Our Executive Team

Group Chief Executive

Paul Fiddaman is our Group Chief Executive.

Prior to the creation of Karbon Homes, Paul served as Group Chief Executive of the Isos Group. He had previously been Deputy Chief Executive from 1st October 2014 when Cestria Housing became a part of the Isos Housing Group. Paul joined Cestria Housing as Chief Executive in April 2011.

Before Cestria, Paul was Group Director of Finance and Corporate Services at Fabrick Housing Group (now part of the Thirteen Group).

Paul trained as an accountant with Price Waterhouse and qualified in 1990. Paul joined Sunderland Football Club in 1992, initially as Financial Controller, before progressing to General Manager and Club Secretary. His first full-time job in housing was with Enterprise 5 in 1996, where he became Director of Finance and Development. He had been a board member of a housing association while at SAFC, and had felt a real connection with the values of the sector and has been involved in housing ever since.

Executive Director of Customer Services

Ian Johnson is our Executive Director of Customer Services, he is responsible for:

•    Our repairs and maintenance service
•    Housing management
•    Customer experience 
•    Customer involvement 
•    Planning and insight

Ian is also Karbon’s Health and Safety Lead and has responsibility for compliance with the Consumer Standards. 

Previously, Ian has worked in various housing organisations for 25 years. Ian started as a Housing Assistant for City of Sunderland Council before progressing to be Head of Safer Neighbourhoods at Blyth Valley, Executive Director of Operations at Homes for Northumberland, Chief Executive of Tyne Housing before joining Karbon Homes in 2018 as Director of Pre-Tenancy and Property Services before taking up an Executive role in May 2022.

Ian has extensive neighbourhood and property services experience alongside specialist knowledge of safer communities and the impacts of homelessness. Ian has a strong track record of delivering high performance and improving colleague and customer engagement.

He is an active contributor to the wider sector, currently serving as Chair of Prosper and as a member of Highstone Homes’ Board. He has previously served as Chair of Age Concern Tyneside South and held a number of other board roles.

Executive Director of Development & Asset Management

Sarah Robson is our Executive Director of Development and Asset Management. She leads:

•    Development of our new homes, including the sales and lettings of all intermediate and market tenures
•    Strategic asset management of our existing homes, which includes understanding their condition, planned maintenance requirements and any regeneration opportunities.

Prior to working for Karbon Homes, Sarah spent many years working in local government, most recently as corporate director for growth, enterprise, and environment for a local authority in Teesside. Before that, she worked for Durham County Council for a decade as the lead for economic development and housing. She also spent eight years working as a project director on major development projects for an Urban Regeneration Company in Teesside.

Sarah was recently appointed to the British Property Federations Affordable Homes Committee and also serves on the Board of Clanmil Housing Association in Northern Ireland and as a governor at East Durham College. She has worked previously in a number of NED roles including with Erimus, Thirteen Homes, South Tees Development Corporation and the Northern Housing Consortium.

Executive Director of Resources

Scott Martin is our Executive Director of Resources. He’s responsible for:

•    Finance and treasury
•    People and organisational development 
•    ICT

Scott started his career with KPMG before moving into senior finance and management roles in the housebuilding sector.

He spent 10 years at Barratt Homes as Finance Director and then Managing Director before taking the position as Group Finance Director at the £230million turnover Storey Homes.