Our Board Members

Nigel is an experienced housing professional with over 35 years of experience working with local authorities and housing associations across Berkshire and the south east. Originally from Newcastle, he came down to attend university in Reading before starting his career as a Building Society Manager. However, after a few years he realised that his passion was for working with local communities and in developing new affordable housing.

He has a strong commitment to Wokingham Borough, having previously been Head of Housing at the Council as well as Managing Director of Loddon Homes and Berry Brook Homes. He is now Chair of Loddon Homes and still has the same passion for working with local residents and making a real difference to their homes and neighbourhoods – a passion only matched by his love of Newcastle United football club!

Derek has 36 years' experience as a housing professional, encompassing a wide variety of executive and non-executive positions, including previous roles with the National Housing Federation and Audit Commission.

He has served as a Board member with Wokingham’s Local Housing Companies for the past seven years and is currently chair of Loddon’s Audit and Risk committee.

Annex joined the Loddon Homes Board in 2024 as an NED. Annex brings a unique perspective to the Board as she is also a resident of sister organisation Berry Brook Homes. Annex values the opportunity to contribute both her lived experience as a resident and parent and her professional insight as a caseworker for a local Member of Parliament. In her day job, Annex regularly supports constituents with housing and community issues, which gives her a clear understanding of the challenges residents face.

Being part of the board allows her to bring a lived perspective into strategic discussions and decision-making, helping ensure that decisions reflect the real needs of residents. Annex is particularly motivated to support the development of safe, stable and well-managed communities for families like her own and for others across the organisation.

As well as being an NED for Loddon Homes, Mark works for Wokingham Borough Council as the authority's Chief Accountant. He has been at the Council for 20 years in a variety of finance roles, gaining valuable experience across many areas of local government. Throughout that time, he has seen first hand the importance of the services the Council provides for residents, particularly in supporting access to affordable housing.

Throughout Mark’s own professional journey, he has observed as Loddon Homes has grown in its partnership with the Council, and is proud to support that journey as an NED. He enjoys working with a committed and motivated team who are passionate about delivering much-needed affordable homes for local communities.

Darren is a highly experienced housing leader and Board member with more than 30 years’ experience across local government, housing associations and the wider public sector. He has held executive, managing director, chief executive and director-level roles, leading large-scale housing, regeneration, placemaking and transformation programmes for organisations including Wokingham Borough Council, Brighton & Hove City Council, Newham Council, Riverside, Network Homes and CityWest Homes.

Renowned for delivering organisational change, service improvement and cultural transformation, Darren has successfully overseen multi-million-pound housing, development and regeneration programmes, strengthened governance and regulatory performance, and improved customer outcomes across complex organisations. Alongside his executive career, he has over 18 years’ experience as an NED, bringing extensive expertise in leadership, strategy, governance and housing sector transformation.

Matt joined the Loddon Homes Board in June 2026, bringing almost three decades of experience with Wokingham Borough Council and a strong track record of service transformation, strategic leadership and governance. Having joined the Council in 1998 as a newly qualified social worker, Matt has held a wide range of leadership roles across adult social care, housing, programme management and corporate services, including responsibility for housing options for people requiring adult social care support and leadership of the Council’s IT function.

Following a year in the private sector, he returned to Wokingham in 2019 as Director of Adult Services, where he led a major improvement programme that established the service as one of the highest-performing adult social care departments in the country, recognised for both regulatory performance and value for money.

Matt was part of the founding team that established Optalis, the Council’s Local Authority Trading Company, in 2011 and rejoined its Board as a Director in 2019. This experience has given him a strong appreciation of the value that local authority-owned companies can bring, together with a detailed understanding of the governance and leadership required to make them successful. In addition to his responsibilities for Adult Services, Matt took on leadership of Children’s Services in 2023 and Housing Services in 2026.