A passionate social housing professional and current chair of the CIH North East Regional Board, James has a proven track record of providing strategic leadership in the development and delivery of corporate objectives and of leading a large in-house team.

Susan McDonald, Kingdom Group executive director of operations, said: “James is keenly focused on delivering an exceptional customer experience and I’m thrilled to welcome him to the Kingdom Group. We have ambitious plans to develop around 2,000 new affordable homes over the next five years and an existing stock of over 7,000 homes to manage.

“Our customers rightly expect the highest level of service when it comes to maintaining their homes, and James’ experience will help us achieve that as we deliver our mission to provide more than a home.”

In his role as asset management director, James has overall responsibility for the delivery of high-quality asset management and technical services related to all Kingdom assets, including housing, offices and facilities, repairs, cyclical and planned maintenance, improvement programmes, regulatory compliance and risk management.

Speaking about his new role, James said: “I am incredibly excited to join the Kingdom Group at this phase of the organisation’s journey. There has been lots of fantastic work undertaken, and there is a clear culture of progression and customer focus across the organisation.

“I have a strong sense of social purpose and believe housing associations can have a real impact on the lives and communities in which they operate. I will bring my own style of collaborative and empowering leadership alongside enthusiasm and passion to best support colleagues to deliver a fantastic service for Kingdom customers.”