New permanent boss at Gentoo as Sunderland housing group gives job to interim chief

Sunderland's biggest landlord Gentoo has appointed interim chief executive Louise Bassett to take on the role permanently after the sudden departure of the previous incumbent.

As reported in the Echo, previous CEO Nigel Wilson stepped down with immediate effect in early January 2023, having served four years in the role.

Ms Bassett stepped in to take fill the role on an interim basis, having previously served as the firm's executive director of corporate services.

After being appointed to the role on a permanent basis, she said: “I am delighted to take on the role of chief executive officer permanently.

"I feel very proud to be leading such a purposeful and dedicated organisation.

“Together we commit to putting our tenants at the heart of business decision making and to creating better working lives for everyone at Gentoo. I look forward to working with colleagues and stakeholders as we continue to improve our services to tenants."

The Gentoo board said Ms Bassett is 'a highly accomplished business leader, with over 20 years’ experience across senior private sector roles in consumer and healthcare organisations'.

The board said joined Gentoo to assist with the organisation’s transformation project and is passionate about maximising the potential of all colleagues across the organisation.

Emily Cox MBE, group chair at Gentoo, said: “The Board is delighted to confirm Louise’s permanent appointment. She has shown great leadership during her short time as interim CEO.

“The board is confident she is the right person to lead the organisation to deliver our vision and core purpose of creating safe and decent homes for our tenants.”

Gentoo, which has more than 60,000 tenants across the city, was originally set up as Sunderland Housing Group to take over Wearside's council housing.

 Mr Wilson's tenure as chief executive saw the company working to overcome problems after it was downgraded by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in 2017 after a report said it ‘does not meet our governance requirements’ amid concerns over executive pay-off deals.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) confirmed in 2019 Gentoo that was operating ‘in a compliant manner within the regulatory standards for social housing providers’ and upgraded the group from a non-compliant G3 governance rating to G2.

Gentoo Group has since returned to the top G1 grading.