
Chair
Paul Fiddaman Chair

Paul is Chief Executive of Karbon Homes, a housing association with approaching 30,000 homes in the North of England.
A Modern History graduate of Hertford College, Oxford, Paul qualified as a chartered accountant with PriceWaterhouse in 1990.
He has been involved at a senior level in the social housing sector for over 25 years.
Paul is a non executive Board Member and Chair of the Northern Housing Consortium. He is also currently Chair of the Audit Committee of Northern Music Trust and a Board Member of the Placeshappers group.

Vice Chair
Maria McCann Vice Chair

Maria McCann is the founder and Managing Partner at McCann Public Relations, a chambers practice specialising in reputation and crisis management, litigation PR, health care communications, and public affairs. Maria’s career began in journalism and has spanned the local, national, and international media scene: from weekly newspaper reporter to national broadcaster and foreign correspondent. In 1993, Maria moved back to Northern Ireland and became Managing Partner at Macmillan Media, the newsgathering and independent television production company. She developed Macmillan’s public relations division before taking this forward as an independent firm. Her client list reaches across the private, public, and voluntary sectors providing strategic communications services, governance advice and risk assessment. Maria is a Trustee of Oxfam Ireland and has held previous board positions with Northern Ireland Screen and the Northern Ireland Research Ethics Committee.

Niall Adams

Over the last decade, Niall has gained experience with both public and private sector organisations in the strategic application of technology to deliver digital transformation programmes. Currently, Niall works with Made to Engage, a local transformation partner based in Belfast, who specialise in the use of digital capabilities and tools to deliver business and customer success. Prior to that, Niall was a director with Tascomi, a local software development company who focused on enhancing digital experiences in the Local Government area, for both internal and external stakeholders. With this background and interest, Niall is extremely passionate about using technology for good in community engagement and development.

Paddie Cassidy

Paddie is a CIPFA qualified accountant with many years’ experience in health service management and corporate governance. From 1998 to 2010 she was Director of Finance and Corporate Services for the Northern Ireland Regional Medical Physics Agency, a next-steps agency of the NI Health and Personal Social Services (NIHPSS). In 2010 Paddie took up a post in the voluntary sector as Director of Finance for MindWise, a local mental health charity, and was with them she retired in 2013. Following retirement Paddie became a voluntary member of the Board of Trustees for the Northern Ireland branch of L’Arche International, serving as Treasurer for four years, before stepping down in September 2016. Her specialist areas include Costing and Contracting and she has particular interests in Corporate Governance and Risk Management.

Lloyd Hannigan

Lloyd is a graduate of the University of Ulster and is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). He has over 13 years of commercial property experience and spent over a decade working for two Belfast based commercial property consultants. Lloyd currently holds a portfolio manager role with a London based property consultancy that specialises in growing secondary revenue streams for landlords, with a focus on property estates owned by transport operators. He has extensive experience in the sale, leasing and acquisition of properties throughout NI across the commercial and residential sectors, with instructions undertaken on behalf of private and public sector clients. Lloyd also has experience of working on property commercialisation/revenue generation projects throughout the UK. He previously held a voluntary position with a Belfast based homeless organisation and joined the board of Clanmil in February 2021.

Norman Hill

Norman has over twenty years senior management experience working in housing associations. An economics graduate from the London School of Economics and Political Science, he is a qualified accountant with over 30 years post qualification experience. Norman was the Finance Director of Saxon Weald housing association for almost 19 years and a member of the housing association’s Board of trustees and the company secretary for 10 years. He has a particular interest in financial management, risk management, business planning and governance. Norman is a trustee and chair of the Audit and Finance Committee of The Sussex Beacon, a Brighton based healthcare charity.

David Orr

David is a hugely experienced leader in both executive and non-executive roles. He has over 30 years’ experience in Chief Executive roles, most recently at the National Housing Federation. He is Chair of ReSi Housing and of Clarion Housing Association, is a previous President of Housing Europe and previous Chair of Reall, an international development housing charity. He is also chair of The Good Home Inquiry, co-chair of #Housing 2030, a joint project for Housing Europe and UNECE, and a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Housing, Church and Community Commission. David is widely regarded as a compelling and inspiring public speaker focusing on the challenge of optimistic leadership and the critical importance of great governance. He has huge media experience, is a well-regarded commentator and blogger and has extensive expertise navigating the sometimes opaque world of politics and government. In June 2018 David was awarded a CBE.

Antje Otto

Antje has been working as a Community Development practitioner for almost 20 years. This work encompasses capacity building, governance, strategic development and quality assurance. She is also experienced in communications and stakeholder engagement. Recognising that social change cannot be achieved through grassroots activism alone, she is also a keen advocate to cross-sectoral working and interested in influencing public policy. As a graduate of the University of Ulster with a BSc (Hons) in Community Development, and a postgrad Masters in Social Research she is continuing to pursue her academic interests as an inter-disciplinary researcher. Her passion lies in the social sciences, with particular focus of poverty, social exclusion and the equality and diversity agenda. Antje has held previous positions as a non-executive Director of various charities and is also currently member of Clanmil’s Audit & Risk Committee.

Kevin O’Neill

Kevin joined the Board in 2017. Kevin spent over 10 years working in the mobile telecoms industry before moving into the energy sector where he held senior roles in the Utility Regulator, NIE Networks and most recently SONI. He is currently Head of Commercial and Regulation at SONI Ltd. Kevin’s experience brings a key focus on risk managemant, sustainability and IT strategy. Kevin also brings a good mix of both public and private sector experience to the Board.

Eileen Patterson

Eileen Patterson is an independent professional who has a wide range of experience in all aspects of housing and has held senior positions in Radius, Fold and the Housing Executive.
She is committed to the delivery of high quality social housing and support services and in raising the standards of professionalism throughout the housing sector. Eileen is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Housing, is a previous Chair of the Northern Ireland Advisory Board and has recently been appointed to the newly created CIH Advisory Board for the Republic of Ireland.
She is a representative for Northern Ireland on the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence.
A graduate of Ulster University, she holds an MSc in Housing and is also a graduate of the Queen’s University Business Leaders Programme.

Alastair Rankin

Alastair had over 30 years’ experience in private practice as a solicitor before retiring as Chairman of Cleaver Fulton Rankin Solicitors in 2014. He is a fee-paid chairman of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal (NI) and a fee-paid judge of the First Tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber). He was Chairman of Hearth Housing Association before it merged with Clanmil in 2016. He remains chairman of Hearth Buildings Preservation Trust. He has been a member of the Council of the Law Society of Northern Ireland for over 30 years and was President of the Society in 1997. Alastair has been a member of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society for many years and served on the Committee from 1982 to 1996, latterly as Honorary Secretary. He was re-elected to the Committee in 2013 and became Honorary Secretary again in 2016. He acts as a trustee or trust adviser to several charitable trusts.

Richard Williamson

Richard is a retired Housing Manager who had a particular interest in redevelopment and urban regeneration in South and East Belfast He is a former Board member of East Belfast Partnership and is currently a Board member of Hearth Historic Buildings Trust, East Belfast Community Development Association and East Belfast Independent Advice Centre.