Our Heads of Services team

Mark Perrin, Head of Finance

Mark leads the Finance team who are responsible for accounting for the money we collect from tenants and customers and paying money to suppliers. The team works alongside operational colleagues to set and manage budgets and produces the annual statutory accounts.

He has worked in finance roles for business in both the private and charities sectors throughout his career and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He joined Ongo as Head of Finance in 2020.

Mark is married with three sons and now rather than participating in sport, he spends the majority of his spare time coaching football, watching a variety of sports, and taxiing the boys to and from training and matches!

Jan Williams, Head of Opportunities

Jan is responsible for Ongo Communities services including the skills and personal development and mental health specialist teams who coach and support our tenants and wider customers. In addition, she leads our in-house social enterprise employment agency Ongo Recruitment, and Crosby Brokerage that supports customers to manage their wellbeing budgets. She is also responsible for activities delivered across our community buildings The Arc and Viking Centre, including a post office and community café.

Her remit is to lead the work funded by the £1million Ongo Homes investment per year into local communities and maximise opportunities for our tenants and customers through applying for external grants and contracts, and leading on achieving outcomes that make a real difference to people’s lives.

Jan is also an exec Board Member of Ongo Communities, Ongo Recruitment and Crosby Brokerage.

She joined Ongo in 2012, bringing the award-winning social enterprise Crosby Employment that she set up in 2003 into the Ongo group.

After spending 14 years in private businesses, beginning her career in hospitality management, and spending eight years in the recruitment industry in London, Jan found her passion and enthusiasm for helping people and communities through a diverse range of experiences in the voluntary and public sectors and helps Ongo to achieve our promise that “everything we do is put back into local communities,

Karen Cowan, Head of Governance & Corporate

Karen has been working in the Housing Sector for 27 years, working for Ongo from the day it was formed in 2007 (as North Lincolnshire Homes) and before that working for the local Council’s housing department.

Karen is a housing professional (having  a post graduate diploma in Housing), and for the last five years has been our Head of Governance & Corporate Services with responsibility for a variety of service areas and teams – PR & marketing, governance, procurement & value for money, customer engagement, and sustainability & carbon reduction. She is also the organisation’s lead for equality diversity and inclusion and for empowering the customer voice.

Karen has gained a wealth of experience over the years having previously worked in a number of customer facing roles including having Head of Service responsibility for the customer contact centre, complaints & compliments, retirement housing, the homeless service, and home ownership & leaseholder services.

When not working, Karen enjoys trips to see musical theatre and nice holidays.

Dawn Hill, Head of Landlord Services

Dawn is responsible for the following areas: lettings, tenancy services including customer support/ enforcement/ income collection/ housing management.

Her remit also oversees our Homeless projects in Doncaster and Scunthorpe. Dawn is a  safeguarding lead within the organisation for adults and children and is a board member for Domestic abuse partnership.

Having joined the company in 2021 has worked in many leadership roles across BT before joining Ongo.

Dawn began her career as a front line officer in a customer experience role and has had a varied career building her skills and knowledge across BT as an organisation, she has 28 years of experience leading and supporting large operational teams.

Dawn is passionate around delivering great customer service and is committed to continuous development in her role at Ongo.

Lee Coulson, Head of Commercial

Lee joined Ongo in 2018 and has responsibility for Ongo’s two commercial business; Hales and Coultas Heating and Plumbing and Ashbridge Roofing Services.

Prior to joining Ongo, Lee has worked in both the public and private sector, predominantly in marketing and business development roles.

Outside of work Lee enjoys reading, DIY and socialising with friends as well as practicing his knitting – a skill he picked up during lockdown.

Louise Usher, Head of Compliance

Louise became Head of Risk and Compliance in 2019, having over 20 years’ experience of social housing and has worked at Ongo since it was formed in 2007 (as North Lincolnshire Homes). She has a Masters in Housing Policy and Practice, Level 7 in Risk Management (IRM) and Level 6 NEBOSH Diploma.

Louise has responsibility for the following areas: Health and Safety, Compliance, Risk Management, Internal Audit, Legal Services, Data Protection, Homeownership, Strategy and Policy.

Most of her spare time is spent with family, but she also co-founded a local Martial Arts School with her husband and is a Master grade in Taekwondo.

Mat Ashmore, Head of Technology & Innovation

Mat leads our Tech, Innovation, Data & Cyber teams, which are responsible for making sure all our tech keeps working, is up to date and secure. They also find new and better ways to use technology that can help us change and improve how we deliver our services to our customers.

The team also does a lot of analysis with our data to help the business understand how we are performing and how our customers rate our services again with the aim of helping us continue to improve.

Mat has worked with Ongo since 2008 and has worked in IT roles throughout all his career. He is passionate about using data and technology to innovate new ways of working and inspire change.