Our Board Directors
Dr Scott Jennings (User Director, Chair) is an active figure in the student co-operative sector. He set up the Nottingham Student Housing Co-op, and has been an active member supporting the Co-operative to this day. He project managed the creation of Student Co-op Homes. He is a director of the Confederation of Co-operative Housing (CCH). His involvement in co-operative housing organisations, at a local level and in national federations, has taught him a range of governance skills as well as stakeholder engagement and communication strategy across a breadth of contexts. Scott has also led on international relationship building with North American Student Co-operatives (NASCO) and other organisations to take on best practice and promote a more interlinked global movement. Scott brings his collection of experience and dedication to help drive SCH forward and establish new student housing co-ops of different shapes, sizes and structures.
Benito Matischen (User Director) has been a member of Manchester Student Housing Co-operative (MaSH) since February 2022. MaSH is a formative housing co-op working with Student Co-op Homes to acquire a property and offer a co-operative solution to student housing in Manchester. As a member of MaSH, Benito has contributed to organising social events to promote the co-op and finding potential properties, and is the MaSH delegate to SCH. He is active in SCH’s membership services working group.
Vivian Woodell (Supporter/Investor Director) has extensive experience in co-operative entrepreneurship. He was the founder of The Phone Co-op and served as its chief executive for 19 years. He is currently the CEO of The Phone Co-op Foundation for Co-operative Innovation and Vice President of The Midcounties Co-operative Ltd., as well as a non-executive director of Co-operatives UK, The Co-operative Loan Fund and West Oxfordshire Community Transport Limited. He also serves on the board of the Co-operative College Trust. Vivian has been supporting the student housing co-operative sector since the beginning, notably through the acquisition of properties by The Phone Co-op for Birmingham and Sheffield student housing co-ops.
Mikey Brown
Mikey Brown (User Director) is a Director and Treasurer of Birmingham Student Housing Co-operative, where has lived since July 2020. He is a keen activist for affordable, safe and well-maintained student housing and believes passionately that the Co-operative sector is the ideal solution to the problems of the private rental market. A mature student, he has experience in the private sector managing teams and delivering process changes to drive efficiency as well as in negotiation as a litigation executive. He served as President of the University of Birmingham Guild of Students 2021-22, a platform he used to advocate on behalf of the student body on a wide range of social and political issues.
John Dalley
John Dalley (Supporter/Investor Director) has a variety of experience in the co-op movement having previously worked for Scotmid Coop and been a member of The Coop Group’s National Members Council and Senate. He is currently a non-executive director of a Co-operative & Community Benefit Society Housing Association.
May Armstrong
May Armstrong (User Director) has been a member of Glasgow Student Housing Cooperative for the past 2 years. They have contributed to property searching and representing Glasgow Student Housing Cooperative at national conferences and the Scottish Parliament cross party working group on cooperatives, and at a local level to make links with other Glasgow based cooperatives to support each other in providing opportunities and mutual aid to grow the cooperative movement locally to regain its historical strength whilst looking to the future. They are undertaking their dissertation research on how Glasgow Student Housing Cooperative can make progress in a hostile environment by looking for support in the cooperative community and how to creatively search for property opportunities not available to landlords and which will benefit the community surrounding the student housing cooperative.
Mark Grayling
Mark Grayling (Supporter/Investor Director) has extensive experience in both the Students’ Union and Cooperative movements. He is a former Director of Policy at the National Union of Students and recently served on the Board of Central Coop among other roles. He also sits on the Board at Teesside University Students’ Union and currently works for a Manchester based Member of Parliament. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (RSA) and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
Stephanie Hay (Supporter/Investor Director) invested as a student struggling to find housing in Glasgow in the early days of trying to set a housing coop in the city. She is currently a member of Suma Wholefoods Cooperative where she has gained a wide variety of coop experience.
Paid contractors
Lisa Hartley (Operations Manager) joined SCH in Spring 2021 on a part time self-employed basis. She has been working with student co-operatives for over eight years, and brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the role. Her initial experience with student led co-operatives was through supporting food and bike co-operatives at Brighton Students’ Union in 2016. In February 2018, she recruited a group of students and helped to set up SEASALT Housing Co-operative. She worked with SEASALT as their Community Housing Enabler for 3.5 years, in partnership with Brighton and Hove Community Land Trust (BHCLT). Lisa was involved throughout the SEASALT journey; including registration, business planning, policy making, community engagement, and a successful community share offer which raised over £300k. Following the share offer, BHCLT purchased an eight bed property in Brighton, and now lease it to SEASALT, who moved into the property in September 2021.