Darren Smith (he/him)

Darren is a researching and qualified Consultant working across several Altair workstreams. Since joining Altair in 2018 he has brought market analysis and research expertise and is now a core member of the project delivery team working closely with clients across the project lifecycle.

Expertise

Transformation and service improvement, process design, governance and board effectiveness reviews, risk management support, performance reporting, business development, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, market research.

About Darren

Darren’s recent projects include supporting the development of target operating models and service design improvements for large national Registered Providers. He also has significant experience across governance areas including governance, board effectiveness and IDA reviews and supporting the development of organisations risk management activities from identifying strategic risks, determining risk appetite to embedding this within reporting processes.

His work also focuses on internal and external policy research, analysis and synthesis of data, building and maintenance of datasets to develop a robust evidence base for options analysis and recommended delivery routes. He has experience in reviewing procedures of gathering, processing, reviewing and reporting of data for the purpose of statutory compliance and driving data insight to inform business decisions.

Darren is passionate about driving equality, diversity and inclusion across the sector and has project managed several cross-sector diversity programmes including Leadership 2025 and the Future Leaders Programme.

Recent Altair Assignments

• Service design improvement for large national RP – both the ‘as is’ review and development of key recommendations for service improvement.
• Process mapping for large national care and support provider.
• Governance review for large, national housing provider focusing on board effectiveness and customer engagement.
• Supporting the review of regulatory return procedures for medium housing provider.
• VfM Healthcheck for a medium sized London based housing association.
• Risk management support for several medium to large housing providers.

Background

• PRINCE2 Foundation
• CMI Level 5 in Professional Consultancy
• BSc Business Economics, University of Portsmouth – First Class Honours

Publications

• Leadership 2025 Diversity in the Sector – 2019 (Nov 2019) – Update research report of ‘The Altair Review’ (2017), reviewing the state of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) leadership representation in the social housing sector. Link to report here: https://leadership2025.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Leadership-2025-Diversity-in-the-Sector.pdf
• Future Gazing, Future Shaping (April 2019) – Research report exploring innovation, transformation and the future of housing delivery. Link to report here: https://altairltd.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Altair_Future_Gazing_Report_2019_online.pdf
• Altair article – ‘Data is the foundation for board assurance’ – https://whq.org.uk/the-magazine/issue/117/altair-data-is-the-foundation-for-board-assurance/

Fun Facts

Outside work Darren loves travelling the world exploring new cultures and has a keen passion for sports and fitness including making the often-painful decision to run the odd marathon.