Bjorn Howard

Executive director, Group CEO

Bjorn became Aster’s Group CEO in 2009 having previously been the chief executive of a smaller housing association. Since then, Aster’s housing business has doubled to more than 32,000 homes and has expanded its geographical footprint across southern England.

Bjorn has worked in the independent housing, care and support sectors for more than 30 years and has extensive board-level experience in both executive and non-executive roles. He has served as a non-executive director for an NHS Trust, educational organisations, regeneration boards and as a government appointee to a housing association.

Bjorn holds a master’s degree in management and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing and Chartered Management Institute. He is also a member of the Institute of Directors.

Committee Membership:

Customer and Community Network, Aster 55 Committee

Stephen Trusler

Group chairman

Stephen, who brings over 40 years of experience in housing, development and regeneration, is a leading figure in UK housing & construction sector, having held senior positions at Lovell, Alfred McAlpine, Wates and Laing O’Rourke, where he was Residential Sector Leader.  He is currently Senior Director at planning and development consultancy Turley. 

Stephen has over 12 years’ experience as a Non-Executive Director, including roles with Sage Housing and the Chartered Institute of Housing. He is currently a Non-Executive Director at Cavanna Group, the South West’s largest independent housebuilder.  

A long-standing ambassador for the housing sector, Stephen has regularly participated in industry think tanks and conferences.  He is a fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.  

Stephen, who took over as Chair from November 2023, previously served on the Group’s Board between 2014 and 2019, during which time he chaired its Remunerations and Nominations Committee.

Committee membership:  Group Remuneration & Nominations Committee

Mehul Desai

Non-executive director

Mehul specialises in driving transformations by leveraging digitisation and optimising operating models to enable improved customer experience while achieving sustainable cost savings. His career began as a management consultant, advising financial services executives, followed by his current role as Chief of Staff to the UK COO at HSBC UK. 

During his ten-year tenure at HSBC, Mehul has assumed various roles, notably leading the transformation of HSBC US retail and wealth banking, resulting in digitising customer journeys and automating back office processes whilst also delivering over $100m in cost savings. In his current position, Mehul acts as a strategic advisor to the UK COO where he is accountable for delivering on priorities such as developing and implementing the firm’s technology strategy, improving operational resilience, prioritising investment areas, and engaging the Board on key technology and operational areas. 

Mehul holds a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Albany and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Cambridge. He resides in London with his wife and newborn son.

Chris Benn

Chief Financial Officer

Chris joined Aster in 2014, bringing with him extensive experience from the commercial sector.

Before Aster, Chris held senior finance positions at Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC and Regus PLC. At Euromoney he ensured the finance team were able to support the five-fold profit increase of the Group from both organic growth, and through acquisitions, including the acquisition of a fellow FTSE-250 listed Group. At Regus Chris was involved in the IPO and floatation of Regus’ shares on both the FTSE and NASDAQ indices.

Chris qualified as a chartered accountant at Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in 1994.

Caroline Wehrle

Non-executive director

Caroline has spent more than 20 years working in the fields of risk management, audit, internal controls compliance and ethics, finance and pensions. 

The first 8 years of Caroline’s career were spent working in the engineering sector for WS Atkins, providing technical and quantitative risk management services to public and private sector clients, largely in the rail industry.  This included 4 years spent working in Hong Kong, China and Singapore. 

Caroline joined Diageo’s internal audit function in 2003 and during 16 years with the business undertook a number of senior finance positions with Diageo, culminating in her final role, as Global Risk & Compliance Director leading an integrated global risk, control, compliance and ethics function.  Caroline is passionate about doing business the right way.

Caroline has a BA Hons degree in Risk Management from Glasgow Caledonian University, an MBA from Cass University.

Committee Membership:

Chair Group Risk and Compliance Committee

Group Treasury Committee

Amanda Williams

Chief Investment Officer

Amanda has over 30 years’ experience in development, marketing and asset management for registered social landlords, joining Aster Group in 2012. She was previously director of business development at Synergy, prior to the merger with Aster and drove the strategic direction of the association’s new-build development activity, including becoming an independent preferred investment partner.

