Mathew founded Echelon Consultancy in 2005, followed several years later by Pretium Frameworks, Echelon Improvement Partnerships and more recently Quantum Training and joint venture E2EX.  

He has over 28 years’ experience in the development and delivery of asset management and associated projects within the affordable housing sector as a client, contractor, and consultant. 

He blends his entrepreneurial role of developing the Echelon Group, with an active project lead role within Echelon Consultancy, maintaining an intimate knowledge of the issues facing the sector and remaining accessible to clients. 

He has built a reputation for developing innovative delivery models and goes out into the sector to share best practice, speaking regularly at industry events and delivering training. Mathew devotes much of his spare time to housing-related causes, as a trustee of the Construction Youth Trust, and Herts Young Homeless, which focuses on preventing homelessness. 

Denise joined Phoenix Community Housing as Chief Executive in February 2022. She was previously the Chief Executive of Women’s Pioneer Housing and before that was the Housing Ombudsman for England. In her earlier career she held a number of senior legal positions in government. Denise grew up in south London and continues to live locally. She is passionate about Phoenix’s resident-led model and determined to ensure that we work together to build a better future for our community. Denise is the co-founder of the Women’s Housing Forum, which seeks to raise awareness of the links between women’s housing needs and gender inequality. 

Judy Hegarty is Managing Director of Fortem, a specialist integrated asset and property solutions provider working solely in the social housing sector. Judy joined Fortem in 2007 after working at Willmott Dixon, progressing through senior finance and leadership roles before becoming Managing Director in 2025. She is focused on responsible growth for Fortem across its core workstreams of repairs and maintenance, capital works, building safety and retrofit, but more importantly, on understanding and embedding the resident experience and voice into Fortem’s services. Earlier this year, she proudly launched the Customer Partnership Board, demonstrating her commitment to ensuring residents help shape service delivery. 

Mark is Senior Partner at Devonshires and leads the Construction, Engineering and Procurement team. Mark specialises in dispute resolution work which involves litigation in the Technology and Construction Court, adjudication and arbitration. Mark advises clients on all aspects of procurement law and regularly acts for contracting authorities and economic operators in procurement disputes. Mark also advises on the significant changes in law and practice brought about by the Building Safety Act and its attendant regulations including the Building Regulations and fire safety regulation. He also has experience advising clients on health and safety law and assists with accident investigations, prosecutions and drafting health and safety policies and procedures. Mark is ranked as a leading construction lawyer and in recent editions of the legal directories has been described as “extremely knowledgeable and reassuringly experienced”. 

Aaron is responsible for the day-to-day running and strategic direction of Echelon Consultancy, working alongside group CEO Mathew Baxter, and directors Sharon Hunt and Jessica John to lead the Echelon Group. 

Aaron, who has over 20 years’ experience in asset and facilities management as a client, contractor, and consultant, has a diverse role across the operational aspect of the business, leading project teams on options appraisals, business review and transformation projects, and procurement processes. 

He has led on the procurement of a wide range of works, services and supplies related to managing assets and estates; both under long-term strategic arrangements and short-term emergency contracts.  

He conducts reviews of operational delivery models, with a view to moulding them into procurement models and supports organisations through change management and service improvement programmes. Aaron is also a certified Thomas International Practitioner. 

Jess leads on the strategic direction of Echelon Group business Pretium Frameworks. 

Founded in 2015, it manages an ever-growing suite of frameworks, two of which are in their third generation, on behalf of various housing provider Contracting Authorities.  

These cover services including fleet services, building and fire safety, consultancy services, decarbonisation delivery, materials supply and managed services, and all stages of the development process. 

Jess also manages Pretium’s development pipeline to ensure that the business continues to grow and add there are plans in the pipeline to launch two new frameworks this year, and several more across 2026. 

She works closely with Contracting Authorities, clients and suppliers acting as a bridge between all three parties, helping to develop strong relationships, supporting clients to secure compliant procurement routes and ensuring that the frameworks deliver for all parties

Jenny Osbourne is Chief Executive at Tpas – the tenant engagement experts – and has been in this role since 2014. Her previous role was Head of Corporate Services with specific responsibility for membership and governance matters. 

She is an English Graduate from Leeds University. Prior to working for Tpas Jenny worked for the Post Office on their management programme in the branch network. 

Jenny sits on various steering groups and panels across MHCLG, Regulator of Social Housing and others across the sector. 

Jenny is passionate about the tenant engagement agenda and is a strong advocate for effective partnership working between tenants, providers, contractors and government. 

Nikkie Pullen is Head of Organisational Development at Abri, one of the UK’s largest housing associations. 

She leads work on organisational development, leadership capability, professional standards and workforce development, helping ensure colleagues have the skills, knowledge, behaviours and experience needed to deliver excellent services to residents. 

Nikkie has led Abri’s preparation for the Competence and Conduct Standard, including the development of professionalism policies, assurance arrangements and sector-leading approaches to workforce capability. A recognised voice on professionalism in housing, she regularly shares practical insights on embedding culture, competence and customer-focused behaviours across organisations. 

Gavin joined the board of Phoenix Community Housing in 2023 after becoming an involved resident and studying with the Phoenix Academy. He was appointed as Chair in October 2026. After gaining in-depth knowledge of the sector through Phoenix’s school of social housing, where he is studying for a Chartered Institute of Housing Level 5 qualification, Gavin has found his passion for resident voice and engagement. As an advocate of Phoenix’s resident-led model, Gavin is keen to see similar approaches adopted across the sector. 

Following his studies at Northumbria University, Cameron has built four years of experience within the social housing retrofit sector, initially working for a principal contractor before joining Anchor Housing.

He is passionate about making a positive difference for Anchor’s residents, the environment, and the wider retrofit sector. Through leading the technical delivery of retrofit projects, he aims to reduce residents’ energy bills and carbon emissions while improving the energy efficiency and performance of their homes.

He particularly enjoys the detailed and varied nature of retrofit, which provides opportunities to collaborate with a wide range of key stakeholders and tackle new and interesting challenges each day.