and above with her input and support which I am eternally grateful for. I really feel that someone is cutting off my right arm (and half of the left!).

Thank you, Vicki so very much for the superb contribution and support - you will be sorely missed”

 

Derek Hainge is well known in the tenant participation world and has been a very strong voice for tenants at TPAS board level. He has championed the tenants’ voice in all our work. When we moved from a large, elected board to a smaller skills-based one, he was very vocal in reminding us of the value of tenants’ lived experience.  

As a resident of north Wales, he also looked to ensure our work reached across Wales and avoided the Cardiff Bay bubble.

The TPAS team always speak highly of Derek.

Programme Director, David Lloyd reflected last week

David Wilton, Chief Executive added:

“When I first started in the role, Derek introduced me to a number of key tenants at my first appearances at tenant events.  I appreciated his plain speaking and humour. He instilled in me the understanding that social housing are people’s homes not just units, assets, or statistics.

Derek also served on ‘The Exec’ a key board committee when I joined TPAS Cymru and we had a number of operational issues to resolve.