Chair of the Board

The coming years will be an exciting time to lead RUSS. The completion of Church Grove, a groundbreaking project of 36 permanently affordable homes in south east London, is the culmination of over a decade of hard work and a momentous achievement within the community-led housing sector. In the coming year, we will be implementing our model of housing management, expanding the work of our community hub, actively searching for new development sites, and promoting our development model through our events, our work with partners and our School.

The role of the Chair involves the following key components:

Leading the organisation

• Provides strategic leadership to the Board and the organization as a whole. 
• Works with the board to develop and achieve an aspirational vision underpinned by a delivera-
• ble strategy and business plan. 
• Ensures the organization acts in line with its charitable objectives, rules, principles and any regu-
• latory frameworks to which it is subject. 
• Develops the Board so that it delivers its key strategic and governance functions. 
• Cultivates and models a culture of openness, collaboration, constructive challenge and support
• between board members, staff, residents and members. 
• Ensures an effective risk management framework is in place and oversees the monitoring of
• performance to protect the assets and reputation of the organization. 
• Establishes an effective professional relationship with the company secretary, acting as their line
• manager and overseeing recruitment and succession planning for the role. 
• Grows the organization and its people through widening its volunteer base, mobilizing its mem-
• bers and hiring and developing staff. 
• Representing the organization 
• Develops and maintains relationships with key external stakeholders and partners. 
• Builds RUSS’s profile through public engagement, networking, events and media work. 
• Acts as a champion for the organization and the community-led housing sector.

Managing the Board 

• Ensures the efficient conduct of the Board’s business and the organisation’s general meetings. 
• Ensures that Board Members are given the opportunity to express their views and appropriate
• standards of behaviour are maintained. 
• Provides leadership and control of Board meetings, ensuring all decisions are clear and suffi-
• cient time is allocated to all business presented, and adjudicating where disputes arise. 
• Ensures professional advice is received where needed, whether from staff or external sources. 
• Oversees the processes and mechanisms that support effective recruitment, development, support and succession planning of Board members, ensuring the skill mix of the Board and its committees remains fit for purpose.
• Ensures the Board delegates authority to staff, committees and others in a way that best enables effective, transparent and accountable working in line with RUSS’s principles.