Our Executive Management team
Our Executive Management team (EMT) brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to their roles. They live and breathe our values, supporting the organisation, their directorates, and everyone at Berneslai Homes to deliver excellent services for tenants.
Areas of responsibility
Property services:
- Asset management (assets and sustainability, capital projects)
- Trades: gas, plumbing, electricity, bricklaying, joinery, plastering, roofing, painting, labouring
- Planning and operations
- Commercial
Repairs, maintenance, and building safety:
- Compliance
- Performance and business development
- Dedicated damp and mould team
Dave is Consumer Standards Lead.
Customer services:
- Customer services
- Lettings
- Customer engagement
Estate services:
- Tenants First (tenant support services including family intervention, mental health housing support, housing coaches, tenant support, cost of living support)
- Ambition team – supporting tenants into work
- Income (rent collection)
- Neighbourhoods (including anti-social behaviour)
- Community buildings
- Leaseholders
Resources:
- People and culture
- Learning and development
- Communications and marketing
- Governance and strategy
- Information Governance (data protection, records management)
- IT service management
- Finance
- Performance and improvement
- Risk management
- Procurement
Steve Feast - Chief Executive
Growing up in Barnsley Steve wanted to join the Royal Air Force but soon realised that a career in housing would be far more exciting!
He worked for Barnsley Council’s housing department during his holidays from university, where he studied housing during the early 1990s and joined the council full-time in 1995 as an Estate Management Officer. Since then, Steve’s worked for housing associations and council-owned housing management companies in various roles and in various parts of the country gaining a wealth of experience and knowledge.
Steve is committed to continually improving the services we provide to tenants by working with tenants and communities, colleagues and partners to understand their wants and needs. He knows that to deliver these objectives we need to support and develop the team at Berneslai Homes, work together and embrace innovation including the use of appropriate new technology.
Outside of work, Steve enjoys working with communities in and around Barnsley and can often be found coaching junior football. He also loves watching live football and live music including his two lads in their band Route86.
Q&A with Steve
What are you most proud of in your career so far?
Being part of a group of people who worked with the government to lift and then remove the limit on how much councils could borrow. This meant that we could start building more council housing in communities where it was badly needed and improve the lives of people whose housing was holding them back.
If you could ask a historical figure one question, who would it be and what would you ask?
Christopher Columbus - does it bother you that nobody knows you're Italian?
If you won the Lottery, how would you spend the money?
I'd follow F1 around the world and have exec boxes at Barnsley and the Villa.
What's your favourite TV show?
The West Wing
Dave Fullen – Executive Director Customer and Estate Services
Although he wanted to be a fighter pilot when he was younger, Dave’s first ‘proper’ job was actually as a Housing Management Graduate Trainee for Stockport Council. He moved to Barnsley in 1992 and was involved in the setting up of Berneslai Homes, helping to get the much-needed funding to improve homes and services.
Dave’s favourite of our values is ‘customer first’ and he encourages the team to always involve tenants, hear what they have to say, and to treat everyone with care and respect. His gran and parents lived in social housing and he applies a personal perspective to everything he does by asking: “would that have been good enough for my gran?” If the answer isn’t “yes” then he’ll work hard to improve things until it is. The thing Dave enjoys most about working for Berneslai Homes is when tenants get in touch to say thank you to colleagues and everyone can see the difference our work is making to people’s lives and families.
Away from work, Dave loves to spend time in the garden relaxing, enjoying the fresh air and wildlife. He’s interested in photography and is trying to learn and practice more both at home and on holiday.
Q&A with Dave
What are you most proud of in your career so far?
I’m proud that we created Berneslai Homes and for the improvements that have been made to council housing in Barnsley. Getting the three stars from the Audit Commission was a highlight.
Who would you invite to a fantasy dinner party and why?
Archbishop Desmond Tutu – a truly inspirational leader with an infectious laugh and smile who was so instrumental in challenging apartheid and steering South Africa forward after its end.
What’s your favourite film?
Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life starring James Stewart because sometimes we’ll never know the impact of our work and life on others.
Rachel Taylor - Executive Director of Resources
Rachel enjoys working with numbers, so after doing a maths degree becoming an accountant seemed the natural choice. After working in local government, a large accountancy firm, and education, Rachel moved to social housing and has held senior leadership roles in ALMOs and housing associations.
Her favourite value is ‘curious’ as she likes to find out about the people she works with and understand how things work. Rachel has a passion for making sure customers are listened to and treated well – knowing what’s important to customers enables organisations to deliver value for money services.
Away from work, Rachel’s interests include ballroom dancing, glass art, walking her two dogs, and spending time with her family.
Q&A with Rachel
If you could choose a superpower, what would it be?
X-ray vision so I can always see what’s coming around the corner!
If you won the Lottery, how would you spend the money?
Take the family on an around the world holiday while I decided what to spend what was left.
Who inspires you?
My youngest child, Alex. They’ve faced a lot of challenges to be who they want to be whilst teaching maths to teenagers!
Russell Thompson FCIOB – Interim Executive Director of Property Services
With his roots firmly in property maintenance, Russell’s understanding of the sector, from strategic to granular, encompasses repairs and maintenance and DLOs, asset management, building safety, compliance, bidding, disposals and acquisitions. Russell has operated at Executive level for the last 20 years and has helped a number of organisations grow and succeed in delivering excellent services to customers. Russell’s number one passion is seeing people and teams grow and develop in their roles, and he prioritises making a difference, supported through official and non-formalised coaching and mentoring. Russell is known for his ability to help organisations transform through collaborative working and talent acquisition, personal development, and succession planning strategies. Russell is Chair of Direct Works and is a non-executive board member of Prosper a North East Procurement Consultancy.