Board of management

Bob became Chair of Horizon Board on 10 October 2019. Bob has worked in Social Housing for 40 years, with his experience covering Local Authorities (both urban and rural), New Towns, and Housing Associations. Bob has been a member of Horizon's Board since March 2015.

Jill Pritchard is Vice Chair of Horizon Housing Association. She is an Occupational Therapist specialising in Housing issues & also a Workplace Change Consultant supporting the transition to Smarter Hybrid Working. After over 30 years in local government, she moved to the Joint Improvement Team in Scottish Government & subsequently continued supporting Health, Housing & Social Care partnerships via the iHub within Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

She now works independently, supporting improvements in the delivery of adaptations, housing solutions & place based interventions at operational & strategic levels within local partnerships, promoting best use of Occupational Therapy & wider staffing resources to produce better outcomes for people. She was on the steering group for the revised ‘Adaptations without Delay’ guidance, and is passionate about mainstreaming inclusive design and inclusive living.

She is currently the Scotland rep for the RCOT Specialist Section in Housing and also the Housing LIN Scotland Coordinator. Jill joined Horizon in 2010.

Frances' early career was as a housing professional, holding senior roles in housing associations and local government. Later she joined the Scottish Government where she led policy and programmes in community care, health improvement, community safety, housing and regeneration, social inclusion, and welfare reform.

She retired from her role of Deputy Director, Employability and Tackling Poverty in 2012. Frances now spends her time on voluntary and paid work in sport and fitness, and on wider public service. She was a Board member of sportscotland, the national agency for sport, from 2013 – 2022.  She is a member of the First Tier Tribunal for Scotland Housing and Property Chamber.  She enjoys running and coaching athletics, and is Head Coach and a Trustee of her local athletics club. She has been a member of Horizon Housing Association since 1993.

Elaine is Head of Governance and Transformation at Hanover Housing Association and joined our Board in August 2024. Elaine brings a wealth of social housing knowledge to our Board from over 20 years experience of working in local authorities and housing associations. Elaine has a keen interest in supporting people to access the right housing for their needs and is a champion of providing excellent customer service to tenants. 

 

 

Chris, a disability activist from East Renfrewshire, joined Horizon's Board in September 2013. He is also a Board member of Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living (GCIL).

Dougie has been a Board member with Horizon since September 2014 and brings with him vast experience of disability rights. Dougie is also a tenant of the association. 

Rachael started her career as a research fellow with interests in attitudes to ageing, disabling pain in older adults and how to assess pain in people with dementia. Later she joined the Centre for Ageing Better as Senior Programme Manager, an independent charitable foundation working to help everybody enjoy a good later life, leading on their programme on ‘Safe and Accessible Homes’.

Rachael is now Programme Manager at the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership where she leads on two programmes of work in the newly formed Transformation team, to support a rethink of how health and social care is delivered across the city. Rachael is passionate about ageing, housing and health and ensuring that more people lead longer and healthier lives, in the homes and communities they choose.

Rachael joined the Board in December 2020.

Ian joined the Board in February 2022. He is a qualified accountant with over 30 years post-qualifying experience working at a senior finance director level across a number of 3rd sector and not for profit organisations delivering strategic solutions and helping these organisations deliver their strategic priorities and plans.

Most recently, he was the Director of Finance at a major Scottish children’s charity for four years and is now enjoying his retirement and spending more time in the garden. 

Ian was appointed Convener of Audit Sub-Committee in May 2024.

Dr Dianne-Dominique Theakstone is a research fellow on the Intersectional Stigma and Place-based Aging (ISPA) project. She is based at the University of Stirling in the department of Social Sciences. Dianne qualified as a social worker in 2022, before which her background in social care and housing research focused upon coproduction methods involving disabled people. For example, her work on My Support My Choice: Peoples Experiences of Self-directed Support and Social Care in Scotland (2020) helped inform the development of new social work practice standards by Social Work Scotland around self-directed support.

Dianne’s lived experience of disablement drives her passion for enabling others to access independent living, particularly through her role as trustee with Sight Scotland and Sight Scotland Veterans, as well as the Community Brokerage Network.

Dianne has been a member of Horizon since 2013 and re-joined our Board in 2022.

Rowena Statt is Anderson Bell + Christie's Research and Development Director.

She is an award-winning architect who has worked in places as diverse as the Isles of Gigha and Colonsay, Craigmillar in Edinburgh and Possilpark in Glasgow.

As a consultant, she has worked for the Scottish Government, housing associations, development trusts and local authorities on housing and street design policy projects. She has a particular interest in designing accessible housing for people with physical and perceptual disabilities, and in the community-led development of inclusive intergenerational neighbourhoods. She aims to amplify the message that the ‘place’ is as important as the ‘home’ for all successful communities. She is an enthusiastic communicator of architectural and urban design issues and ideas using skills learned through working with local communities, developers, housing associations and local authorities. Rowena became a member of Horizon and joined our Board in 2023.

After a serious Road Traffic Accident Marcus was medically retired in 2000 from his job as a Biomedical Scientist working in Haematology Blood Transfusion at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

Requiring adapted housing he became a tenant of Horizon Housing Association in June 2000.

Marcus then started working with West Lothian Council in October 2001 in the customer service department within the Ability Centre in Livingston, a multi partner building designed for both disabled and able bodied residents in West Lothian. He retired from the Council at the end of June 2022 and with his spare time joined Horizon’s Resident Improvement Group (RIG), from there he joined our Board of Management in June 2023 as one of our tenant members.

 

 

 

 

Liam joined the Board in December 2023. He is a qualified accountant with over 20 years post qualification experience working at Finance Director level in a variety of sectors. Most recently, Liam has been working for organisations in the social care sector, supporting them to deliver quality care to their service users. He is currently Finance Director for Renaissance Care which is a  family-owned care group, established in 2004 and providing care and support to residents and their family, within 17 care homes throughout Scotland.

 

 

With 8 years dedicated service at Housing Options Scotland, Olivia has adeptly navigated the complexities of housing solutions as the Depute CEO. Specialising in tailored support for older people, disabled people, and members of the Armed Forces community, Olivia offers strategic leadership to deliver a much needed service. Olivia is committed to making housing advice accessible for everyone.  Olivia Joined the Board in December 2023

 

Andreas joined our Board in December 2023. Andreas is a dynamic Director and Engineer, with vast experience in the energy industry. Demonstrating a keen understanding of commercial strategy, asset management, contractual excellence, and overseeing global scale projects. 

Renowned for enhancing asset integrity management systems and refining anomaly reviews through advanced methods, Andreas has a proven track record of delivering results and driving growth