Meet Our Board of Directors
Lee Hartley - Chief Executive Officer
Lee’s Role and Background
Lee Hartley has been promoted to the position of Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2024, marking the pinnacle of his 25-year career which he has dedicated to the Seddon family business. Beginning as a trainee Quantity Surveyor in 1996, Lee’s dedication and commitment have propelled him through various commercial and operational roles, culminating in his appointment to the board in 2013 during the establishment of Novus as an independent trading entity.
Over the years, as a board member, Lee has taken on key responsibilities, including roles as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director. His contributions have been instrumental in implementing growth and development strategies while ensuring the seamless integration of our core values, known as ‘the Novus Way,’ into every facet of project delivery for our customers. In his new role as CEO, Lee is poised to steer continued growth across our core markets.
Despite initially aspiring to be a firefighter, Lee’s journey led him to construction, where he began as a general labourer on building sites. His passion for construction blossomed, ultimately leading him to choose it as his career path. Joining the Seddon family business as a trainee Quantity Surveyor in 1996 marked the beginning of a remarkable professional trajectory.
What is Lee Responsible For?
Lee holds overall responsibility for the strategic direction of the business and its day-to-day operation. He has been a trusted, highly respected and influential member of the Novus board for over 10 years, and played a critical role in our success during that time. Lee epitomises our deep-rooted Novus values and the time is now right for him to take on the role of Chief Executive Officer which he does with the full support of the Seddon family.
Lee will drive our strategic plan forward which is centred on three key themes: Novus’ people and culture, building revenue, and continuous improvement for our clients and customers.
Hobbies and Interests
Away from the working environment Lee is kept busy entertaining his three children, but when he can find time to do so, enjoys watching his beloved Sheffield Wednesday FC and playing golf.
Family time is important to Lee and he enjoys family holidays in particular, with his favourite destination being the Caribbean, although anywhere hot that has a beach, pool and bar will do!
Matt Hiley - Executive Director
Matt’s Role and Background
Matt Hiley is one of our Executive Directors and joined Novus in April 2020. Matt is a highly talented and experienced member of the Board, having held similar positions at Kier and ISS prior to joining Novus.
Matt’s father was a painter and decorator and first introduced Matt to the construction and maintenance sector, by telling him that “he needed to have a skill for life and the construction industry would always be around.”
Subsequently, Matt found his calling as a Quantity Surveyor and hasn’t looked back since, forging a great career, working all over the UK and abroad on construction projects of all sizes.
What is Matt Responsible For?
Matt currently oversees our Marketing, Business Development, Bidding and Estimating and Supply Chain functions.
These responsibilities make Matt’s role extremely varied. At any given time, he could be moving between client meetings, generating bids or reviewing our forward pipeline for our growth strategy.
Hobbies and Interests
Matt describes his two sons as “bundles of energy who are totally obsessed with football,” therefore the majority of his time is spent with them at training and matches.
When he gets a spare moment to himself, Matt also enjoys keeping fit, bike riding (weather permitting), and cooking for his family.
David Leach - Executive Director
David’s Role and Background
David Leach is one of our Executive Directors and joined Novus in January 2021.
David is an extremely valuable asset to Novus, bringing his expertise in Transformation, Leadership & Business Partnering to the company.
Having successfully led cross functional teams to innovate using data and technology to achieve a culture shift, David enables Novus to continually improve its operational excellence and further its growth.
David has worked across a wide range of sectors including Logistics, Financial Services, Customer Services, Property Management and House Building in the past, but it was the history, family values, growth ambitions, and the opportunity for digital transformation that attracted him to Novus.
What is David Responsible For?
Alongside being responsible for the People Services and I.T side of the business, David’s role consists of analysing and evaluating how current technology and business processes within Novus are working for colleagues, and he ensures that major projects within the organisation are progressing on-time and on-track.
In addition, part of David’s role is to identify potential pain-points and improvement opportunities, to make the business run more efficiently and effectively.
Hobbies and Interests
Away from work David enjoys keeping fit, with cycling, running, and walking his dog amongst his active hobbies. His family also play their part in keeping David’s time well occupied away from Novus.
David cites Cornwall as one of his favourite places to visit, saying that “it doesn’t matter what time of the year you visit, the beaches and dog walks are fantastic.”
Andy Finn – Finance Director
Andys Role and Background
Andy joined the board of directors as Finance Director in January 2024. He joins us from construction firm Amco Giffen, where he had been FD for the last 5 years. Throughout his career Andy has gained extensive experience working within the construction industry, having held various Finance Director roles, with each including additional wider business responsibilities outside of finance alone.
What is Andy responsible for?
