Press release

Government appoints new Non-Executive Members to the RSH Board

Three new members set to join the RSH Board from 1 July 2021.

The Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing, Eddie Hughes MP, has appointed Geoff Smyth, Kalpesh Brahmbhatt and Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs as new Non-executive Members of the Board of the Regulator of Social Housing. 

They have been appointed for three years, commencing on 1 July 2021.

Geoff Smyth has had a thirty-year international career in technology and customer service leadership roles across multiple sectors including telecommunications, automotive and aviation. Geoff has spent time in both Australia and the United States. In the US he led Ford Motor Company’s global contact centre organisation and TeleTech’s Federal Government customer service subsidiary.

Since his return to the UK in 2011, he held the role of Chief Operating Officer at Talk Talk until 2014 and led the Post Office’s telecommunications business until 2017. He currently serves as chair of Origin Broadband and is an independent management consultant. Geoff has had a strong focus in his career on improving the customer experience and has been deeply involved in improving complaints handling in the Telecommunications sector.

Kalpesh Brahmbhatt has over twenty years’ experience of working for UK regulators in key sectors across the economy.  The sectors have ranged from communications, water, railways, energy and financial services. During that time Kalpesh has helped regulators (and ombudsman schemes) develop and implement proactive consumer policies alongside the development of regulatory strategies and change management programmes.  More recently he has been working for PwC as a Senior Consultant in their Economics and Policy Consultancy Business.

Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs is Board member and Chair of Regeneration for the London Legacy Development Corporation and has served on the Boards of the Home Group and Swan Housing Association. She held senior roles with the West Midlands Regional Development Agency, Black Country Development Corporation and English Partnerships. Sukhvinder brings expertise in consumer regulation from her work with the Cabinet Office Better Regulation Executive and Severn Trent Water. At Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, she is Vice Chair and leads Workforce and Education for their 7,000 staff. Sukhvinder is an accomplished CEO having led both Barrow Cadbury and Runnymede Trust, through major change programmes and onto success in influencing government policies on inclusion, diversity and community cohesion.

Commenting on the appointments, Simon Dow, Interim Chair of the Board at RSH said:

I am delighted to welcome Geoff, Kalpesh and Sukhvinder to the Board of the RSH; collectively they bring with them a wide range of skills and experience from a number of different backgrounds.

These appointments will support the RSH in maintaining confidence in the viability and stability of the social housing sector, and provide us with invaluable experience as we develop our proactive consumer regulation role.

Notes to editors

  • The Regulator of Social Housing promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants.

  • For more information about the Board at RSH please see the Our governance page

  • For press office contact details, see the Media enquiries page. For general queries, please email enquiries@rsh.gov.uk or call 0300 124 5225.

Updates to this page

Published 8 June 2021