Our Company - Directors

Geoff Ball was born and brought up in Bristol where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. After holding accounting positions in various industries until 1974 he acquired, with some associates, a controlling interest in the City of Aberdeen Land Association Limited, a listed feu-duty company.  A residential development subsidiary, CALA Homes Limited, commenced development in Aberdeen in 1975.   He has been Chief Executive since 1974 since when turnover has grown from zero to £300m.

The company now has six housebuilding subsidiaries – in East, West and North Scotland, the South East of England, the West Midlands and Yorkshire – plus commercial property development and finance subsidiaries.  CALA Homes specialises in the development of lower density executive housing and quality flats and its designs have won many awards.

In June 1999 he led the CALA Management Team in a successful £100M Buy-Out backed by the Bank of Scotland.  This was at the time the largest ever MBO in Scotland.

Geoff was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of McCarthy & Stone plc following the £1bn takeover by a consortium consisting of the Bank of Scotland Land Companies controlled by Simon Reubens and Tom Hunter.  He has recently become a member of the Advisory Board of Candy & Candy Ltd.

Mr Ball was President of the Housebuilders Federation in England and Wales from 2001 – 2003, is a non-executive director of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust plc, and was a director of the Standard Life Assurance Company for 12 years until 2000.

He was Chairman of the Board of Governors of George Watsons College from 1989 to 1994, and was a member of the Scottish Arts Council from 1984 to 1989.  He set up, with the Leader and Chief Executive of the City of Edinburgh Council, a Business Assembly for Edinburgh and chaired this for its first two years of existence.

With an Honours Degree in Building at Heriot Watt University, Alan was employed by Norwest Holst, a Civil Engineering Company in the South of England, from 1971-83. During this time, Alan attended City University London, where he qualified as a Chartered Civil Engineer. From 1983-87, Alan was Regional Director of Wimpey Homes in Scotland, before joining CALA as Managing Director of the company’s successful Scottish housing subsidiary. In 1997, Alan was appointed as Group Managing Director.

Robert studied Law at Edinburgh University and qualified as a chartered accountant with Ernst and Young in Edinburgh in 1980. After qualifying, he worked in Hong Kong for over two years for global accountancy firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Robert joined CALA in 1985 as Group Accountant, and was Group Finance Director for over 10 years. He was a key player in the team which completed the management buy-out of the quoted CALA plc in June 1999, and subsequently won the Bank of Scotland Finance Director of the Year 2000 award.

Robert has since moved to an Executive role, with principal responsibilities as Chairman of CALA Properties and CALA Finance.

Robert was born and brought up in Belfast. He attended Dundee University and obtained a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Town and Regional Planning. Robert started his career as a town planner with the City of Edinburgh Council, and subsequently qualified as a chartered surveyor before joining CALA as a land buyer in 1985 based in Edinburgh.

Following several board appointments in Scotland, Robert became Managing Director of CALA Homes (South) in 1995. Robert was appointed to the Executive Board and to the Group Main Board as Group Development Director in 2001, where he combined executive responsibility for the three English housing subsidiaries and Group land strategy. 

Robert is now Group Land and Planning Director, overseeing the Group land acquisition and product design programme. He is currently a member of both the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Robert also sits on the CALA Properties board as a Non Executive Director.

Graham’s career began in 1985 with Transport Development Group plc, whom he joined after gaining a joint BA degree in Computer Science and Accounting from Heriot Watt University.

He became a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in 1989 while with the company, before moving on to the London office of Thomson Travel Group as Operational Auditor and later taking over responsibility for overseas finance.

Graham joined CALA in 1995 as Finance Manager for CALA Homes (Scotland) Ltd, and appointed as the Group’s Financial Controller in 1998. In 2001, Graham was promoted to Finance Director of CALA Group.

Graham is currently a member of the Scottish Finance Directors and an ACCA Council member.

Mike Freshney was appointed as Non-Executive Director of CALA Group on July 2002, and is a member of both the Audit and Remuneration Committees. He is also Chairman of CALA Homes subsidiaries in South and Midlands.

Mike retired from the Main Board of the Berkeley Group plc in 2002, after a lifetime in the homebuilding industry. Prior to his time at Berkeley he had been Managing Director of Crest Homes plc and a Director of Alfred McAlpine Homes.

He has particular strengths in product, design, construction, technical and customer service aspects of the homebuilding business.

Mike is Non-Executive Chairman of NHBC Building Control Services Ltd, and Beechcroft Developments Ltd.

In addition, he is a Non-Executive Director of the Homebuilders Federation, Robust Details Ltd, and Westerman Homes Ltd, and also represents UK Homebuilding interests in the European Housing Confederation (UEPC).

Guy Stenhouse attended Edinburgh University and graduated in 1984 with a degree in business studies. He is Head of Corporate Finance at Noble Grossart Limited, Scotland’s leading mechant bank, based in Edinburgh Other directorships include Macfarlane Group plc, Perkins Slade Limited, Armadillo Self Storage Limited, Henry Halstead Limited and Shancastle Investments Limited.

Guy has been a Senior Non Executive Director of CALA since July 1999.

Ian is Chairman of Kiln plc and Companies House plc. He is a Senior Non Executive Director of The Weir Group plc and Ricardo plc, a Member of the Legal Aid Board for Scotland and a Director of a number of other companies and a consultant on Auditing and Corporate Governance.

He was a member of the Treasury and DTI Coordinating Committee on Accounting and Auditing issues which reported in January 2003. He is a Past President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, represented the UK on the International Auditing Practices Committee 1995-2000 and was Chairman of the Accounts Commission and Audit Scotland until 2000. He was awarded the CBE for services to the accountancy profession and Local Government in 1996. He is an Honorary Professor of Accounting and Doctor of Laws at Aberdeen University.

He became Senior Non Executive of CALA in December 2000.

A graduate in Economics and Accountancy, Gerry joined Deloitte’s to complete his CA training. He joined CALA in 1987, as Financial Accountant. He was appointed as Company Secretary in 1997, before taking the position of Managing Director for CALA Homes (Yorkshire) in 1999, following CALA’s successful delisting from the London Stock Exchange.

In 2001, Gerry returned to Scotland to become Managing Director of CALA Homes (East), following the division of the Scottish subsidiary into two separate companies.

Gerry is a Council Member of CBI Scotland and a Director and member of the Executive Committee of the housebuilding trade body, Homes for Scotland.

In July 2006, Gerry was appointed to the Group Executive Board, and appointed to the Main Board of CALA Group with overall responsibility for CALA Homes in Scotland in August 2007.

Alan trained as a chartered quantity surveyor with Ideal Homes before qualifying in 1984. He joined CALA in 1986 as a Development Manager for CALA Homes (South).

In July 1990, Alan became Development Director of CALA Homes (South) before being appointed as Managing Director of CALA Homes (Midlands) in 1995.

Alan was appointed to the Executive Board in July 2006, and the Group Board in August 2007, following his appointment as Regional Chairman of CALA Homes in England.

Alan also has Group responsibilities for Sales and Marketing and Corporate Communications.

Moira gained a degree in Law from Aberdeen University. She then worked in private practice for ten years for leading firms in Glasgow and Edinburgh and specialised in commercial property.

Moira joined CALA as Group Company Secretary in 2001 from the Dunfermline Building Society, where she was a General Manager and Secretary. Moira is responsible for all legal and company secretarial matters including corporate governance, insurance, risk management and the administration of the pension scheme.

Moira is also a Director of the Link Group Ltd, and is the chair of Link Homes Ltd and Linkwide Ltd,  the regeneration and housebuilding subsidiaries in the Group.