North East landlord makes senior appointment with newly created role

Speaking about the role, Ms Fulton said: “It’s great to be joining Gentoo at a really exciting time in their journey of culture change.

I’ve already met some inspiring people across the group and I’m looking forward to meeting many more. Gentoo stood out to me as a values-driven organisation, and I really like how those values were built by colleagues.”

Louise Bassett, chief executive of Gentoo, said: “I am delighted to welcome someone of Susan’s calibre to Gentoo.

“She is completely aligned with our new values which were developed by our colleagues and is passionate about delivering our core purpose of providing safe and decent homes for our customers of today and tomorrow. 

“Susan brings significant leadership experience from both the housing and commercial sectors and will help us shape the future for our customers and colleagues as we continue to improve our services to customers and make Gentoo a great place to work for our amazing colleagues.”

Ms Bassett initially took on the top job as an interim position in January, after joining the landlord around seven years ago as executive director of corporate services.

The role became permanent following the sudden departure of Nigel Wilson, who stepped aside after almost four years as boss.

Following his departure, local politicians in Sunderland said they would be looking for answers as to why he left his post so suddenly.

The news was a “big surprise” to the Conservative group at Sunderland City Council, according to Michael Dixon, the councillor who had organised a meeting with the housing association chief executive last year.

No reason was given for Mr Wilson’s departure from Gentoo at the time. Last week, he accepted the chief executive position at Trident Group, a Birmingham-based landlord.