Sara Thomson appointed as Interim Chief Risk Officer for Anchor

Anchor is delighted to welcome Sara Thomson as Interim Chief Risk Officer (CRO).

The CRO post has been added to the Executive team to ensure that Anchor is best placed to address the issues highlighted in its recent self-referral to the Regulator of Social Housing, and to achieve and maintain the highest possible regulatory ratings for the benefit of our residents. This will include ensuring Anchor’s governance, regulatory, policy, and risk and assurance frameworks are compliant with regulation and operate cohesively across the Group.

Sara, who started yesterday (12 May 2025), is an experienced interim executive and consultant in the housing sector. She brings more than 25 years’ experience in senior and executive roles, covering transformation, risk and governance in social housing, banking, mutuals and consultancy.

A former Executive Director and Chief Risk Officer at Bromford Housing Group, she is also Non-Executive Director, Vice Chair and Senior Independent Director (SID) at NewArch Homes (Octopus Affordable Housing’s for-profit Registered Provider).

Anchor Chief Executive Sarah Jones said:

Sara has an impressive track record, and we’re delighted to welcome her to Anchor. I look forward to her playing an important role in ensuring a culture of high performance and accountability around risk awareness, governance and compliance. A key focus will be ensuring we achieve high quality outcomes for residents and deliver our strategy.

Sara added:

I deeply appreciate the opportunity to join Anchor. I very much look forward to working alongside the Board, Executive team, colleagues and residents at this pivotal time for the sector.