Fabrick Board Members

Bob Brady (Chair)

Since retiring as the Senior Youth and Community officer working in East Middlesbrough Bob went on to retire from Middlesbrough after being a member of the Council for 33 years.
During that time he held various positions including Chair of Housing for 16 years, chair of various scrutiny boards and finally serving as the appointed deputy to the elected Mayor of Middlesbrough for five years.
He was very active on the national and regional scene being chair of the National Housing & Town Planning Council, the Housing Centre Trust as well the Regional Assembly and North East Association of Councils.
He chaired the Shadow Board of Erimus Housing and was elected chair of the board on the creation of that company.  On the formation of the Fabrick Housing Group he was elected chair and continues in that post to date.

Mike Carr

Michael has lived and worked in Middlesbrough all his life and has recently retired from teaching. He has been involved in local government for many years and has experience on public bodies at local and national level. He is keen to ensure that Fabrick Housing Group contributes to the regeneration and renewal of homes, the environment and the community in the Tees Valley and in the north east.

John Stoney

John was appointed to the Tees Valley Housing Board in September 2006 having previously served on the Board from 1999 to 2001 before taking an overseas posting with ICI.  John is now retired and is Chair of both the Performance & Development Committee and Partnering Plus Ltd, and he is also a member of the Board of Portico Homes Ltd.

Bhupendra Mistry

Bhupendra has extensive experience of community development and regeneration and substantial experience of policy analysis, having served in senior government positions as well as organisations in Birmingham, London and the North West of England.
Bhupendra’s most recent work includes giving specialist advice on all aspects of community engagement, cohesion and consultation to a range of public, private and third sector bodies across the UK.

He is currently a member of the Manchester Metropolitan University Board, Cabinet Office Advisory Board, BBC World Service Trust, Cedar Management Services Ltd and Kamla Foundation and has been a board member with a range of other organisations and associations.

Stephen Merckx

Stephen is a chartered engineer who worked in a variety of roles in ICI. He is currently a self employed career consultant, is involved in voluntary work and otherwise enjoys walking and cycling between his duties as a grandparent. Stephen is Chair of the Nominations and Remuneration Committee.

David Murtagh

David is a chartered accountant and currently works as a finance director for a major multinational manufacturing company based in the region. After two years serving on the Erimus Board he joined the Fabrick Board earlier this year. David is chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Outside work his main passion is sport, particularly football. In addition he retains a close interest in current affairs especially with regard to international relations.

Margaret Faye

Margaret, the former chair of One North East, has been welcomed onto the board of Fabrick as an independent member.

Margaret, from South Shields, hopes to bring her experience of working with politicians both nationally and locally to the board, as well as an understanding of the main policy issues around social housing provision.

Alison Thain

Alison has worked in the Tees Valley for over 15 years, beginning as Chief Executive of Cleveland & Teesside Housing Society. In April 2008 Alison became the Group Chief Executive of Fabrick Housing Group, a strategic partnership of Tees Valley Housing Group, of which Alison was Chief Executive, and Erimus Housing.

Alison’s other activities include membership of the Board of Regional Development Agency One North East where she is Chair of its Regeneration Committee, as well as being the Agency’s Design Champion. She is a Governor of the University of Teesside and was awarded the OBE in The Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2004.