Andy has functional responsibility for the Finance team covering monthly reporting and forecasting, internal controls and risk management, the annual budget process and year end audit. His hand-on style enables him to provide the right degree of challenge and operational and commercially focussed support to the business. He works closely with the rest of the Board to deliver the business strategy and future growth. He is also the key interface with Group treasury function and audit and governance functions.
Hobbies and Interests
Andy has two teenage children which keeps him busy at the weekends watching them play grassroots football. If there’s any spare time, he can sometimes be found ‘crate digging’ for second hand vinyl to refresh the family jukebox.
Steve Gayter - Executive Director
Steves Role and Background
Steve joined the board of directors as executive director for our social housing maintenance business in April 2024. He is a great addition to the board and brings over 12 years of experience in the social housing sector and a further 14 years in facilities management. He brings a wealth of knowledge to help us continue to deliver excellence to our customers.
What is Steve responsible for?
Steve holds overall responsibility for the delivery of our Social Housing Maintenance business which includes our Maintain, Assure, Projects and Sustain brands.
His responsibilities include:
- Overseeing the overall delivery and performance of our social housing maintenance business
- Ensuring excellence in service delivery across all brands
- Strategically guiding the business to meet and exceed customer expectations
- Collaborating with stakeholders to drive innovation and operational efficiency
Steve’s leadership and vision play a crucial role in shaping the success and growth of our social housing maintenance operations.
Hobbies and Interests
Steve enjoys a variety of hobbies that keep him active and engaged. He relishes the challenges of DIY projects, enjoys walking his dog, and is an avid follower of football and rugby. Family time is important to Steve, and he treasures spending quality time with his wife and two daughters, exploring the world together.
Now that his children are older, Steve and his wife also enjoy weekends away for some relaxation and rest.
Michelle Owen - Non-Executive Chair
Michelle’s Role and Background
Michelle is Chairperson of Novus Property Solutions and also performs the roles of Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Group Finance Director. She has worked for the JSSH Group since its formation in 2013 initially as Group Finance Director and later in her wider role.
She works closely with the shareholding family and represents their interests in the business, helping to ensure it is managed in line with their shared purpose.
Michelle’s background is in finance having trained and qualified with KPMG. A large part of her career has been in corporate finance advising boards of directors on mergers and acquisitions, due diligence and flotations.
What is Michelle Responsible For?
As Chairperson of Novus Property Solutions, Michelle’s primary role is to ensure that the board is effective in its task of setting and implementing the company’s direction and strategy. She is responsible for determining the composition and structure of the board and its development.
She ensures effective communication with shareholders and stakeholders and provides support to Steve as CEO of Novus.
Hobbies and Interests
Michelle has a young daughter who she devotes her spare time and energy to along with her partner, Alex. She enjoys gardening, cooking, long walks with the dog, running, sunny beaches and pubs with roaring fires in winter. She also loves to be near the sea and values any time she can spend paddleboarding or attempting to surf.
Sophie Seddon-Hall - Non-Executive Director
Sophie’s Background
Sophie is a Non-Executive Director and a shareholder of JSSH. She started in the business over ten years ago as Marketing Assistant and progressed through the company whilst successfully completing a business management degree along the way. During the course of her career, Sophie has been responsible for the business’ marketing, people, corporate responsibility and customer functions.
What is Sophie Responsible For?
As Non-Executive Director, Sophie acts as a critical friend to the executive team and ensures the business is living its values as well as delivering on its strategy. Sophie is very interested in Novus’ people strategies particularly aspects including diversity, sustainability and ensuring that we leave a positive impact in everything we do. She is also extremely passionate about customer experience and innovation. As well as her involvement with Novus, Sophie is also a board trustee for the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
Hobbies and Interests
Away from the working environment Sophie loves to read and take part in a variety of sports including skiing, running, tennis, yoga and horse riding. She also enjoys cooking and eating out with family and friends as well as spending time with her two daughters and pets.
Matt Cornish - Company Secretary
Matt’s Role and Background
Matt initially joined Novus back in 2013 as a data analyst under a 6-month contract which coincided with the Group’s reorganisation and restructure where the John Seddon branch became Novus Property Solutions. During this pivotal period, Matt took on the permanent role of financial controller and has been in this position for the past 10 years. Matt took on the additional role of Company Secretary in January 2024.
Prior to joining Novus Matt has worked across various sectors including retail, plant hire and construction holding various commercial positions.
What is Matt responsible for?
In his current capacity as Company Secretary, Matt plays a crucial part in ensuring Novus complies with all legal and regulatory requirements. Moreover, as our financial controller, Matt oversees all accounting functions within the business, providing strategic leadership to our finance team.
Hobbies and Interests
Outside of work Matt enjoys spending time with his family, 2 children and dog. He enjoys watching Tottenham Hotspur with his son, father and friends. Whenever time permits Matt also enjoys running and cooking!
