Banging the drum

In his new role as a Trustee of the Board at DAMHA Steve Williams will be banging the drum for governance and cyber-security, among other things.

That’s due to an entire career spent in ICT and latterly as a Non-Executive Director at Beyond Housing where he was Chair of Governance.

And also because banging the drum is something he does a lot in his spare time as the drummer in three bands.

Until his retirement in 2022, Steve worked in ICT for a number of large organisations in both the public and private sector, including ICI, Viasystems Inc, Sunderland City Council and Newcastle University.

He will be bringing this considerable experience to bear in his new role as a DAMHA Trustee, something he says he is very much looking forward to.

“Both my wife and I grew up in coalfield communities and an aunt is on the DAMHA housing list, so I already knew what a great role the Association does in the community and it’s fantastic to now be able make my own contributions via my work on the Board,” he says.

“My first impressions are very favourable and it’s clear that the concern for the customers and having a genuine interest in what residents need runs through the whole organisation.”

“It’s no surprise that the organisation scores so well in customer satisfaction surveys and I see my role as ensuring we have good governance and well-designed processes which continue to support the delivery of good service to customers, with it becoming too bureaucratic.”

Understandably, Steve is very passionate about the use of technology and the role it plays in organisations like DAMHA.

“Technology changed so much during the course of my career and it has become a double-edged sword,” he says.

“It can be used to facilitate the delivery of better services and on the other hand, we are unfortunately living in world where it is being used by people for unscrupulous purposes and that is why having good cyber security is now also vital for organisations.

“But ultimately, the best technology in the world means nothing if you don’t have a good, well-structured organisation with excellent people within it and DAMHA certainly has that.”

In his spare time, married father-of-one Steve enjoys taking part in triathlons, open water swimming and drumming in his three bands, one of which features his son James as the lead singer.

“I grew up as a punk rocker and in one of the bands we play punk, but I am also in bands which plays gentle pop with harmonies, it’s just lots of fun,” he adds.