Session Overview

When did your board last have someone under 30 around the table? Under 35? And if not, what conversations are you not having, and what risks are you not seeing? What opportunities might you be walking straight past because nobody in the room thinks that way?

The average age of a housing association board member in England is over 57. Meanwhile, the average age of a social housing tenant is falling. The people making decisions about homes, services and communities are becoming increasingly disconnected in age, experience, and in outlook from the people those decisions affect. That gap is widening, and every year it does the decisions your board makes become less relevant to the people they affect.

This isn’t a session about box-ticking diversity. It’s about whether your governance model is fit for the decade ahead - or whether it’s quietly becoming a liability.

Join James Ballantyne for an honest, energising session on why recruiting younger board members isn’t a nice-to-have but a strategic imperative. James has lived this question from both sides of the table: as a housing professional with over a decade of operational and transformation experience, and as one of the sector’s most prominent advocates for young voices in leadership and governance.

We’ll be getting into the questions that should be keeping governance leads up at night:

• The real case - not the optics one. What is the actual case beyond optics for bringing younger voices into housing association governance? What does the evidence say about the decisions boards make, and fail to make, without them?

• Digital natives in the boardroom. What does it mean to have people for whom digital, data and technology aren’t challenges to adapt to, but the air they breathe?

• The discomfort that produces better decisions. How do younger board members shift the dynamic of a room, and why does that friction, handled well, often produce better governance?

• What experience simply cannot replicate. There are things a 28-year-old housing professional knows about renting, digital services and financial precarity that no amount of good intentions or sector experience will teach. We’ll name them.

• The barriers - structural, cultural and unconscious. Why younger people don’t apply, don’t stay, and often don’t feel welcome when they do. And what organisations serious about change are doing differently.

• So what should boards actually do? What are the practical steps to attracting, recruiting and retaining younger board members, and what gets in the way?

• Is there support out there? What programmes, networks and resources exist to help organisations make this shift, and how do you make the case internally to get started?

What you’ll take away:

• A sharp, evidence-informed case for younger board membership you can take straight to your Chair or CEO without being dismissed

• Practical approaches to attracting and recruiting younger candidates, including where to find them and what puts them off

• Honest insight into the cultural and structural barriers that deter younger people, and advice on dismantling them

• Ideas for how to support younger board members once they’re in post, so they stay, grow and actually change the room

• First-hand learning from James’ own journey, what worked, what didn’t, and what he’d do differently

Who should attend?

• Board Chairs and Chief Executives thinking about succession, board renewal and long-term governance fitness

• Existing board members open to genuinely challenging how governance has always been done

• Company Secretaries and Governance leads responsible for board recruitment who want practical tools to change their pipeline

• HR and People Directors building future leadership pathways

• Younger housing professionals wondering whether a board role might be for them — and whether they’d actually be welcome

• Anyone who has ever sat in a board meeting and thought: we need some different voices in this room

About James Ballantyne

James Ballantyne is a housing professional who has built his career around improving services for residents and helping organisations work better. He is particularly known for connecting the strategic view with the reality on the ground, ensuring that decisions made at the top translate into meaningful improvements for customers. With over a decade in the sector, he has worked across a range of housing providers nationally, in London and the South West, developing a strong understanding of both frontline delivery and how organisations need to evolve to meet changing expectations.

Much of James’s work has focused on making housing services simpler, more effective, and more centred on what matters to customers. He is particularly interested in how systems and processes can be redesigned to remove friction, improve quality, and deliver better outcomes—not just for organisations, but for the people living in their homes.

Alongside his operational experience, James has increasingly built a reputation at a board and sector leadership level. As a Non-Executive Director at Magna Housing, he plays a role in helping shape strategy, offering constructive challenge, and making sure the organisation stays focused on delivering good homes and services for its residents. His approach at board level is grounded in real operational insight, which allows him to bring a practical and balanced perspective to governance discussions.

James has also contributed more widely to the sector through his role as Chair of CIH Futures, where he has helped champion new talent, push for greater diversity, and encourage a more open and honest conversation about the challenges facing housing today. This reflects a broader commitment to not just working in housing, but helping shape where it goes next.

The sector is changing. The communities we serve are changing. The tenants of tomorrow are already here. Isn’t it time our boards were too?