Canopy’s AGM will be a hybrid meeting accessible via ZOOM at 1pm on Tuesday 28th June 2022. The meeting will take place at our head office at 66 Burley Lodge Road, Leeds LS6 1QF with a Family Fun Day to follow in the park behind. Feel free to arrive in the 10-15 minutes leading up to the meeting.

Join the AGM via Zoom by clicking here

You can also join the AGM by phone by calling 0330 088 5830 around the time the meeting starts. You will be asked for:

Meeting ID: 951 9962 6226

Passcode: 7149509185

Supporting documents

Order of business

2021 AGM Minutes

2022 SGM Minutes

2021 Financial Statements

2021 Audit Feedback Report

Board Elections

Our Board Members serve three-year terms, after which they are required to either stand for re-election or stand down. The terms are staggered so that around 1/3 of them must do this every year.

Keith Gibson, our Chair, will be standing down this year but has agreed to be co-opted until such time as a suitable replacement can be recruited. Mhairi Tomlinson, our current Treasurer, is standing for re-election as an ordinary Board Member and three new candidates are standing for the first time in 2022…

Board Members standing for new three-year terms

Leroy Ivanov: Leroy has been a volunteer with Canopy for more than three years now. Having attended several Board Meetings as an observer, he now plans to join the Board formally. Aside from his work with Canopy, he has put in many valuable hours at Forward Leeds and Battlescars, where he is an ambassador.

Danielle Joy (Treasurer): Danielle is planning to join the Board for the first time this year. Having originally trained as a veterinary surgeon, she now works as a Chartered Accountant at First Actuarial LLP. She plans to reduce the amount of paid work she does so that she can give more time to support Canopy’s housing and homelessness work.

Kinga Salisbury: Kinga is also planning to join the Board for the first time this year. She is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Having worked on prevention initiatives targeting under-represented groups, she has always focused on supporting those most in need.

Mhairi Tomlinson: Mhairi joined the Board in 2017 and is our current Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Subcommittee. Whilst standing down as Treasurer, she would like to stand for a further three years, offering support to the new Treasurer, Danielle. She is a chartered accountant with over 20 years’ experience across a variety of areas including the energy, building society and charities sectors.  She currently works for The Brontë Society in Haworth.

Other Board Members (in the middle of their terms)

Martyn Broadest: Martyn joined the Board in 2017 and currently chairs our Governance Subcommittee. He is Director of Home at Connect Housing, where his current role encompasses development, asset management, customer services and community investment. He is also a Commissioner at the Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission.

Lyn Charters: Lyn joined Canopy’s Board in 2021. Having grown up in a poor area of Doncaster, she studied both law and civil engineering, which together helped her secure her current post as General Counsel and Company Secretary for Keepmoat Homes. She lives in Leeds and wants to help others create better lives for themselves by being given similar opportunities to progress.

Anna Łysakowska: Anna also joined Canopy’s Board in 2021. She has a wealth of experience working with CATCH Leeds in Harehills and her son was among our first cohort of trainees in 2021. She is a keen advocate for the Gypsy and Roma Community and has worked with West Yorkshire Police around strategic planning and community engagement. She is now studying towards a BA in Innovation and Skills for Social Change at Leeds Beckett University.

Janet Onslow: Janet first joined Canopy as a site volunteer. She is a Prince2 Project Manager and can think and work both strategically and practically.  She has worked on projects including education sector capital builds and a programme to help long-term unemployed young people back into work. She has a business degree and has worked in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

Bridget Relton (Secretary): Bridget is a tenant of Canopy Housing and our current Company Secretary. She has worked for national government agencies and MPs offices in both procurement and financial roles. She has a broad skillset including health and safety, human resources, construction and maintenance, civil engineering and dealing with the aftermath of flooding.

Mark Rutherford: Mark has been involved with Canopy’s Board since our early days and currently sits on our Equality and Diversity Review Group. He recently retired from his role leading Leeds City Council’s Empty Homes and Loans team. He is a qualified Environmental Health Officer who worked for the city’s housing and regeneration teams for almost 40 years.

Board members standing down

Keith Gibson (Chair): Keith is our current Chair and has 40 years of experience working in local government, mostly in area regeneration and private sector housing renewal, but also managing teams dealing with food, health and safety, environmental sustainability and pollution control. At Leeds City Council, he managed a department of almost 100 staff with a budget of £8 million. He has a broad range of skills including building -construction, management, human resources and financial skills. The Board plans to co-opt Keith as Chair until such time as a suitable replacement can be found