Executive Leadership Team
Our Executive Leadership Team leads over 200 staff working in specialised areas of Customers, Homes, Finance, Governance and Risk, Legal and Operations.
Scott Langford
Group Chief Executive Officer
MBA, P.GradDip Prop. Dev., FIML, FAICD, MRICS
Scott is a Chartered Surveyor with a specialisation in housing management and development, holds an MBA, and post grad in property development and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He leads a team of over 200 staff at SGCH who provide a place to call home for more than 11,500 residents in 7000 homes. Since joining SGCH in 2016, Scott and his team have secured a development pipeline of 1,000 new social and affordable homes in Sydney, underpinned by $450 million in financing commitments. Major transactions have included the Social and Affordable Housing Fund Phase 1 and Phase 2, and the Social Housing Management Transfer program. Prior to joining SGCH Scott held senior roles in community housing and the private sector in property development. He has served on numerous industry Boards and advisory groups including as Chair of the International Housing Partnership and PowerHousing Australia. He is currently a member of the NSW Community Housing Industry Council and a Director of CHIA NSW.
Andrew Brooks
Group Executive, Homes
BSc (Honours) Building Surveying, MRICS
As Group Executive, Homes, Andrew oversees a $3.3 billion property portfolio for SGCH. He joined the organisation in May 2013 leading the leveraging strategy associated with the vested portfolio of Nation Building assets and taking responsibility for Development and Construction and Property Services teams, now grouped under the Homes portfolio.
Before joining SGCH, Andrew held the position of Project Leader for the $900m Bonnyrigg PPP at Becton Property Group. Prior to moving to Australia in 2007, Andrew gained commercial experience leading and delivering major urban regeneration projects in the UK, working for the Grosvenor Estate (London and Bath) as Commercial Projects Director, and Development Director at both Associated British Ports (Cardiff Bay) and Bank of Scotland (Edinburgh). Andrew develops and builds strong partnerships with government, community, and key stakeholders to ensure delivery of successful projects with a focus on safe, sustainable homes.
Claudia Certoma
Group Executive, Legal, Governance and Risk
General Counsel and Company Secretary
BEc (Hons I), LLB (Hons I) (Syd), Solicitor (NSW, HCA), GradDipACG, AGIA ACG (CS, CGP)
Claudia joined SGCH in November 2020 to establish and lead the combined legal and governance function and to work with the Board to ensure best practice governance standards. Since then, Claudia also assumed management of the internal audit, risk and safety function.
Claudia is an experienced general counsel and governance professional with around 20 years of commercial legal experience. As General Counsel for the residential development business at Frasers Property Australia, she worked with CHPs on mixed use social, affordable and private housing developments and mixed use precinct developments, including the innovative NSW Communities Plus Ivanhoe Estate Redevelopment.
As Corporate Counsel at Laing O’Rourke Australia, Claudia advised the development business and treasury function, working on PPPs, development and construction, finance, corporate and commercial matters, company secretarial, risk and compliance projects.
Claudia’s skills include understanding and working with complex operational businesses to achieve commercial outcomes with a customer and risk focus.
Joe Achmar
Chief Financial Officer
B.Bus., CA.
Joe is an experienced finance executive and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He joined SGCH in June 2022. Joe brings almost 30 years of commercial finance experience with twelve of those as a Chief Financial Officer, most recently at Venues NSW. Joe commenced his professional career at EY before joining AMP Capital, culminating in his appointment as Fund Controller for the Property Division. Joe brings experience in similar organisations having been CFO of Campus Living Villages between 2010-2017. In this role, Joe played a key role managing investor and financier relationships while supporting the operating business to serve thousands of students living in properties in Australia, NZ, the USA and UK.
Sally Anne Friedlander
Chief Operating Officer
M.HRM., Grad, Cert. Change Mgt, B.Ad.Ed., FAHRI
Sally Anne Friedlander is a passionate leader who specialises in organisational effectiveness, with extensive experience of leading functional and operational strategies in organisational design, development and creating inclusive cultures.
She has a broad industry background, both locally and internationally, having worked in senior and executive roles in Westpac, ASX, Boral Ltd, Qantas, John Holland Group, Laing O’Rourke Group and most recently in NSW Government.
At SGCH, her primary focus at present is ensuring we have an inclusive and sustainable business operations. She puts people and customers at the centre to deliver efficient and professional services.
Sally Anne has qualifications that extend from education, human resources, project, and change management – plus she’s in the process of obtaining a PhD specialising in leadership and change. Some of her proudest career achievements so far are establishing the Australian Major Project Leadership Academy, in conjunction with Oxford Saïd Business School (UK) and EY (2019), winning the 2022 Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI)’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Employment Award and winning the 2022 Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI)’s Diversity and Inclusion Workplace.
