Our directors
Meet our chief executive and directors team.
Larry Gold
Larry joined us as our CEO in 2023, bringing experience of working in the private sector, local and central government, and over 20 years in the housing sector. He’s held leadership roles at the Prime Focus Regeneration Group, Walsall Housing Group, and Trafford Housing Trust where he was brought in to set the company up in 2004. Larry has a strong strategic focus and operational expertise leading across finance, governance, development, and operational business divisions.
Larry is the Chair of the South Yorkshire Housing Partnership, and is also an NED at Arawak Walton Housing Association and Deputy Chair at Rochdale Boroughwide Housing. He has previously held NED roles with small animal welfare charities.
Darren Briscoe
Darren is our Executive Director of Finance and Development.
Darren has over 20 years’ experience working in housing finance, working for a number of different organisations including Trafford Housing Trust and L&Q.
Michael Cleaver
Michael is our Interim Director of Property Services, and has over 20 years experience in senior management positions in social housing. Most recently, he has been working as a consultancy director for specialist repairs and maintenance consultancy 4i Solutions.
Claire Matthews
Claire is our Interim Director of Corporate Services, which includes governance, HR, IT, marketing and communications, procurement, and business change and analytics. Claire has been part of South Yorkshire Housing Association since 2007, and has held a variety of roles across LiveWell, business development and corporate services. This gives her a broad understanding of the organisation and the communities we serve.
Claire has led major strategic change programmes across SYHA and is also the Executive Lead for the organisation’s transition and integration programme following the merger with Places for People – helping shape our future while keeping colleagues and customers at the heart of change.
Our Board
Our Board of non-executive directors bring a wealth of experience and knowledge from their different backgrounds. They work with us to hold the organisation to account, to ensure that we are operating effectively, and help us to achieve our purpose.
Find out more about our Board members.
Matt Harrison (Chair)
Kay Dickinson (Vice Chair)
David Smith
Karen Featherstone
Maggie Gjessing
Pam Hankinson (Member Responsible for Complaints)
Sharron Dyett
Steve Ashton
Uday Bola
Will Pritchard
