2 June, 2020
St Mungo’s has announced a new Chief Executive today.
Steve Douglas, pictured above, will join the charity on 1 July, taking over from Howard Sinclair who last year announced his plans to step down.
Robert Napier, chair of the Board of Trustees, announced the appointment this week after a rigorous selection process. He said: “I am delighted to be welcoming Steve at what is a critical time in the homelessness sector. Steve brings with him a huge wealth of experience relevant to our mission to ensure that everyone has a place to call home and can fulfil their hopes and ambitions.”
Mr Douglas, who was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2019 for his service to housing, said he was honoured to take on the leadership of the charity at such a crucial time. He said: “I look forward to working with the Board, the Client Advisory Board and great staff and volunteers at this important charity. I will also look forward to working with central government and notably with the Ministerial Advisory Group on Rough Sleeping and Dame Louise Casey in her current role, a range of strong partners at regional and local government level, and the many committed and dedicated partners in homelessness charities, to tackle the scourge of homelessness. For people who have slept rough I particularly want to champion the ambition of St Mungo’s ‘No Going Back’ and ‘Home for Good’ campaigns.”
Mr Napier added his thanks to the outgoing incumbent. “Howard has been outstanding in leading the organisation and I thank him for the role he has played at St Mungo’s, and indeed before that with his many years working in the homelessness and charitable sector. His commitment to the cause of homelessness and his passionate belief and leadership have been integral to making St Mungo’s the organisation it is today. We thank him for all he has done as he steps down at the end of June with our very best wishes for the future.”
Notes to editors:
Interviews: Interviews with Mr Douglas can be arranged for when he has started in post after 1 July. Interview before this will not be able to be facilitated. Please contact us at press.office@mungos.org if you would like to arrange these in advance.
Brief biography of Mr Douglas:
Steve Douglas most recently served as the Group Chief Executive Officer with Aquila Services, a consultancy group advising housing associations as well as central and local government. Prior to that he held director and Chief Executive positions in a number of housing related roles which also included funding provision of homelessness services. He has been Chief Executive of the Housing Corporation, and interim corporate director of Neighborhoods and Regeneration for the London Borough of Hackney. Steve has also held a wide range of non-executive roles. Most recently he has been Chair of One Housing Group.
He has led or supported many initiatives and activities including:
- First Chief Executive role at Spitalfields HA – based in East London
- Overseeing £8.4bn investment programme, delivering 155,000 homes whilst Chief Executive at the Housing Corporation and regulating England’s 1,500 housing associations
- Vice Chair and Board Member at Amicus Horizon and then Optivo for nine years
- Executive Regeneration Director at LB Hackney in run up to Olympics 2012
- One of four founding Partners at Altair, the leading housing and regeneration consultancy
- Working closely with L&Q, Optivo and the BME London to set up the Leadership 2025 initiative – with the purpose of empowering senior BME professionals to become leaders of the future
Follow on Twitter @SteveDouglasCBE