Before Aster, Amanda was head of development for Sanctuary Housing Group for London and the South East, and an associate director of Adams Integra, a consultancy specialising in housing development and planning. She was also director of development services for Apex Housing (now A2Dominion) for nine years where she was responsible for growing a mixed development programme from scratch to over 1,000 units per year.

Amanda is a Board Director of Silva Homes and of Forest Future Homes which is a subsidiary of Silva Homes.

Tracey Peters

Non-executive director, Senior independent director

Tracey is an accomplished Human Resources professional. She has worked as an Executive Board HR Director and has experience in many industry sectors including Retail, Manufacturing and Electronic Banking. She also has twenty years of Non-Executive Director experience with organisations such as Housing Associations, Foundation Trust Hospitals, and a variety of Charitable Arts and Sports organisations.

Tracey has an MSC in Organisational Design and Development and is an Accredited Member of the BACP. She runs a Consulting Practice specialising in Organisational and Personal Development to Senior Executives specialising in supporting new CEOs and Chairs to manage their business through significant change.

Tracey also works as a volunteer with Relate working in schools with children who are suffering emotional difficulties.

Tracey is also a member of the board of East Boro Housing Trust Limited.

Committee Membership:

Chair of the Customer & Community Network

Group Remuneration & Nominations Committee

Michael McCullen

Non-executive director

Michael is an accomplished CEO, Chairman and technology entrepreneur with over 30-years’ leadership experience in private, public and venture backed businesses specialising in technology for the built environment.

Michael was a co-founder and Managing Director of  the UK’s most successful project management software business for the construction industry, which he grew and led to exit in 2006. He is a former Group Board Director of an AIM listed technology business and was CEO of its international construction software and services business for over eight years and he was EVP of the UK’s biggest independent construction software business for over 2 years.

He has extensive overseas experience having led construction technology businesses in Sweden and Germany and established international distribution in Australia, Europe and the USA.  He has completed a number of international acquisitions.

Michael started his own consultancy practice in 2015 working as an independent director and consultant advising businesses and private equity firms on investment in technology.

He holds a Computer Science degree (Manchester) and an MBA (Warwick).

Committee Membership:

Group Risk & Compliance Committee

Chair Group Remuneration & Nominations Committee

Clive Barnett

Non-executive director

Clive retired from RBS/NatWest in 2016, having been head of the bank’s housing finance team for many years.  He worked within the social housing finance market for over 20 years and was recognised as a leading figure in that sector.  Clive represented RBS within Government circles, including HCA, DGLG and CML Housing Committee. 

In addition to his role with Aster, Clive also holds other non-executive positions and was also a consultant director with one of the sector’s leading treasury advisers for a short while.

In 2022 Clive was appointed as a trustee to the Aster Foundation charity.

Committee Membership:

Chair Group Audit Committee

Group Treasury Committee

Claire Whitaker CBE

Non-executive director

Claire is currently CEO of Southampton’s Culture Trust, having led Southampton’s shortlisted bid to be UK City of Culture 2025. Her role, which spans culture, events and destination, involves working with Southampton’s communities, cultural organisations, businesses, and academic partners locally and in the wider region. Previously, Claire was an Owner/Director of live music producers, Serious, which was known for its high-quality work and engagement with a diverse range of artists and communities across the UK and internationally. Claire is also an advisor on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, working with organisations across a range of sectors.

Claire has over 25 years of experience in executive and non-executive positions, including being a Trustee of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, a member of the Cultural Recovery Board, an Ambassador for the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board and a member of the Arts and Creative Industries Advisory Group for the British Council. Prior to Serious, Claire was a Director of Africa95, a cross art form celebration of the arts of Africa which took place across the UK and the African continent and which named President Nelson Mandela, President Leopoldo Senghor and Her Majesty the Queen as its patrons. After the first democratic elections in South Africa, Claire worked closely with the ANC on the country’s cultural strategy and helped establish Business Arts South Africa which had then Deputy President, Thabo Mbeki, as its inaugural Chair.

Claire’s expertise ranges from the creation and delivery of ambitious arts events and programmes, advising companies and organisations on equality, diversity and inclusion and the development of strategic partnerships with a broad range of stakeholders. She is actively involved in policy development across culture, civil society and placemaking.

Committee Membership:

Group Audit Committee

Customer & Community Network