Richard Blakeway has been appointed as housing ombudsman, beginning his role on 2 September.
He has extensive experience in the housing sector where he was deputy mayor for housing, land and property at the Greater London Authority for eight years and chair of the Homes for London board, as well as an adviser in the Number 10 policy unit.
Previously he was chair of a local authority development company and a non-executive director of Homes England for nearly three years.
Blakeway is joining the Housing Ombudsman Service at a time when redress in social housing is a key issue, and the service has developed a three-year strategy with the aim of ‘making a difference on individual complaints and across the sector’.
Blakeway (pictured) said: “This is an exciting time to be joining the Housing Ombudsman Service. I am keen to build on our work to strengthen our service and create a positive culture around redress.”
He is taking over from Andrea Keenoy, who had held the role of interim housing ombudsman since August 2018.
Shekina is the deputy editor at Mortgage Solutions and commercial editor at Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions. She has nearly eight years of experience in the B2B publishing market, having previously covered the hospitality, retail, pet, accounting and jewellery sectors.
Shekina has worked for Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions for almost five years. Here, she covers the market’s breaking news stories, engages with professionals in the sector, and oversees any commercially agreed content in partnership with mortgage-related companies.
This includes presenting webinars and hosting roundtable discussions on developing themes in the mortgage sector.
She is an NCTJ-trained journalist and was nominated for the Headline Money Awards Mortgage Journalist of the Year in 2021.
In her spare time, Shekina likes to read, travel, listen to music and socialise with friends.
She currently reports on current events in the mortgage market and liaises with financial clients to produce sponsored content.
Follow her on Twitter at @ShekinaMS