Ian will take over the housing association in January 2019 and will be working closely with the current chief executive until then.

He will join from Aldwyck Housing Group, where he has served as chief executive since 2016.

Ian has over three decades of experience of working in housing, having held the role of chief executive at Shaftesbury Housing Group, Riverhaven and Stonebridge Housing Action Trust.

He was recently elected as the chair of Build East, an alliance of housing associations based in the East of England.

Ian said that he was delighted to be joining Catalyst.

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“It is a great organisation and I feel privileged to take over from Rod Cahill, one of the most respected figures in the housing sector. 

“I very much look forward to working with the Catalyst team, and their stakeholders, to build on very firm foundations and deliver an ambitious agenda for the future.”

Richard Brown, chair of Catalyst’s board, added: “Catalyst Housing is delighted to appoint Ian McDermott as the organisation’s CEO.

“Ian has a wealth of experience at CEO level in the housing sector, creating and growing customer-centric, high-performing organisations.

“Ian is ideally placed to continue the excellent work of our departing CEO, Rod Cahill, in using our strong financial base to build more affordable homes, further improve customer experience and grow the organisation in partnership with others.”