Our board

July 2017 to June 2025 (2nd term)

George is an experienced Chair, Non-Executive Director and Corporate Executive. Over his corporate career he worked in the pharmaceutical industry and latterly the fund management business. George has worked in the U.K. and extensively overseas, living and working overseas for many years prior to returning to Edinburgh. George served as Interim Chair of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.  He was a Non-Executive Director for NHS Lothian where he Chaired the Finance and Resources Committee overseeing financial governance. He Chaired the Integration Joint Board, for health and social care integration in Edinburgh, in its set up phase. He has long supported Charitable organisations in the UK and overseas. He is a passionate supporter of the need for high quality social housing. He believes that good and effective regulation can support this key sector and importantly help to deliver stronger outcomes for tenants.  George is also a non-executive board member with the Pensions Regulator.

George Walker - declaration of interests

July 2017 to June 2025 (2nd term)

Andrew is a corporate finance adviser. He is also  a Non-Executive Director of Dundee Student Villages and West Park Centre Ltd.  Previously he was managing partner with QMPF LLP, an Edinburgh based advisory business focused on education, renewables and social infrastructure. Before joining the SHR Board, Andrew was convenor of Berwickshire Housing Association and also served as Chair of its Finance Committee.  In addition to over 35 years of corporate finance and banking experience, Andrew brings his knowledge of the social housing sector, financing and corporate governance to the Board.

Andrew Watson - declaration of interests 

July 2017 to June 2025 (2nd term)

Siobhan is a Senior Lecturer within the Department of Law, Economics, Accountancy & Risk at Glasgow Caledonian University and has teaching interests and expertise in a variety of under-graduate, post-graduate and professional programmes. Siobhan specialises in the subject areas of public sector accounting and internal/external auditing, and public sector financial management, having previous work experience as a government auditor. Siobhan is actively involved in researching all of the above topics and has presented and published a range of papers in these areas, both in the UK and overseas. Siobhan is also a Chartered Public Finance Accountant, a previous Non-Executive Director of West of Scotland Housing Association/Chair of their Audit Committee, the previous Chair of the Audit & Governance Panel at South Ayrshire Council, a past national examiner for CIPFA/ACCA, and sits in an advisory capacity on governance and scrutiny to many public sector organisations. Siobhan has taught, and continues to teach, on a variety of courses and consultancy projects for professional accountancy institutes and bodies, and for overseas Governments.

Siobhan White - declaration of interests 

July 2017 to June 2023 (2nd term)

Robert is a qualified public sector (IPFA) accountant with over 25 years’ experience in the public sector. He is currently a freelance project management consultant and is on the Board of Trustees of the charity Start Up Stirling.  Robert has experience of senior management positions in Local Government, in both finance and property and project management. Robert has spent eight years on the board of management of Forth Valley College, including six years as chair of the Audit Committee. In 2019 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Forth Valley College. He has also worked as a Business Support Manager for Raploch Urban Regeneration Company and for FESFM a facilities management company. 

Robert Gil - declaration of interests 

1 April 2019 to 30 March 2023 (1st term)

Helen has always had a strong interest in social housing, stemming from her family’s journey from the Gorbals clearance to Castlemilk high & low rise, to the new town of East Kilbride. Her own housing journey has taken her full circle through all housing tenures due to changes in life circumstances. Helen has a deep understanding of the importance of good quality social housing on peoples physical & mental health and their ability to take up opportunities in life. As well as seeing this first hand, through her own experience and years of working in tenancy support with vulnerable young people, she’s also researched the links whilst studying MA (honours) Social Policy at the University of Glasgow. Helen has a varied work experience including Parliamentary briefing, Charity donor relations, youth support work and spent 7 years living in Rio de Janeiro where she worked as a teacher, academic coordinator, textbook editor and contributing reporter to the Rio Times. Throughout all her work, Helen strives to focus on social inclusion, openness, empowerment and equality. She is a local authority tenant and mother to two young sons.

Helen Trouten Torres - declaration of interests

1 April 2019 to 30 March 2023 (1st term)

Colin became involved in the Social Housing Sector in 2012 when he moved back to Aberdeen after living in London for 26 years. Colin was a member of the inaugural Citizens Council, a committee set up in 2002 by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to provide a public perspective on overarching moral and ethical issues. Since returning to Aberdeen he has been involved with several tenant groups including being chair of CaRTO (Castlehill’s Registered Tenants Organisation), a member of NETRALT (North East Tenants, Residents and Landlords Together) and Chair of North of Scotland Regional Network (Region 1). Previously he was on the Board of Directors for Castlehill Housing Association, standing on their Housing & Property Services and Finance & Development sub-committees. Colin is Chair and co-founder of Our Positive Voice a forum providing support to people living with and affected by HIV.

Colin Stewart - declaration of interests 

1 April 2019 to 30 March 2023 (1st term)

Ewan started his professional life in the private sector as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor working on an interesting range of projects. In 1983, after several years in private sector construction Ewan joined Castle Rock HA as Development Manager. Following restructuring of a group of smaller organisations Dunedin HA was formed with Ewan as the first Director. Dunedin merged with Canmore in 2005 with Ewan as Chief Executive, a role he held until his retirement at the end of 2016. During his 33 years in the social housing sector Ewan was a member of the Board of the SFHA for a number of years and also a Board member of Social Enterprise Scotland. The experience gained over these year was wide ranging and this included a direct involvement in Dunedin Canmore joining the Wheatley Group. It is the changing and evolving face of housing , the challenges of governance and the desperate need for more good quality affordable housing in a well regulated affordable housing sector that continues to hold his interest. Ewan will bring his experience in affordable housing, development, governance and change management to the Board.

Ewan Fraser - declaration of interests 

2021 - 2025 (1st term)

Marieke graduated in Law from Utrecht University in The Netherlands, and her career in Scotland spans 30 years in the public and voluntary sector in a wide range of roles. She was Director of Consumer Focus Scotland, and a member of the team that established the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.  She has held positions in the Scottish Government, where amongst other things she worked on Access to Justice issues, prior to which she was Depute Director at Shelter Scotland. She started her career in Scotland at Citizens Advice Scotland. Marieke was a member of the board of Hillcrest Housing Association for a number of years.  Marieke brings expertise in regulation, in corporate governance and in leading and overseeing organisational change.    Marieke is also a Non-Executive member with Scottish Legal Aid Board and  NHS 24. She is Chair of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and she is a member of the Integrity Committee for Food Integrity Assurance Ltd  and a lay assistant for the Judicial Appointments Board Scotland. 

Marieke Dwarshuis - Declaration of interests 

2021 - 2025 (1st term)

Lindsay is a practising Scottish solicitor who has spent her career assisting vulnerable people with various aspects of social welfare law. She is Head of the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s Civil Legal Assistance Office (CLAO) in Edinburgh where, as well as being responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the Edinburgh Office, she advises and represents tenants and those experiencing homelessness with various aspects of housing law. Prior to this Lindsay worked for the CLAO in Inverness where her role involved travelling throughout the Highlands and Islands to assist and represent people with civil legal problems- again with a particular focus on housing law.

Lindsay previously spent over a decade working in law centres in Glasgow both as a solicitor and money advisor including several years in a role with a focus on enforcing the housing rights of the BME community. Lindsay was also one of two solicitors directly employed by a consortium of Citizens Advice bureaux in Glasgow to set up and deliver a project to deliver legal advice and representation to CAB clients in the first project of its kind in Scotland.

As well as being a passionate defender of housing rights Lindsay has an interest in Equality and Human rights issues and obtained a masters degree in research in Equality and Human rights in 2015.

Lindsay Paterson- declaration of interests