Meet the team

Steve brings a wealth of experience to the role, with more than 35 years in the industry, and 28 years at Wates. He has spent 24 years specialising in social housing and was instrumental in creating Wates’ retrofit proposition.

Steve was a founding board member of Wates Property Services on its formation in 2006 and has since held numerous senior positions including Director of Operations, Regional Managing Director and most recently, Strategy Director, affording him a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to drive Liberty forward.

Tony joined Liberty in 2024 as Finance Director following Liberty’s acquisition by Wates where he had held the role of Financial Controller since 2021. A Fellow of the ACCA, Tony has previously held multiple leadership roles at businesses including Phones4u and Neovia Logistics, having trained and qualified with the accountancy firm BDO LLP. Outside of work, Tony enjoys family bike rides, supporting Wolves, and long-distance running, regularly competing in half marathons and marathons.

Awarded Leader Of The Year 2022 by IGEM, and a passionate customer champion, Karen leads Liberty’s heating and compliance division, which has a track record of maintaining 100% compliance for clients and customers nationwide, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Karen has grown turnover, established three years of visible future order book growth, and secured Liberty’s largest ever contract with 22,000 homes from Wigan Council.

Simona has 20 years HR and OD experience within construction, housing and catering industries. Since joining Liberty she has developed and deployed Liberty’s people strategy, encompassing operational HR, talent management and acquisition, resource, learning and development, wellbeing, reward and recognition and employee engagement. Processes have been optimised and aligned to business need and strategy. Simona has championed apprenticeships and supported Liberty’s pledge to be part of The 5% Club.

Roy has developed and embedded a customer safety strategy, resulting in a 100% reduction in customer injuries inside the home in its first year. Through improved auditing regimes, bespoke skills assessments, and an innovative Integrated Management System, he has reduced Liberty’s Lost Time Incident Frequency Rate by over 600%, achieving industry leading rates of 0.33 in 2022-23, reduced Gas Technical RIDDORs by 65%, maintained Liberty’s ISO accreditations and achieved RoSPA Gold Medal for 5 years of continuous improvements.

Neil leads the NetZero Collective and is a recognised voice in social housing decarbonisation. He has taken the NetZero Collective decarbonisation consultancy concept from start-up to growth, increasing turnover by 250% from £193k in 2021-22 to £500k in 2022-23. Growth has been supported through his work to align business processes to enable PAS2035 and PAS2038 accreditation.

Luke joined Liberty in early 2025 after supporting the purchase and integration of the business following acquisition by Wates. Luke has nearly 18 years of experience in social housing and new build, starting his career as a trainee with Wates in 2007. He has since progressed through senior roles across repairs, planned works, decarbonisation, and fire safety where he has successfully led commercial teams, driving strong growth and performance. Luke is passionate about developing people, fostering fair partnerships, and ensuring robust governance, contract administration, and risk management.

Gavin joined Liberty in 2022 and has worked as Operations Director overseeing Liberty’s repairs and maintenance functions in and around Greater Manchester since 2023.

When he isn’t supporting his team to deliver excellent services for some of Liberty’s largest clients, he enjoys time with his family, and is a ken sailor, regularly taking part in race events.