Bjorn Howard

Executive director, Group CEO

Bjorn became Aster’s Group CEO in 2009 having previously been the chief executive of a smaller housing association and worked in several other senior roles. Since then, Aster’s housing business has doubled to nearly 38,000 homes and has expanded its geographical footprint across southern England and London.

He has worked in the independent housing, care and support sectors for more than 35 years and has extensive board-level experience in both executive and non-executive roles. He has served as a non-executive director for an NHS Trust, educational organisations, regeneration boards and as a government appointee to a housing association.  Bjorn is a passionate advocate for Customer Voice, inclusive organisational cultures and the not-for-dividend business model.

Bjorn holds a Master’s degree in management and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and Chartered Management Institute. He is also a member of the Institute of Directors.

Committee Membership:

Customer Voice Committee

Stephen Trusler

Group chairman

Stephen brings 40 years of executive and board experience, from operating across the UK housing & construction sector, having held numerous senior positions including, at Lovell, Alfred McAlpine, Wates and Laing O’Rourke.

He also brings over 14 years of Non-Executive Director, Strategic Advisor and Trustee expertise through organisations such as Sage Housing and the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Stephen currently is a Non-Executive Director at Cavanna Group, the South West’s largest independent housebuilder and a Strategic Advisor to the CEO & Board at Turley Consultancy, an employee owned, UK Planning Consultancy.

A long-standing ambassador for the housing sector, Stephen has regularly participated in government roundtables debates and industry think tanks and conferences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Stephen, was appointed as Chair in November 2023, having previously served on the Group’s Board between 2014 and 2019, during which time he chaired its Remunerations and Nominations Committee.

Committee Membership: Group People & Culture Committee

Mehul Desai

Non-executive director

Mehul is currently the Global Head of Resilience for HSBC. In his role, he leads the development and execution of the Bank’s resilience strategy, ensuring the Bank can effectively respond to and recover from disruptions. With a focus on protecting customers and maintaining market stability, Mehul is driving the embedding of resilience into day-to-day operations, overseeing regulatory engagement, and leading Board related communications.

Prior to this role, Mehul was the Chief of Staff to the UK Chief Operating Officer where he was accountable for delivering on priorities such as developing and implementing the firm’s technology strategy, prioritising investment areas, and engaging the UK Board on key technology and operational areas.

Mehul has also held various transformation roles, leading on digital transformation programs to improve customer experience, automating manual processes, and achieving sustainable cost savings.

Mehul holds a Bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Albany and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Cambridge. He resides in London with his wife and son.

Committee Membership:

Group People & Culture Committee

Chris Benn

Chief Financial Officer

Chris joined Aster in 2014, bringing with him extensive experience from the commercial sector.

Chris has executive responsibility for Finance, Treasury, Finance and Business Planning, the Group’s Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and the Group’s insurance and pension arrangements.

Before Aster, Chris held senior finance positions at Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC and Regus PLC. At Euromoney he ensured the finance team were able to support the five-fold profit increase of the Group from both organic growth, and through acquisitions, including the acquisition of a fellow FTSE-250 listed Group. At Regus Chris was involved in the IPO and floatation of Regus’ shares on both the FTSE and NASDAQ indices.

Chris qualified as a chartered accountant at Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in 1994.

Mat Cooling

Non-executive director

Mat qualified as a CIPFA accountant in 2012 whilst working with a Top 10 accounting firm providing Governance, Risk and Assurance services to a wide variety of public and private organisations. Since then Mat has taken on management and leadership roles across a wide variety of large FTSE, Government bodies and financial services, organisations within internal audit, risk and assurance. He is currently the Director of Risk and Assurance for a leading University in the South East. In his spare time Mat is a trainer for CIPFA and the IIA.

In 2022 Mat was appointed as a trustee to the Aster Foundation charity.

Committee Membership:

Group Risk & Assurance Committee

Group Treasury & Finance Committee

Amanda Williams

Chief Investment Officer

Amanda has over 30 years’ experience in development, marketing and asset management for registered social landlords, joining Aster Group in 2012. She was previously director of business development at Synergy, prior to the merger with Aster and drove the strategic direction of the association’s new-build development activity, including becoming an independent preferred investment partner.

