Lynn Wassell has stood down as chair of the board at River Clyde Homes (RCH) and has been replaced by vice-chair Albert Henderson MBE.

The move was made at the Inverclyde housing association’s Annual General Meeting last week.

Albert is a former corporate director of education, communities and organisational development at Inverclyde Council.

Jillian Moffat was appointed as vice-chair. She is a business professional with specialist expertise in organisational development, human resource management, strategy and business planning and change management. She has worked with Scottish Enterprise for almost 20 years.

Albert Henderson said: “I was delighted to be appointed chair of the RCH board at our AGM on Tuesday 29th of September. For the last year I have worked as vice chair alongside Lynn, our outgoing chair, and it has been a real privilege to have had that opportunity and I would like to commend Lynn for the terrific job she has done and thank her for all the support she has given me.

“I am really looking forward to my role as chair and will be ably supported by Jillian Moffat. I am also fortunate to be part of an extremely able and effective board who along with the chief executive and senior management team are ambitious to see the organisation continue to grow and build on the successes achieved to date.

“It is an exciting and challenging time for RCH with major regeneration projects underway and a transformation programme which will have a major impact on our culture and the way we deliver services in the future. I am looking forward to these challenges and helping our organisation to grow and develop.”

Lynn Wassell said: “I am proud to have been chair of an organisation that has made significant improvements in recent years. River Clyde Homes puts customers at the heart of everything it does and has staff who are dedicated to delivering a first class service.”

She added: “Customers deserve the best possible standards of service and action is being taken to rethink the way some services are delivered.”

With improving performance in key areas following the introduction of a number of specialist services last year River Clyde Homes is now looking towards a radical shake-up of its structures through a Total Transformation Programme to better meet the aspirations of customers.

Chief executive Kevin Scarlett said: “There are still a number of areas where we are underperforming against the Scottish average and these must be addressed. Although performance is improved in many areas of our Property Care repairs service, we’re looking at the ways we do things there to be even more efficient and customer focussed.”

In a presentation, Kevin talked about some of the key highlights in this year’s Annual Return on the Charter, which will soon be delivered to all customers.

It showed:

At an EGM held afterwards changes to the articles of association were ratified. The main change is a reduction in the number of board members from 15 to 12 (but with the option of co-opting three further members). The make up of the board will change to ensure a stronger focus on skills and experience and board members can now serve for up to a maximum of nine years. New arrangements for the customer scrutiny panel were formally recognised, setting out how customers can help shape the services RCH delivers and a Joint Code of Conduct for members, staff and involved customers was approved.

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