Canopy’s AGM will be a hybrid meeting at 12.30pm on Tuesday 25th June 2024. We expect many people to join us via Zoom but we would be delighted if members, tenants and volunteers would join us in person at our offices at 66 Burley Lodge Road, Leeds.
Please email info@canopyhousing.org if you intend joining us in person. Vegan food will be provided and we would like to ensure there is enough!
Join the AGM via Zoom by clicking here
Supporting documents
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.
Anna Łysakowska has decided not to stand again due to personal commitments. We would like to thank her for her hard work and contributions over her three years as a Board Member.
We are saddened to report the death of our longstanding Tenant Board Member and Secretary, Bridget Relton. Her dedication to Canopy over more than a decade will long be remembered and commemorated through a blue plaque at our head office.
Existing Board Members standing for new three-year terms
Keith Gibson (Deputy Chair): Keith is our outgoing 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.
Lyn Charters (Secretary): 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.
Other Board Members (in the middle of their terms)
Andrea Cowans (Chair): Andrea is standing for Canopy’s Board for the first time. She is Group Director of Student Life at Leeds City College and has been involved with GIPSIL’s Board for more than five years. Voice, influence and co-production inform her priorities and she actively promotes participation in democratic processes, championing equality, diversity and social mobility. She is an effective partnership developer, working across organisations, agencies and networks to create opportunities and stimulate ideas, and is currently training as a leadership coach.
Danielle Joy (Treasurer): Danielle joined Canopy’s Board in 2022 and is our current Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Subcommittee. She prepared our 2022 financial accounts. Having originally trained as a veterinary surgeon, she now works as a Chartered Accountant at First Actuarial LLP. She has reduced the amount of paid work she does so that she can give more time to support Canopy’s housing and homelessness work..
Martyn Broadest: Martyn joined the Board in 2017 and having chaired the Governance Subcommittee for two years, now sits on our Development Review Group. 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.
Leroy Ivanov: Leroy volunteered with Canopy for three years before joining the Board in 2022. Aside from his work with Canopy, he has put in many valuable hours at Forward Leeds and Battlescars, where he was an ambassador.
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.
Mark Rutherford: Mark has been involved with Canopy’s Board since our early days and currently chairs our Governance Subcommittee. 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.
Kinga Salisbury: Kinga joined Canopy’s Board in 2022. 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 was Treasurer for the first five years of her tenure. She continues to sit one our Finance Subcommittee, supporting our 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.