Before Aster, Amanda was head of development for Sanctuary Housing Group for London and the South East, and an associate director of Adams Integra, a consultancy specialising in housing development and planning. She was also director of development services for Apex Housing (now A2Dominion) for nine years where she was responsible for growing a mixed development programme from scratch to over 1,000 units per year.

Amanda is the executive lead for Development, Asset Management, Property Investment and Delivery. Aster’s Development programme delivers homes for social rent, affordable rent, and shared ownership. The Group plans to invest £1.6 billion to achieve its long-term target of delivering 7,000 homes over the next seven years.

Nicola Frayne

Non-executive director

After graduating from Manchester University with a BSc Hons in Chemistry, Nicola's early executive career was in Hospitality where she held a number of senior Operations and HR roles at both Allied Domecq plc and Yum! Brands.

After completing a master’s degree, in Human Resources Management, she spent the next decade in transformational Chief People Officer roles, predominantly in customer-focused organisations within the private sector.

From 2011-2013 she served as Group HR Director at The UNITE Group plc, a FTSE 100 Property management and development company and took on her first Non-Exec Director role in 2017. Nicola runs her own Consultancy Practice focused on Executive Coaching and Leadership Team Effectiveness.

She is a Non-Exec Director, SID and Chair of the Strategic People committee at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Committee Membership:

Group People & Culture Committee

Michael McCullen

Non-executive director

Michael is an accomplished CEO, Chairman and technology entrepreneur with over 30-years’ leadership experience in private, public and venture backed businesses specialising in technology for the built environment.

Michael was a co-founder and Managing Director of  the UK’s most successful project management software business for the construction industry, which he grew and led to exit in 2006. He is a former Group Board Director of an AIM listed technology business and was CEO of its international construction software and services business for over eight years and he was EVP of the UK’s biggest independent construction software business for over 2 years.

He has extensive overseas experience having led construction technology businesses in Sweden and Germany and established international distribution in Australia, Europe and the USA.  He has completed a number of international acquisitions.

Michael started his own consultancy practice in 2015 working as an independent director and consultant advising businesses and private equity firms on investment in technology.

He holds a Computer Science degree (Manchester) and an MBA (Warwick).

Committee Membership:

Group Risk & Assurance Committee

Chair Group People & Culture Committee

Richard Hughes

Non-executive director

Richard was born in Salisbury and had a 30 year career in banking. The last 25 years of which were spent providing funding in the UK social housing sector.

Richard has served for many years as a non-executive director with a variety of social housing providers. For the last seven he has been a board member of the Regulator of Social Housing.

Richard is also trustee of a small local almshouses and welfare charity. He lives in Buckinghamshire and is married with two grown up children.

Committee Membership

Chair Group Treasury & Finance Committee

Claire Whitaker CBE

Non-executive director

Claire is currently CEO of Southampton Forward, an independent charity, having led Southampton’s shortlisted bid to be UK City of Culture 2025. Her role, which spans culture, events and destination, involves working with Southampton’s communities, cultural organisations, businesses, and academic partners locally and in the wider region. Previously, Claire was an Owner/Director of live music producers, Serious, which was known for its high-quality work and engagement with a diverse range of artists and communities across the UK and internationally. Claire is also an advisor on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, working with organisations across a range of sectors. 

Claire has over 25 years of experience in executive and non-executive positions, including being a Board member of University Hospital Dorset, a member of Southampton’s Renaissance Board and Chair of Cricket Dorset. Prior to Serious, Claire was a Director of Africa95, a cross-art form celebration of the arts of Africa which took place across the UK and the African continent, and which named President Nelson Mandela, President Leopoldo Senghor and Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II as its patrons. After the first democratic elections in South Africa, Claire worked closely with the ANC on the country’s cultural strategy and helped establish Business Arts South Africa which had then Deputy President, Thabo Mbeki, as its inaugural Chair. 

Claire’s expertise ranges from the role of culture and the creative industries in placemaking, the creation and delivery of ambitious cultural events and programmes, advising companies and organisations on equality, diversity and inclusion and the development of strategic partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders. She is actively involved in policy development across culture, civil society and placemaking. 

Committee Membership:

Group Risk & Assurance Committee

Chair of the Customer Voice Committee