Meet the directors
Five directors manage Magna’s group affairs on a day-to-day basis, and are accountable to the Board.
Graham Colls
Magna Housing Group chief executive
Graham Colls joined Magna in June 1999. He was previously chief executive of Two Castles Housing Association in Carlisle.
His wealth of experience in social housing stretches back 30 years to his beginnings as a graduate trainee in South Tyneside Borough Council's directorate of housing. From here he was promoted to senior development officer, before joining Two Castles Housing Association as North East regional housing manager in 1985. Further promotion to North East regional director was to follow before he became chief executive in 1993.
Graham is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing. He is married with two children.
 Debby Wheatley
Magna Housing Group services director and company secretary
Debby Wheatley joined Magna in January 2003. Debby has worked for local authorities and a housing association in a career which has included several posts at Director level, encompassing social housing, regeneration and wider neighbourhood issues in both urban and rural environments.
Debby is a graduate of Southampton University and the University of Warwick Business School. She is a Fellow and National Council member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, currently serving on the policy and practice board. She is also a member of the Rural Housing Advisory Group, a Committee of the Homes and Communities Agency.
 David Aldwinckle
Director, Magna Housing Association
David Aldwinckle joined Magna in September 2006 from Pathmeads Housing Association (part of the Genesis Housing Group).
Prior to attending university, where he graduated with a biochemistry degree, David worked with single, homeless people for the charity, ‘The Cyrenians’, which gave him a taste for housing.
Originally coming from Cornwall, David and his family were pleased to move back to the south coast.
 Tony Murray
Director, Magna West Somerset Housing Association
Tony Murray joined Magna West Somerset in August 2002. After leaving London University with a degree in sociology, Tony worked for 14 years for both local authorities and housing associations in inner London.
Before coming to West Somerset, Tony worked for 7 years as Housing Services Manager at Windsor Housing. Tony is a corporate member of the Chartered Institute of Housing. He is married with two children and lives in Taunton Deane.
 Ludovic Blackburn
Magna Housing Group finance director
Ludovic Blackburn was born and brought up in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, and studied property surveying as a degree at Reading University. He qualified as a chartered accountant in London and worked as operational finance director for a large national firm of property directors.
He and his wife, who have three children, moved to West Dorset in 2008 to be near their extended families. He became Magna’s finance manager in 2009 and was promoted to deputy group finance director in 2010.
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