Ade Alao
Ade Alao
Board Member
Incommunities Limited Board Member
Ade is Head of Real Estates Major Projects at the Department of Work and Pensions and has over 25 years’ experience in property, regeneration, housing, and local economic development.
He is a trustee of the Architectural Heritage Fund, the UK’s largest social investor in creating new futures for historic buildings, and previously held Non Executive Director (NED) appointments as Chair of Northwards Housing and Vice-Chair of Salix Homes.
Steve Close - Chair
Steve Close
Chair
Steve is currently chair of Incommunities’ Board and has worked in housing for over 40 years, including 30 years as a chief executive.
He is committed to the provision of affordable housing and support for people in need and has a range of experience including leadership, strategic planning, change management, team building, delivering results, and innovation. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and has an MBA from Leeds University Business School.
Steve recently retired as chief executive of Together Housing which managed over 38,00 homes across the north of England and the Midlands.
He has experience of Board membership at a number of organisations including a BME association and has been an appointee a mainstream association and supported housing provider.
Julie Lawreniuk
Julie Lawreniuk
Board Member
Julie was born and educated in Bradford and lives in the city. Julie has a Masters degree in Finance and Accountancy and is a qualified accountant. She joined Incommunities as a board member in September 2019 after retiring from her role as Deputy Chief Officer/Chief Finance Officer for the three NHS Bradford District and Craven Clinical Commissioning Groups.
Julie brings a wealth of experience of working across the Bradford system and is passionate about improving housing and lives in our local community and surrounding areas.
Julie is also a non-executive at Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust and is non-executive chair of the Bradford District and Craven Partnership Finance and Performance Committee.
John Longbottom
John Longbottom
Board Member
John has a background in retail and corporate banking. He has worked as a Branch Manager, Commercial and Corporate Relationship Manager and the last 10 years of his career were based in the bank’s turnaround department working with corporate customers experiencing trading difficulties.
John’s involvement with social housing predates his retirement and prior to his appointment with Incommunities he worked with two other associations as a NED on Group Board and Audit and Development Committees.
He is very committed to social housing and considers himself a critical friend of Incommunities and its endeavours to be a provider of quality homes to its customers.
Cath Owston
Cath Owston
Board Member
Cath Owston has worked in the housing sector for over thirty years holding a variety of senior leadership positions across the North-West and Yorkshire. Most recently, she was Executive Director of Customer Experience at Yorkshire Housing where she was responsible for a wide portfolio of customer service teams.
Cath is passionate to ensure a strong leadership vision is combined with effective customer engagement and insight to improve customer experience. She is an experienced NED and qualified leadership coach and NLP practitioner.
Mushtaq Ahmed-Khan
Mushtaq Ahmed-Khan
Board Member
Mushtaq is a highly regarded solicitor and former president of the Birmingham Law Society. He is head of litigation and governance at a large local authority and prior to this was in private practice, including as partner and head of department at commercial law firm Freeths. He has worked with a wide range of enterprises spanning the private, public and third sector.
Mushtaq is Chair of the Performance Committee and Board director (Non-Executive) at the West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust.
