A2 Dominion appoints former Sovereign executive as chief finance officer

A2Dominion has hired Tracey Barnes as its first chief finance officer (CFO), as it streamlines two executive finance director roles into one.

Tracey Barnes was chief financial officer at Sovereign Housing for three years, and worked for 20 years at multinational alcohol company Diageo, in CFO roles at East African Breweries Limited and Diageo Ireland and as managing director of Diageo Business Services India.

The 38,000-home housing association has combined the positions of executive director of finance and strategy and executive director of central and financial services, as part of its new corporate strategy.

Barnes has held the position of executive director of central and financial services on a fixed-term basis since February 2023.

The current executive director of finance and strategy, Dean Tufts, will be retiring early next year.

Since Ian Wardle’s appointment as CEO of A2 Dominion in September 2022, the £389m-turnover housing association has launched a new corporate strategy with a focus on its ”customers and delivering core services”. 

The Regulator of Social Housing launched a probe into A2Dominion’s compliance with its financial viability and governance standards in September this year.

A2 Dominion also recently hired Kate Gascoigne as chief customer officer, a newly created position combining complaints, customer experience, housing services and specialist housing into a “single, customer-focused team with a new clear strategy”. 

A2 Dominion’s creation of the chief customer officer role followed failings tackling damp and mould, as identified by the Housing Ombudsman. Last week, Gascoigne was made chief customer officer on a permanent basis.

In an announcement earlier this week, A2 Dominion stated that it will be exiting from extra care services to concentrate on housing.

A2 Dominion has provided domiciliary care services for over 30 years, but at the start of 2023 the group began phasing out four programmes in Berkshire and Surrey.

A spokesperson explained that the A2 Dominion board’s decision to move away from care services is part of the company’s efforts to “get back to basics”, amid growing challenges in the wider care sector.

See also >> Regulator launches probe into A2 Dominion

See also >> A2 Dominion confident of increasing development in 2023/24 despite half-year drop

A2Dominion will no longer provide extra care services in Reading, Woking and Spelthorne, and will transfer the contracts over to new providers at the end of these contracts. The housing association will continue to deliver floating support services in its retirement homes.

On her appointment as the new chief finance officer at A2 Dominion, Barnes said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone at A2Dominion over the past few months, learning about what works and how things can be improved to totally transform the customer experience. I am delighted to have the opportunity to help to drive forward the changes that are needed.”

Regarding A2 Dominion’s move away from extra care services, Michael Reece, chief property officer at A2Dominion, said: “We’d like to thank all our colleagues, partners and everyone else involved in helping us to deliver high-quality care services to our customers over many years.

“It was not a decision we took lightly and as a housing association with a social purpose we remain committed to helping those in vulnerable circumstances in any way we can, including through retirement living, our supported services and community investment programmes.

“Looking ahead our core focus remains unchanged and we will continue to work hard to deliver for all our customers and provide homes people love to live in.”