SFHA Annual Conference: Meet the speakers
Read about our exciting line-up of speakers for this year's SFHA Annual Conference: Housing Scotland 2022 on 14-15 June at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow.
Shona Robison MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government
Ms Robison, who has been serving as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government since 2021 will address delegates on day one of the conference.
Alex Warren
Strategic Development Director at The Wise Group
Alex is the Strategic Development Director at the Wise Group, one of the UK’s leading social enterprises with a focus on lifting people out of poverty. His work spans the UK, and he has been influential in leading the development and delivery of impactful energy efficiency and fuel poverty projects.
Julie Humphreys
Deputy Director for Tackling Child Poverty and Financial Wellbeing, Scottish Government
Julie Humphreys has been the Scottish Government's Deputy Director for Tackling Child Poverty and Financial Wellbeing since September 2021 and leads the teams working to support those policies, including Best Start, Bright Futures.
Julie has been a civil servant since 2001 and has worked in a number of roles across the Scottish and UK Governmen,t on a variety of policy areas, including children and families, communications, the constitution, enterprise, regulation,schools and welfare policy as well as supporting ministers in their private offices.
Deborah Hay
Senior Policy Adviser at Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Deborah is a Senior Policy Adviser for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, based in Glasgow. She currently leads the foundation’s work around housing in Scotland, seeking to maximise the contribution it can make to reducing poverty and inequality.
Prior to joining JRF she worked as a policy adviser in the Big Lottery Fund, helping to shape its investment in organisations that support children, young people and families.
Bill Scott
Chair at the Poverty and Inequality Commission
Bill was appointed as chair of the Poverty and Inequality Commission in 2019. He has been at Inclusion Scotland for 15 years and is currently its Senior Policy Adviser. Before joining the third sector in 1989, Bill worked in the Department of Employment.
He has also previously worked as: a senior researcher in the Scottish Parliament; as Deputy Manager of Pilton Community Health Project; as Director of Lothian Anti-Poverty Alliance; as a racial equality officer and as an employment and welfare rights worker
Dr Martin Valenti
Director or Net Zero at SOSE
Dr Valenti Joined the SOSE team as Director of Net Zero and is leading the economic and community development agency’s efforts to help the region to transition to a net zero economy. This includes taking forward the work of the South of Scotland Energy Transition Group’s Powering Change call to action.